Endnote 12
Part I, §8, l. 9. Alkabucius; i.e. (says Warton,
Hist. E. P. ii. 357, ed. 1871) Abdilazi Alchabitius, whose Introductiorium
ad scientiam judicialem astronomiæ was printed in 1473, and afterwards.
Mr. Brae quotes the very passage to which Chaucer refers, which I here
quote from the edition of 1482, as described in my note to l. 119 of The
Compleint of Mars (see vol. i. p. 500); viz. `Unumquodque istorum signorum
diuiditur in 30 partes equales, que gradus vocantur. Et gradus diuiditur
in 60 minuta; et minutum in 60 secundo; et secundum in 60 tertia.
Similiterque sequuntur quarta, scilicet et quinta, ascendendo usque ad
infinita;' Alchabitii Differentia Prima.
These minute subdivisions were never used; it was a mere affectation
of accuracy, the like of which was never attained.