In his "Parson's Tale," written during the last quarter of the fourteenth century, Geoffrey Chaucer mentioned four of the many different ways to tell that it was about 4 P M when the "Manciple's Tale" ended and his pilgrims entered a village for the evening by the elevation of the setting sun, by the clock, by the length of his shadow, and by the zodiacal position of the moon

What time the manciple his tale had ended,
The sun down from the south line had descended
So low that he was not, unto my sight,
Degrees full nine and twenty yet in height
Four of the clock it was then, as I guess
Four feet eleven, little more or less,
My shadow was extended then and there,
A length as if the shadow parted were
In six-foot equal parts, as I have...