five o'clock
After dinner , I gave myself up to writing ; for I thought that I could best serve His Holiness in this way , making my diary each day in shorthand -LRB- as I had learned from an Italian -RRB- ; and it is from that very diary that this narrative is composed ; and I wrote too a report or two , apologizing for the poverty of it , which I determined to send to the Cardinal Secretary as soon as I had an opportunity . I read too a little Italian or Spanish or French every day ; and thus , for the most part kept to my chamber . But all my papers I put away each afternoon in the little hiding-place in my chamber ; and made excuse for keeping my room on the score of my practice in languages . We supped at five o'clock -- which was the country hour ; and after that , to me , came the best part of the day . For my Cousin Dorothy , I had learned , was an extraordinary fine musician . We had , of course , no music such as was possible in town ; but she had taught a maid to play upon a fiddle , and herself played upon the bass-viol ; and the two together would play in the Great Chamber after supper for an hour or two , when the dishes were washed . In this manner we had many a corrant and saraband ; and I was able to prick down for them too some Italian music I remembered , which she set for the two instruments .