H O U (
An Hour, with us, is a Meafure or Quantity of Time, equal to a 24th Part of the natural Day, or Nyclhcmeron 3 or the Duration of ^th Part of the Earth's diurnal Rota- tion. 1 5 Degrees of the Equator anfwer to an Hour 5 tho' not precilHy, but near enough for common Ufe. See Time.
It is divided into 60 Minutes; the Minute into 00 Se- conds, gfa See Minute.
The Divifion of the Day into Hours is very ancient 3 as is ftiewn by Kircher, Oedip. JEgypt. T. II. P. II, Glafs VII. c. 8. Tho' the Paffages he quotes from Scripture do not prove it. — The moit ancient Huur is that of the 12th Part of the Day. Herodotus, lib. II. obferves, that the Greeks learnt from the Egyptians, among other Things, the Me- thod of dividing the Day into twelve Parts.
The Aftronomers of Cathaya, &c. Bifhop Severidge ob- ferves, ftiil retain this Divifion. They call the Hour Chag; and to each Chag give a peculiar Name, taken from fome Animal: The 1 It is call'd Zeth, Moufe; the z&C&iu, Bul- lock ; the 3d Zem, Leopard ; the 4th Man-, Hare ; the 5th Chhi, Crocodile, %£c.
The Divifion of the Day into 24. Hours, was not known to the Romans before the firft Punic War. — Till that Time they only regulated their Days by the Riling and Setting of the Sun.
They divided the twelve Hours of their Day into four, Viz't Prime, which commene'd at fix o'CIock ; 'Third at nine, Sixth at twelve, and None at three. They alio divided the Night into four Watches, each containing three Hours.
The Origin of the Word Hour, bora, comes, according to fomc Authors, from a Surname of the Sun, the Father of Hours, whom the /Egyptians call Horus. Others derive it from the Greek, oeify-w, ro terminate, diftinguifh, £ffc.
Others, from the Word Urine, which the Greeks call %pyv ; holding, that Trifmegifus was the firft: that fettled the Di- vifion of Hours, which he did from Obi'ervation of an Ani- mal confecrated to Serapis, nam'd Cynocephalus, which makes Water twelve Times a Day, and as often in the Nights at equal Intervals.
There are divers Kinds of Hours, us'd by Chronologers, Aftronomers, Dialifts, f£c.
Hours are divided into equal and unequal.
Equal, are the 24th Parts of a Day and Night precifely j that is, the Time wherein 15 Degrees of the Equator mount above the Horizon.
Thefe are alfo call'd EquinoBial Hours, becaufe meafur'd on the Equinoctial 5 and Agronomical, becaufe us'd by Aftronomers.
They are alio differently denominated, according to the Manner of accounting them*
Babylonip Hours are equal Hours, reckoned from Sun- rife in a continu'd Series of twenty-four. See Babylonish Hour.
Italian Hours are equal Hours, reckon'd from Sun- fet, in a continu'd Series of twenty-four. See Italian Hour.
Jiftronomical Hours are equal Hours, reckon'd from Noon, or Mid-day, in a continu'd Series of twenty-four. See Astronomical.
European Hours are equal Hours, reckon'd from Mid- night ; twelve from thence to Noon, and from Noon to Mid-night twelve more.
Unequal or temporary Hours, are 12th Parts of the arti- ficial Day or Nighr. The Obliquity of the Sphere renders thefe more or lefs unequal at different Times 5 fo that they only agree with the equal Hours at the Times of the Equinoxes.
Jewifio, or planetary, or ancient Hours, are twelfth Parts of the artificial Day or Night.
Hence, as 'tis only in the Time of the Equinoxes that the artificial Day is equal to the Night ; 'tis then only that the Hours of the Day are equal to thofe of the Night : At other Times they will be always either increafing or de- crcafing.
They are call'd Ancient or jeitiijb Hours, becaufe us'd by the Ancients, and -ftiil among the Jews. They are call'd Planetary Hours, by reafon the Altrologers pretend, that a new Planet comes to predominate every Hour ; and that the Dav takes its Denomination from that which predominates the firft Hour thereof: As Monday from the Moon, ££c.
HOURS, Hone, among the ancient Poets, were certain Goddefles, the Daughters of Jupiter and Themis: They were three in Number, punomia, 'Dice, and Irene. To which were afterwards added two more, Carpo and Talhte.
Homer makes them the Door-keepers of Heaven. Ovid allots them the Employment of harnefting the Horfes of the Sun : Jungefe Equos Titan velocibus imperat Horis.
Hours,' Hor<£, in the RomiJJ) Church, are certain Prayers perform'd at ftatcd Times of the Day ; as Mattins, Vespers, Za>"is. See Mattins, Z$C.
The lefTer Hours, are 'Prime, Tierce, Sixth, and Hone. — - They are thus call'd, as being to be rehears'd at certain
! 5P )
H O U
Hours prefcnb'd by the Canons of that Church, in Coni- memoration of the Myiteri es accomplifh'd at thofe Hours
lhefe Hours were anciently call'd Courfe, Outfits. Fl MahHlcn has a Diflertation on thefe Hwj, intitled? deCurfu Gallicano. The firft Conftitution enjoining the Observation of thefe Hours, is of the IXth Century, being found in a Capitular of He/ton, Bifhop of Safil, direaed to his Cu- rates, importing, that the Priefts frail never be abfent at the Canonical Hours either by Day or Night.
'Prayers of forty Hours, are publick Prayers continu'd for the Space ot three Days fucceflively, and without Inter- mifiion, before the Holy Sacrament, to obtain the Aftutance of Heaven on fbmc important Occafion. -- In thefe Days, Care is taken* that the Holy Sacrament be expos'd forty Hours, viz. 13 or 14 Hours each Day.
Hour-Circles, or Ho rak? -Circles, in Aftronomy, £5fo are great Circles, meeting in the Poles of the World, and crofting the Equino&ial at Right Angles ; the fame as Me. ndians. See Meridian.
They are fuppos'd to be drawn through every rjth De- gree of the Equinoctial and Equator, and on both Globes are fupply'd by the Meridian, Hour-Circle, and Index. See Globe.
The Planes of the Hour- Circles are perpendicular to the Plane of the Equinoctial, which they divide into 24 equal Parts.
Hour-Glass, a popular Kind of Chronometer or Clepfy- dra^ ferving to meafure the Flux of Time, by the Defcent or Running of Sand out of one Giafs Vefiel into another, See Chronometer.
The belt Honr-Glajjes are thofe, which, inftead of Sand, have Egg-ftiells well dry'd in the Oven, then beaten fine and fitted.
Hour-Glafjes are much us'd at Sea for Reckoning, &c„ See Reckoning, Log, &c.
There are alio a Sort of Hour-Glaffes, which depend on the Flux of Water or other Liquid, more properly call'd Clepfydr<c. See Clepsydra.
Hour-Lines, on a Dial, arife from the Interfecr.i'on': of the Plane of the Dial, with the feveral Planes of the Hour- Circles in the Sphere, and therefore muft be all Right Line?. See Dial and Dialling.
HOUSAGE, a Fee which a Carrier or other Perfon pays for laying up Goods in a Houfe.
HOUSE, a Habitation, or Place built with Conveniences to live in ; or a Building wherein to ftieiter a Man's Perfon and Goods from the Inclemencies of the Weather, and the Injuries of ill-difpos'd Perfons. See Building.
We fay a Brick Houfe, a Stone Hcnfe, a Houfe of two Stories, of three Stories, a Manor Houfe, a Farm Houfe, &c. See Brick, Stone, Story, Manor, &d
Ancient Rome confided of 48000 infulated Houfes. See Insulated.
A Pleafiire Houfe or Country Houfe, is that built for a Perfon to enjoy and divert himfelf occasionally in. This is the Villa of the ancient Romans ; and what in Spain and 'Portugal they call §>uhita; \n Provence, Cajfme ; in ibme other Parts of France, Cloferie ; in Italy, Vigna.
In this Senfe the Word Vigna is fbmetimes us'd in EngUfo to denote the Country Seats of the Noble Romans-, as the Vigna Farnefe, Vigna Borghefe, &c. —The Citizens of 'Paris have alfo their Maifons de Souteilles, Bottle-ftoufes, to retire to, and entertain their Friends 5 which, in Lath?, might be call'd Mic<£, the Emperor T)omitian having a Houfe built for the like Purpofe,mention'd under this Name by Martial, lib. II. Epig 59. _
'Tis a Thing principally to be aim'd at, in the Site or Situation of a Country Houfe or Seat, that it have Wood and Water near it ; If it cannot be conveniently built among Trees, yet there are few Places where Trees may not be fpeedily rais'd about it. See Tree, 'Planting, Trans- planting, &c.
It is far berter to have a Houfe defended by Trees than Hills 5 for Trees yield a cooling, refrefhing, fweet, and healthy Air, and Shade, during the Heat of trie Summer, and very much break the cold Winds and Tempefts from every Coaft in the Winter. — The Hills, according as they are fituated, defend only from fome certain Winds ; and if they are on the North Side of the Houfe, as they defend from the cold Air in the Winter, fb they alfo deprive you of the cool refrefhing Breez.es, which are commonly blown from thence in the Summer. —And if the Hills are fituat- ed on the South Side, it then proves alfo very incon- venient.
A Houfe ftiould not be too low fcated, fince this precludes the Convenience of Cellars. — If vou cannot avoid building on low Grounds, fet the firft Floor above rhe Ground the higher, to fupply what you want to fink in your Cellar in the Ground 5 for in ftich low and nioift Grounds, it conduces much to the Drynefs and Healthinefs of the Air, to have Cellars under the Houfe, fo that the Floors be good, and ceiled underneath.
Houfes
