by William de Shoreham, vicar of Chart-Sutton in Kent.

He probably taught his own verses to the people at his catechisings.

The intention was, no doubt, by the aid of measure and rhyme to facilitate the remembrance of the facts and doctrines.

It consists of a long poem on the Seven Sacraments; of a shorter, associating the Canonical Hours with the principal events of the close of our Lord's life; of an exposition of the Ten Commandments, followed by a kind of treatise on the Seven Cardinal Sins: the fifth part describes the different joys of the Virgin; the sixth, in praise of the Virgin, is perhaps the most poetic; the last is less easy to characterize.

The poem is written in the Kentish dialect, and is difficult.
I shall now turn into modern verse a part of "The Canonical Hours," giving its represented foundation of the various acts of worship in the Romish Church throughout the day, from early in the morning to the last service at night.