circumstances. First, it appears to have been one of three questions
put by Richard III. to his judges, with whom he was closeted in the
Inner Star Chamber, to take their opinions on three points of law. The
second question was, “Whether a justice of the peace, who had enrolled
an indictment which had been negatived by the grand jury, among the
true bills, might be punished for the abuse of his office?” On this
question a diversity of opinion arose among the judges, some of whom
supposed a magistrate could not be prosecuted for what he might have
done; whilst others contended that he might, and cited the case of
the lord chief justice above mentioned: so far was the answer of the
judges strictly proper and historically true. The third circumstance
to which we have alluded, and which is most material to our present
question, is the application of the fine. It appears that it was
expended in the construction of a clock, which was erected on the north
side of Old Palace Yard; so that the judges, barristers, and students
could not enter or leave the court, without having an opportunity of
being reminded of the punishment of the chief justice, for presuming
to violate the impartial duty of his high office; nor could they even
hear it strike, whilst upon the throne of justice, without having his
case repeated in their ears; thereby acting as a constant remembrancer,
intimating they were to administer justice more than mercy.
Sir Edward Coke observes that 800 marks were actually entered upon the
roll, so that it is extremely probable he had himself seen the record.
This clock was considered so important during the reign of Henry VI.,
that we find that the king gave the charge of keeping it, with its
appurtenances, to William Warley, dean of St. Stephen’s, with the pay
of sixpence per diem, to be received at the exchequer.
The clock of St. Mary’s, Oxford, was also furnished in 1523, out of
fines imposed upon the students of that university.
With respect to the clock procured from the fine of the lord chief
justice, we must also observe that its motto appears to relate to that
circumstance; but though it might be said that it might relate to a
dial as well as to a clock--a material observation to our present
inquiry--yet, with respect to its present absence, it should be
noticed, that it is probable that clock was a very indifferent one,
but from its antiquity and the tradition attending it, was permitted
to remain till the time of Elizabeth; then being quite decayed, a dial
might have been substituted upon the same clock-house, bearing the very
singular motto which, however originally applied, clearly alludes to
such a circumstance as reported of the lord chief justice. This dial is
placed on the very site where the clock-house stood.
But it is said by Derham, in his “Artificial Clockmaker,” that the
oldest clock in this kingdom is in Hampton Court Palace, marked with
the letters N. O., presumed to have been the initials of the maker’s
name, of the date of 1540; but that author is evidently mistaken, in
alleging that to be the oldest, because the Oxford clock bears a date
seventeen years anterior to that period. With respect to the initials,
or whatever they may be, we do not consider them of the smallest
importance.
From Shakspeare’s “Othello” it is proved that the ancient name of this
instrument was Horologe; which various passages in our poets and old
authors establish:--
“He’ll watch the horologe a double set,
If drink rock not his cradle.”
Chaucer also says of a cock,
“Full sickerer was his crowing in his loge,
As is a clock, or any abbey _orloge_;”
which tends to show that, in his time, clocks had been confined to
religious houses.
So Lydgate’s prologue to the story of Thebes:--
“I will myself be your orologere
To-morrow early.”
With respect to our modern clocks, it would be presumption in us to
say one word, as there is not an individual but knows as much about
them, as we could tell him. We have fulfilled our intention in giving
this historical account, which we are persuaded will afford some
information. We will now proceed to
WATCHES,
Which are not of so great antiquity; as it is only about 1490, mention
is made of watches, which first occurs in the Italian poems of Gaspar
Visconti. Dominico Maria Manni says the inventor was Lorenzo a
Vulparia, a native of Florence.
One might naturally be inclined to believe that the honour of original
invention is duly demanded by the whole Germanic people, from the claim
of the invention of watches being aspired to by the Nurembergians;
as Doppelenayer gravely alleges they were first invented by a person
residing in that city, in the sixteenth century, of the name of Peter
Hale; and, perhaps, he has no better foundation for his conjecture,
than that watches were at first of an oval shape, and were called
Nuremberg eggs.
Shakspeare, in his “Twelfth Night,” speaking of a _watch_, has the
following expression, used by Malvolio: “I frown the while; and
perchance wind up my watch, or play with some rich jewel.” Also, the
Priest, in answer to Olivia,
“Since when, my _watch_ hath told me, toward my grave
I have travelled but two hours.”
The following observations appear to sanction our opinion of the
early existence of those machines in this country. Dr. Derham, in his
“Artificial Clockmaker,” published in 1714, mentions a watch of Henry
VIII., which at the period he wrote was in good order. Indeed, Dr.
Demainbray says that he had heard Sir Isaac Newton and Demoire both
speak of that watch.
An anecdote is related of the Emperor Charles V., contemporary with
Henry VIII., which it appears has reference to the policy of Europe
at that day. It is said, the emperor, after dinner, used to sit with
several watches on the table, with his bottle in the centre. After the
prince’s retirement to the abbey of St. Just, he still continued to
amuse himself with keeping them in order. From his inability to effect
this correctly, it is reported he drew the rational reflection, _that
it was impossible to effect what he had attempted--the regulation of
the policy of Europe_.
It also appears that many watches of that day struck the hours. The
“Memoirs of Literature” report that such watches having been stolen
from Charles V. and Louis XI. whilst they were in a crowd, the thieves
were detected from their striking.
It also appears from the evidence of certain watches of ancient
construction formerly held by Sir Ashton Lever, and also by Mr. Ingham
Forster, that _catgut_ usually supplied the place of a chain in ancient
watches; also that they were of a smaller size than now made, and
generally of an oval form.
Imperfections of this nature, and probably other causes, might have
rendered their truth uncertain, and this most probably precluded
their general use, until the latter end of the reign of Elizabeth.
The instances we have shown will prove they were generally known, and
perhaps used at the time of Shakspeare writing the “Twelfth Night.” And
in the first edition of Harrington’s “Orlando Furioso,” published in
1591, the frontispiece represents the author with what appears to be
a watch, although the engraving is extremely indistinct; moreover, the
inscription to which engraving, of _Il Tempo passo_, clearly indicates
the same thing.
Charles I., in 1631, incorporated the clockmakers company, and by
charter, which prohibits clocks, watches, and alarums from being
imported; which circumstance proves, that the English at this period,
had no need of the aid of foreign ingenuity in this branch of mechanism.
We are told that Guy Fawkes and Percy were detected in the third year
of James I., with a watch about them, which they had purchased, “to
try conclusions for the long and short burning of the touchwood,” (in
the words of the time) which was prepared to give fire to the train of
gunpowder.
The most material improvement introduced in this branch of mechanical
knowledge took place in the addition of pendulums, by Huygens, as
applied to clocks; for which conception he was indebted to Galileo,
which that philosopher adopted for measuring time, he having taken
the idea from observing the vibrations of a lamp in a church. This
reign also boasts of the production of repeating-watches in England;
first fabricated under the direction of the celebrated Dr. Hook, and
manufactured by Tompion.
An anecdote is related of the attention paid to watches by James II.,
recorded by Derham, in the “Artificial Clockmaker:” One Barlow had
procured a patent, in conjunction with the lord chief justice Allebone,
for repeaters; but a person of the name of Quare making one at the same
time, upon principles he had entertained before the patent was granted
to Barlow, the king tried both in person, and gave the preference to
Quare’s, and caused it to be notified in the gazette.
In the next reign, the reputation of British watchmakers had increased
so much, that an act was passed by parliament, enacting that
British-made watches should be marked with the maker’s name, in order
to preserve the reputation of this branch of British manufacture from
coming to discredit in foreign markets.
Thus we have given a general outline of the history of this branch of
mechanics, for a period of nearly a thousand years, from the first
invention of clocks by Pacificus of Verona, in 846, to the beginning of
last century, since which period they have become an article of such
general use to require no comment from us. We have noticed the various
improvements in the order in which they occurred, among which the
most striking feature appears to be the addition of the pendulums, as
serving to regulate the motion of the machine; from its given length,
certain weight and uniform vibration, it must be conceived to have
been a happy thought in Galileo, for the admeasurement of time, and
its application to this branch of mechanics was no less fortunate in
Huygens. To discover the first invention of time, we will require to
look back for upwards of two thousand years, at which period we will
find
WATER-CLOCKS.
These are called Clepsydræ. Vitruvius, the Roman architect and
mechanist, attributes the invention of the water-clock to Ctesibus of
Alexandria, who flourished in the reign of Ptolemy Euergetes, about
two hundred and forty-five years before the Christian era. The same
author says, the machine was first introduced at Rome, two hundred and
fifty seven years previous to the Christian era. There is reason to
believe it was first introduced at Rome into courts of justice, from
Greece, as it had been originally used in Greece for this purpose; the
Roman orators being guided in the time they occupied the court, by this
instrument, as we may learn from this expression of Cicero, “_Latrare
ad clepsydram_.” Cicero also informs us, that it was first introduced
into courts of justice, in the third consulate of Pompey.
It has been discovered that the inventions of Egypt, Chaldea, and
other Oriental countries constantly travelled to Rome and the West.
Long since the respective periods previously mentioned, has the honour
of this invention been claimed by Burgundians, Bolognese, and other
Italians; sometimes by Frenchmen, but chiefly by Germans.
Their claim for invention seems to be questionable in numerous
instances, whatever it may be for improvement; they certainly cannot,
consistently with what we have stated, be considered as the _first_
inventors; although there is nothing to be alleged against these
respective people being the discoverers of designs which had a previous
existence unknown to them.
With equal or much more propriety might the Arabians, in point of time
(could that be of consequence) be considered as inventors of this
machine; and they are well known to possess the least claim to original
invention of any people. They, however, have a merit, notwithstanding:
but it is of a negative kind; for those arts, sciences, &c. which were
(by chance) saved from the destruction of their bigoted ignorance, and
which, when the fortune of war had thrown into their hands those pure
designs of intellectual Greece, mere accident had wrested from their
zealous fury. These they transmitted to a more ingenious people as pure
as they had received them; but upon precisely as good grounds as the
before-named Europeans claimed this _original_ invention, might the
Arabians have assumed that honour. For we read that Haroun al Raschid,
Caliph of Bagdad, then the chief of the Saracen empire, sent as a
present to Charlemagne, a clock of curious workmanship, which was put
into motion by a clepsydra; which instrument is said, by Dr. Adams,
“to have been used by the ancients to measure time by water running out
of a vessel.”
It consists of a cylinder divided into small cells, and suspended by
a thread fixed to its axis in a frame, on which the hour distances,
found by trial, are marked out. As the water flows from one cell into
another, it changes slowly the centre of gravity of the cylinder, and
puts it in motion.
The form of this instrument is thus described by Dr. Beckmann:--
“The most common kinds of these water-clocks, however, correspond in
this, that the water issued drop by drop through a hole of the vessel,
and fell into another, in which a light body, that floated, marked the
height of the water as it rose, and by these means the time that had
elapsed.”
The most improved form the same instrument has acquired, is thus
described, by the same author, from one in his own possession.
“Amongst the newest improvements added to this machine may be reckoned
an alarum, which consists of a bell and small wheels, like that of a
clock that strikes the hours, screwed to the top of the frame in which
the cylinder is suspended. The axis of the cylinder, at the hour when
one is desirous of being awakened, pushes down a small crank, which, by
letting fall a weight, puts the alarum in motion. A dial plate with a
handle is also placed over the frame.”
In respect to the invention of clepsydræ, we should think the original
inventor took his first idea from the use of an instrument common in
Egypt, which that people called a _Canob_, or Nilometer, being a large
stone vessel of the shape of a sarcophagus, into which water was daily
poured, by proper officers, during the increase of the Nile, to show
the people whether they had a prospect of plenty, or were to expect a
scarcity in the ensuing year. As the fall of the water, after it had
risen to a due height, was of equal importance to them; so the water
was suffered to run out proportionably to its decrease in the river,
being ascertained by just and equal marks which they generally well
understood.
_Vitrum horae_ had also been invented to describe the progress of time.
These were conical hour-glasses, in which were placed a portion of
sand; the glasses were joined together at the apex of the cone, with
a small aperture of communication between the two.--From the glass,
in which the sand is deposited, it dropped, grain by grain, into the
sand below, standing upon its flat basis. These machines are called
hour-glasses, and well known. We have been unable to discover any
account of the origin of this instrument; but, from its simplicity, it
admits of no improvement. It is also believed this had its origin in a
convent.
SPINNING.
The necessity for human clothing must be so obvious, we should think,
at nearly the first existence of our race, that two opinions upon
that subject cannot exist. For, admitting the region where our first
parents were stationed was more genial to life than these, our northern
countries, yet the difference in temperature between the heat of
noon-day, and the chilly damps of night, must be obvious to every one
who has resided in, or has read of, tropical climates. Therefore, from
necessity, we contend, our first parents could not have dispensed with
the benefit of clothing. However, independent of the necessity of the
thing, the Jewish History informs us that the first man, Adam, and his
wife, in consequence of their unfortunate disobedience and positive
violation of the commands of their Divine Creator, knew of their own
nakedness; and, therefore, they were ashamed to answer to the sacred
summons. This they confessed, with a simplicity congenial to truth,
and in the same moment, frankly owned the cause; answering to the
awful interrogatory of “Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou
eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not
eat?”--“The woman, whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the
tree, and I did eat.” However, we are previously informed that, “the
eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and
they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”
It should be observed, that the leaf of the Banyan, or Indian fig, is
probably here meant; if it is, the luxurious leaf of this tree is about
three feet long, and proportionably wide; therefore, we may rationally
conclude, much art was not required; probably a thorn might supply the
place of a needle, and a blade of grass would do for a thread.
Afterwards, we are told, in the same chapter,--“Unto Adam, also to his
wife, did the Lord Jehovah make coats of skins, and clothed them.”
The preceding is the earliest account of humanity; at the same time,
it also furnishes the most ancient relation of the original of human
clothing. From hieroglyphical inscriptions still extant, the most
ancient inhabitants of Egypt wore sometimes clothing made of feathers,
fastened together; sometimes of shells, also attached to each other;
but the most general ancient clothing consisted of the skins of various
animals. So is Hercules, and many of the heroes, clothed, in antique
statuary. Although the sacred history is silent on this head, we may,
perhaps, by inference, arrive at some clue or thread to guide us
through the labyrinth of uncertainty.
Accordingly we find in the first passages, which will admit of
constructive inference, that thread, of some sort, must, of necessity,
have had existence:--“And Ada bare Jubal: he was the father of such as
dwell in _tents_, and of such as have cattle.”--Gen. iv., 20. Now, we
submit, the inference of not only spinning, but also of weaving, and
even sewing, must be conceded, before we can conceive the existence of
tents. The cloth whereof they were made at that period, it is probable,
was of the fleece of sheep; because of the early existence of woollen
cloth among the Greeks, we have no doubt, from the following and
numerous other passages in their poets; and also from the practice of
Tyrian artisans, who were, we know, generally and confessedly eminent
for their dying the imperial purple, and other scarce, valuable,
and beautiful colours; and no substance better receives, or so well
retains the most splendid of colours than does wool. But Homer speaks
expressively in point, where, in his “Iliad,” he expresses the truce
which took place between the belligerent armies of Greeks and Trojans.
After the defeat of Paris by Menelaus, and where the laughter-loving
goddess, Venus, is said to have rescued her favourite from the fate he
deserved to find; after she had conveyed the recreant hero from the
field to his apartment, she then, like a true friend to matrimonial
infidelity, goes in search of the Spartan queen, for the purpose of
bringing the lovers together. She discovered the beautiful adultress
on the walls of the city, where she had been describing to Priam, and
his ancient nobles, the Trojan councillors, the various persons of the
heroes of Greece. Upon this occasion, Venus, to use the language of the
poet (as translated by Pope), assumes a disguise.
“To her, beset by Trojan beauties, came,
In borrowed form, the laughter-loving dame;
She seemed an ancient maid, well skill’d to cull
The snowy fleece, and wind the twisted wool.”
The labours of Penelope, Helena herself, and innumerable passages in
the works of the poet, all tend to confirm the fact.
That _linen_ had also an early existence is proved at a very anterior
period of the Jewish history. They had even fine linen previous to the
construction of the utensils used in sacred worship; as, in Exodus, an
ephod of linen is expressly mentioned; likewise in the xxvth chapter,
4th verse of that book, fine linen is expressly enumerated among those
presents that the people were expected to offer freely to the Lord
Jehovah. Whence we are justified in inferring they had most probably
learned in Egypt to carry its structure to great perfection.
We have linen mentioned likewise, in Homer, upon the breach of the
truce between the Grecians and Trojans with their auxiliary forces.
On Menelaus having been wounded by an arrow from the bow of Pandarus,
where the poet sweetly sings--
“But thee, Atrides, in that dangerous hour,
The gods forgot not, nor thy guardian power,
Pallas assists, (and weakened in its force),
Diverts the weapons from its destined course;
So, from her babe, when slumber seals his eye,
The watchful mother wafts the envenom’d fly.
Just where his belt, with golden buckles join’d,
Where LINEN folds the double corslet lin’d.
She turn’d the shaft, which, hissing from above,
Passed the broad belt, and through the corslet drove;
The folds it pierc’d, the plaited LINEN tore
And raz’d the skin, and drew the purple gore.”
From what appears in the subsequent, as well as the former, part of
this article, we submit, that the general manufacture of cloth, both
woollen and linen, has been established; and if this is made out, the
prior existence of the other subsidiary arts of spinning, weaving, &c.
cannot be denied.
There are hieroglyphical symbols in the British Museum, which denote
the various operations of the manufacture of cloths; and upon a
monument upwards of three thousand six hundred years old.
Numerous arts have been discovered by mere accident. We are told, the
very valuable operation of _feldt_making was discovered by a British
sovereign, whose feet being always cold in the winter, he had wool put
into his shoes; the moisture there contracted, the natural heat of the
body, with the action to which this wool was exposed, between the foot
and the shoe, caused the fleecy substance to consolidate; whence the
origin of that very necessary article, the _Hat_.
STOCKING MANUFACTURE.
The invention to which this article refers, affords a warm subject for
panegyric. That clothing for the feet be warm, medical writers have
in all ages recommended, and truly upon the most rational as well as
philosophic and experimental practice; the feet, lying the most remote
of any member from the heart, require, and particularly by people in
years, to be kept warm, in order for their present comfort, as well
as to promote the essential evacuation of superfluous humours, by
perspiration, without which no frame can be healthy. So strongly is
this precept impressed in our national moral habits, that it has formed
a general maxim for the preservation of health. Even Thomas Parr is
said to have observed, upon being asked to what cause he attributed the
protraction of his life, “To keep the head cool by temperance, and the
feet warm by exercise, to eat only when hunger required satisfaction,
and to drink only when thirsty.” We should suppose that this recipe
would be at least worth a waggon load of the puffed quack pills which
are palmed upon the public as made from a recipe left by that venerable
man.
The art of knitting nets is one of great antiquity, as those nets used
by the Hebrews, as well as by the Greeks, are conceived to be similar
to those used in the present day. It was thought by Ovid, in his sixth
“Metamorphosis,” that the public were indebted to the spider for the
origin of this ingenious invention; which would indeed seem probable,
as it appears that the insect is prompted to be thus ingenious for the
gratification of its natural wants, the web serving as a net or gin for
the capture of flies and other small insects which supply it with food.
And if our memory serve us, we recollect that the poet also, speaking
of flies, observes that the web of the spider serves to secure the
weak flies only, whilst the strong break it and escape; alluding to
the influence of wealth and power to pierce through those laws which
were made for the protection of the weak against the encroachments and
violence offered by the strong. The author of Job, in the eighteenth
chapter and ninth verse, mentions gins. However, in knitting stockings,
the operation, as well as the effect, is essentially different from
knitting nets. In the latter the twine is knotted into distinct meshes,
which are secured by knots; in the former, the entire substance is
produced without knots. To this distinction is to be ascribed the
reason why knit stockings may become unravelled. In the other species
the knots not only prevent the material being taken apart, but they
also render the nets sufficiently strong to prevent even vigorous fish
from escaping, yet being so capacious as to permit little fish to
escape with the water.