A History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins, Volume I (of 2)

Plura alia graviaque prudens invenit.

Scipio Maffei endeavours to prove, that we are here to understand a clock moved by wheels and weights; but, in my opinion, his arguments are extremely weak. ‘This horologium,’ says he, ‘the like of which had been never seen, and which was different from a sun-dial, because it showed the hours in the night-time, could not be a clepsydra or water-clock, for clocks of that kind were not only known to the ancients, but even to the inhabitants of Italy in latter times, so that it could have been nothing but a clock like ours.’ But even if we allow, with this learned man, that water-clocks were known in Italy at that period, it cannot be denied that they were scarce, and used only by few, as may be evidently gathered from what is said of these machines by Cassiodorus. The greater part of the people might have been unacquainted with them at the above-mentioned time; and there is no necessity for adhering so closely to the words of the epitaph, ‘nullus ante viderat,’ as Maffei has done. Besides, Maffei himself destroys the foundation on which he rests his opinion; for he relates that a horologium nocturnum was sent to Pepin, king of France, by pope Stephen II. This appears from the pope’s own letter; but Maffei is under a mistake respecting the name, for it was Paul, and not Stephen. The letter, which may be found in the Codex Carolinus[1059 - Bouquet, Recueil des Historiens de la Gaule, tom. v. p. 513.], is dated in the year 756. Maffei thinks that this machine was of a construction different from that of a water-clock; but if it pointed out the hours in the day-time, as well as in the night, according to his supposition, there is no reason, as Muratori observes, why it should have been called horologium nocturnum. In my opinion, we ought here to understand a clepsydra, or water-clock, such as that used by Cassiodorus for the like purpose, and which Hildemar recommended in the ninth century to the monks, who were obliged to observe the hours. Hildemar says, ‘He who wishes to do this properly, must have horologium aquæ[1060 - See Martene De Ritib. Eccl. tom. iv. p. 5.].’

“That these water-clocks however were then scarce, as well as in the following centuries, we have reason to conclude from their being so little spoken of in the writings of those periods. In the ancient customs of the monastery of St. Viton, at Werden[1061 - Martene, tom. iv. p. 853.], written as is said in the tenth century, no mention of them occurs; and the monks regulated their prayers by the crowing of the cock; for it is said, ‘Cum lucem ales nunciaverit, dabuntur omnia signa in resurrectione Domini nostri,’ &c. I find as little mention of them in the eleventh century, even in passages where they could not have been omitted, had they been known. Thus, in a little work by Pet. Damiani, De Perfectione Monachorum, where the author speaks of the significator horarum, he does not so much as allude to a clepsydra. That the reader may know what he means by significator horarum, I shall here quote his own words: ‘He could not find time for idle fables, nor hold long conversations, nor finally could he trouble himself about what was done by the laity, but always intent on the duties of his office, always provident, always anxious, he felt a desire to construct a voluble sphere that should never stop, should show the passage of the stars and the flight of time. He also had a custom of singing to himself whenever he wished to have a notion as to the quantity of time; that, whenever the brightness of the sun or the position of the stars was obscured by the weather he might form a certain time-measurer by the quantity of psalmody he had accomplished[1062 - “Non fabulis vacet, non longa cum aliquo misceat, non denique, quid a secularibus agatur, inquirat; sed commissæ sibi curæ semper intentus, semper providus, semperque sollicitus, volubilis sphæræ necessitatem, quiescere nescientem, siderum transitum, et elabentis temporis meditetur semper excursum. Porro psallendi sibi faciat consuetudinem, si discernendi horas quotidianam habere desiderat notionem; ut, quandocunque solis claritas, sive stellarum varietas nubium densitate non cernitur, illic in quantitate psalmodiæ, quam tenuerit, quoddam sibi velut horologium metiatur.”].’

“Some ascribe the invention of our modern clocks to Gerbert, who, in the tenth century, was raised to the pontifical chair at Rome, under the name of Sylvester II., and who was reckoned to be the first mathematician and astronomer of his time[1063 - Journal des Sçavans, 1734, p. 773.]. This opinion however is supported only by mere conjecture, and appears to be false from the account of Dithmar, who says, ‘Gerbert, on being expelled from his country, sought the emperor Otho, and after a long conversation with him, made the time-piece in Magdeburg, constructing it correctly by taking as guide the polar star[1064 - Chron. lib. vi. p. 83. Franc. 1580. fol. “Gerbertus, a finibus suis expulsus, Ottonem petiit imperatorem, et cum eo diu conversatus, in Magdaburg horologium fecit, illud recte constituens, considerata per fistulam quadam stella nautarum duce.”].’ No mention is made here of wheels or weights, and this horologium seems to have been a sun-dial, which Gerbert fixed up by observing the polar star. It appears, indeed, that Gerbert was acquainted with no other kind of horologia; for those who speak of his book De Astrolabio, in which he explains the method of constructing dials for various latitudes, produce no further proofs[1065 - Le Beuf. Rec. de div. écrits, &c. vol. ii. p. 89.]. Some, according to the testimony of Kircher, consider this horologium to have been a portable dial, which showed the hour when properly set by the help of a needle touched with a magnet; but even this opinion is not warranted by the words of Dithmar.

“The anonymous author of the Life of William, abbot of Hirshau[1066 - Published by Car. Stengelius. Aug. Vind. 1611, p. 1.], who lived in the eleventh century, and who was a very learned man for his time, says, ‘Naturale horologium ad exemplum cælestis hæmispherii excogitasse.’ Though this passage is so short, that no idea can be formed from it of the construction of the machine, it is evident that it alludes neither to a sun-dial nor to a water-clock, but to some piece of mechanism which pointed out the hours and exhibited the motion of the earth and other planets. As more frequent mention of horologia occurs afterwards, and as, in speaking of them, expressions are used which cannot be applied to sun-dials or water-clocks, I am induced to think that the invention of our clocks belongs to this period. In the Constitutiones Hirsaugienses, or Gengebacenses, of the same William, it is said of the sacristan, ‘eum horologium dirigere et ordinare.’ In the like manner Bernardus Monachus, a writer of the same century, says, in the Ordo Cluniacensis, ‘apocrisiarium horologium dirigere et diligentius temperare.’ The same author, in the Ancient Customs, &c. of the Monastery of St. Victor, at Paris, written also about the same time, says that the registrar (matricularius), the sacrist’s companion, ought ‘horas canonicas nocte et die ad divinum celebrandum custodire, signa pulsare, horologium temperare.’

“The unequal hours then in use rendered this regulating of the horologia necessary. The days and the nights consisted of twelve hours each; but were sometimes shorter and sometimes longer. The reason of this is explained in the sixty-fourth chapter of the before-mentioned Customs, where it is said, ‘From the solstice of summer to the solstice of winter, the time-piece is regulated thus: as much as that space of night which precedes the matins gradually increases according to the increments of the nights through the several months, it, slowly increasing, makes that space in the winter solstice which is before matins to that which follows, twice. On the contrary, from the winter solstice to that of spring it is thus regulated: it decreases that space which it had got in advance according to the decrease of the nights through the several months, until scarcely decreasing, it at length in the summer solstice passes over in the same time that space which is before matins and that which follows[1067 - “Ab æstivali solstitio usque ad solstitium hiemale sic horologium temperetur, quatenus illud noctis spatium, quod matutinas præcedat, per singulos menses secundum incrementa noctium aliquantulum crescat, donec paulatim crescendo tandem in hiemali solstitio spatium illud, quod est ante matutinas, ad illud quod sequitur, duplum fiat. Similiter per contrarium ab hiemali solstitio usque ad æstivale solstitium sic temperetur, quatenus spatium, quod præcedit, secundum noctium decrementum per singulos menses decrescat, donec paulatim decrescendo, tandem in solstitio æstivali spatium, quod est ante matutinas, et quod post sequitur, æquale fiat.”].’ Such was the regulating of the horologia, and I much doubt whether it could be applied to water-clocks.

“These horologia not only pointed out the hours by an index, but emitted also a sound. This we learn from Primaria Instituta Canonicorum Præmonstratensium[1068 - Diss. ii. c. 8. ap. Martene De Ant. Rit. tom. iii. p. 909.], where it is ordered that the sacristan should regulate the horologium and make it sound before matins to awaken him. I dare not however venture thence to infer, that these machines announced the number of the hour by their sound, as they seem only to have given an alarm at the time of getting up from bed. I have indeed never yet found a passage where it is mentioned that the number of the hour was expressed by them; and when we read of their emitting a sound, we are to understand that it was for the purpose of wakening the sacristan to morning-prayers. The expression ‘horologium cecidit,’ which occurs frequently in the before-quoted writers, I consider as allusive to this sounding of the machine. Du Cange, in my opinion, under the word horologium, conceives wrongly the expression ‘de ponderibus in imum delapsis,’ because the machine was then at rest, and could rouse neither the sacristan nor any one else whose business it was to beat the scilla.

“I shall now produce other testimony which will serve further to confirm what I have here said of the origin of clocks. Calmet, in his Commentary on the Regulæ S. Benedicti, quotes from a book on the usages of the Cistercians, three passages which I shall give as he has translated them, because I have not access at present to the original. ‘We read,’ says he, ‘in chap. 21 of the first part of their Customs, compiled about the year 1120, that the bells will not be sounded for any service, not even for the clock, from the mass of Holy Thursday, to that of Holy Saturday; and in chap. 114, the sacristan is ordered to regulate the clock that it may strike and wake him during winter before matins or before the nocturns; and in chaps. 68 and 114, that when the brethren have risen too early the sacristan give notice to him who reads the last lesson to continue it until the clock strikes, or till signal be made to the reader to leave off[1069 - “On lit, au chap. 21 de la première partie de leurs Usages, compilez vers l’an 1120, qu’on ne fera sonner les cloches pour aucun exercice, pas même pour l’Horloge, dépuis la messe du Jeudi saint jusqu’à celle du Samedi saint; et au chap. 114, il est ordonné au sacristain de regler l’Horloge, en sorte qu’elle sonne, et qu’elle l’éveille pendant l’hyver avant matines, ou avant les nocturnes; et au chap. 68 et 114, que quand on s’est levé trop tôt, le sacristain avertît celui qui lit la dernière leçon, de la prolonger jusqu’à ce que l’Horloge sonne, ou qu’on fasse signe au lecteur de cesser.”].’

“The use of these machines must have been continued from that period, for we find them mentioned in the thirteenth century, in the commentary of Bernardus Cassinensis (Bernard of Cassino) on the unpublished Regulæ S. Benedicti, from the eighth chapter of which Martene gives the following quotation: ‘But the eighth hour being already come, there was sufficient interval, – from the middle of the night, when he who had care of the clock rose to strike it and to light the lamps of the church which might have gone out on account of the length of the night, and to ring the bells in order to wake the sleeping brothers, – that he was able to get through half the eighth hour before the brothers had risen[1070 - Rit. Ant. tom. iv. p. 5. “Facta autem jam hora octava, modicum erit amplius de media nocte quando surrexerit, horologio excitante, qui habet horologium custodire, et accensis lucernis ecclesiæ, quæ poterant propter prolixitatem noctis fuisse obscuratæ, ac pulsatis campanis ad dormientium fratrum excitationem, potuit transire dimidia octavæ horæ antequam surrexerint fratres.”].’ It is said also in the Chronicon Mellicense, in Du Cange, ‘Some one, deputed by the superior who had the care of the striking clock, struck; and also carried light to all the cells[1071 - Cap. 774. “Excitabit aliquis a superiore deputatus, qui horologium excitatorium habeat; ad omnes quoque cellas lumen deferat.”].’

“As all arts are at first imperfect, it is observed of these clocks that they sometimes deceived; and hence, in the Ordo Cluniacensis Bernardi Mon., the person who regulated the clock is ordered, in case it should go wrong, ‘ut notet in cereo, et in cursu stellarum vel etiam lunæ, ut fratres surgere faciat ad horam competentem.’ The same admonition is given in the Constitutiones Hirsaugienses.

“From what has been said I think it is sufficiently apparent that clocks moved by wheels and weights began certainly to be used in the monasteries in Europe, about the eleventh century. I do not, however, think that Europe is entitled to the honour of this invention; but that it is rather to be ascribed to the Saracens, to whom we are indebted for most of the mathematical sciences. This conjecture is supported by the horologium, which, as Trithemius tells us, was sent by the sultan of Egypt, in the year 1232, to the emperor Frederic II. ‘In the same year,’ says he, ‘the Saladin of Egypt sent by his ambassadors as a gift to the emperor Frederic a valuable machine of wonderful construction worth more than five thousand ducats. For it appeared to resemble internally a celestial globe in which figures of the sun, moon, and other planets formed with the greatest skill moved, being impelled by weights and wheels, so that performing their course in certain and fixed intervals they pointed out the hour night and day with infallible certainty; also the twelve signs of the zodiac with certain appropriate characters, moved with the firmament, contained within themselves the course of the planets[1072 - “Eodem anno, Saladinus Egyptiorum Frederico imperatori dono misit per suos oratores tentorium pretiosum, mirabili arte compositum, cujus pretii æstimatio quinque ducatorum millium procul valorem excessit. Nam ad similitudinem sphærarum cælestium intrinsecus videbatur constructum, in quo imagines solis, lunæ, ac reliquorum planetarum artificiosissime compositæ movebantur ponderibus et rotis incitatæ; ita videlicet, quod, cursum suum certis ac debitis spatiis peragentes, horas tam noctis quam diei infallibili demonstratione designabant; imagines quoque xii signorum zodiaci certis distinctionibus suis motæ cum firmamento cursum in se planetarum continebant.”].’

“The writers of this century speak in such a manner of clocks that it appears they must, at that period, have been well-known. Gulielmus Alvernus, disputing against those who deny the existence of the soul, after producing various arguments, thus obviates one which might be used against him. ‘Neither,’ says he, ‘do the motions of those clocks which are moved by water or weights give you uneasiness, both kinds of which move but for a short and moderate time, require frequent repair, the arranging of their parts, and the perfect skill of the astronomer who has a thorough knowledge of his art. But in the bodies of animals and vegetables the motive power is entirely internal, which moderates and regulates the movements of their parts and renders it in all ways perfect[1073 - De Anima, c. i. p. 7, 72. “Nec te conturbant, inquit, motus horologiorum, qui per aquam fiunt et pondera, quæ quidem ad breve tempus et modicum fiunt, et indigent renovatione frequenti, et aptatione instrumentorum suorum, atque operatione forinsecus, astrologi videlicet qui peritiam habet hujus artificii. In corporibus vero animalium vel etiam vegetabilium totum intus est, intra ea scilicet, quod motus eorum atque partium suarum moderatur, et regit, ac modis omnibus perficit.”].’ And Dante, the Italian poet, says[1074 - Parad. cant. xxiv. ver. 13.],

E come cerchi in tempra d’ orivoli
Si giran, si che ’l primo, a chi pon mente
Quieto pare, e l’ ultimo che voli, &c.

“In the fourteenth century mention is made of the machine of Richard de Wallingford, which has been hitherto considered as the oldest clock known. The description of it I shall give in the words of Leland: ‘Being chosen superior of the monastery, as he was now enabled by his ample fortune, he resolved to show by means of some glorious work a miracle not only of genius, but also of excelling knowledge. He therefore with great labour, with greater expense and with the utmost art, constructed such a clock as, in my opinion, exists nowhere else in Europe; whether we observe the course of the sun and moon, or the fixed stars, again, whether we consider the ebb and flow of the tide, or the lines together with the figures and demonstrations various almost to infinity: and when he had brought to perfection this work so worthy of eternity, he drew up rules for it, as he was the first man of his age in mathematical learning, which he published in this book, lest so excellent a machine should fall into disrepute through the mistakes of the monks, or should become silent from the law of its structure being unknown[1075 - “Electus in monasterii præsidem – cum jam per amplas licebat fortunas, voluit illustri aliquo opere non modo ingenii, verum etiam eruditionis ac artis excellentis miraculum ostendere. Ergo talem horologii fabricam magno labore, majore sumtu, arte vero maxima compegit, qualem non habet tota, mea opinione, Europa secundam; sive quis cursum solis ac lunæ, seu fixa sidera notet, sive iterum maris incrementa et decrementa, seu lineas una cum figuris ac demonstrationibus ad infinitum pene variis consideret: cumque opus æternitate dignissimum ad umbilicum perduxisset, canones, ut erat in mathesi omnium sui temporis facile primus, edito in hoc libro scripsit, ne tam insignis machina errore monachorum vilesceret, aut incognito structuræ ordine sileret.” – See Tanneri Biblioth. Brit. Hibern. p. 629.].’ This machine, if I remember right, was called by the inventor Albion (all by one).

“Clocks hitherto had been, as it were, shut up in monasteries; but they now began to be employed for the common use and convenience of cities, though no instance of this is to be found before the above period. Hubert, prince of Carrara, caused the first clock ever publicly erected, to be put up at Padua, as we are told by Peter Paul Vergerius: ‘He caused to be built at the top of the tower, a clock, in which, during day and night, the four-and-twenty hours pointed themselves out[1076 - In Vit. Princip. Carrar. ap. Murator. tom. xvi. p. 171. “Horologium, quo per diem et noctem quatuor et viginti horarum spatia sponte sua designarentur, in summa turri constituendum curavit.”].’ It is said to have been made by James Dondi, whose family afterwards got the name of Horologio[1077 - See Scardeonius De Antiq. Urbis Patavii, lib. ii. class. 9, p. 205, ed. Basil, 1560, fol. and the authors which he quotes.]. In remembrance of this circumstance the following verses were inscribed on his tombstone: —

Quin procul excelsæ monitus de vertice turris
Tempus, et instabiles numero quod colligis horas,
Inventum cognosce meum, gratissime lector.

“John Dondi, son of the former, acquired no less fame by a clock which he constructed also, and which is thus described: ‘In which was the firmament and all the planetary globes, so that the movements of all the stars were comprised as in the heavens; it shows the days appointed for festivals and many other things wonderful to be seen: so great was the admirable construction of this clock, that after his death no one knew how to correct it, nor to assign the suitable weights. At length a skilful artist from France, attracted by the fame of this clock, came to Pavia, and employed many days in arranging the wheels, which he succeeded in putting together in proper order, and gave it the right motion[1078 - “In quo erat firmamentum, et omnium planetarum sphæræ, ut sic siderum omnium motus, veluti in cœlo, comprehendantur; festa edicta in dies monstrat, plurimaque alia oculis stupenda; tantaque fuit ejus horologii admiranda congeries, ut usque modo post ejus relictam lucem corrigere, et pondera convenientia assignare sciverit astrologus nemo. Verum de Francia nuper astrologus et fabricator magnus, fama horologii tanti ductus, Papiam venit, plurimisque diebus in rotas congregandas elaboravit; tandemque actum est, ut in unum, eo quo decebat ordine, composuerit, motumque ut decet dederit.” – These are the words of Mich. Savanarola in Comm. de Laud. Patav. in Muratori, vol. xxiv. col. 1164.].’

“We are informed by the Chronica Miscella Bononiensis, that the first clock at Bologna was fixed up in the year 1356: ‘On the 8th day of April the great bell of the tower, which was in the palace called della Biada, belonging to Giovanni, lord of Bologna, was removed; and was conveyed into the Corte del Capitano, and was drawn up and placed on the tower del Capitano on Holy Wednesday; and this was the first clock which the state of Bologna ever possessed, and it began to strike on the 19th of May, which Messer Giovanni caused it to do[1079 - In Muratori, tom. xviii. p. 444. “A di 8 di Aprile fu tolta via la campana grossa della torre, ch’ era nel palazzo di Messer Giovanni signor di Bologna, il qual palazzo dicevasi della Biada; e fu menata nella Corte del Capitano, e tirata e posta sulla Torre del Capitano nel Mercoledi Santo; e questo fu l’ orologio, il quale fu il primo, che avesse mai il Commune di Bologna, e si commincio a sonare a di 19 di Maggio, il quale lo fece fare Messer Giovanni.”].’

“Some time after the year 1364, Charles V., surnamed the Wise, king of France, caused a large clock to be placed in the tower of his palace, by Henry de Wyck[1080 - Moreri, Diction. art. Horloge du Palais.], whom he invited from Germany, because there was then at Paris no artist of that kind, and to whom he allowed a salary of six sols per day, with free lodging in the tower.

“Towards the end of the century, about the year 1370, Strasburg also had a clock, a description of which is given by Conrad Dasypodius[1081 - In the account of the astronomical clock at Strasburg, to be found in lac. von Königshovens Elsass und Strasb. Chronik. p. 574.].

“Courtray, about the same period, was celebrated for its clock, which was carried away by the duke of Burgundy, in the year 1382. This circumstance is thus related by Froissart, a contemporary writer: ‘The duke of Burgundy took away a clock (which struck the hours), one of the best to be found, either here or beyond the sea: and he caused this clock to be taken to pieces and placed upon carriages and the bell also. This clock was conveyed to the town of Dijon in Burgundy; and was there put together again and set up; and there it strikes the four-and-twenty hours in the course of day and night[1082 - “Le duc de Bourgogne fit oster un horloge (qui sonnoit les heures), l’un des plus beaux qu’on seust trouver deçà ne delà la mer: et celui horloge fit tout mettre, par membres et pieces, sur chars, et la cloche aussi. Lequel horloge fut amené et charroyé en la ville de Digeon en Bourgogne, et fut là remis et assis: et y sonne les heures vingt-quatre, entre jour et nui.” – Vol. ii. c. 128, p. 229.].’

“We are told by Lehmann[1083 - Lib. vii. c. 69, towards the end.], that a public clock was put up at Spire in the year 1395. ‘That year,’ says he, ‘the clock was erected on the Altburg gate. The bell for calling the people together to divine worship was cast by a bell-founder from Strasburg. – The works of the clock cost fifty-one florins.’

“The greater part however of the principal cities of Europe were at this period without striking clocks, which could not be procured but at a great expense. Of this we have an instance in the city of Auxerre. In the year 1483, the magistrates resolved to cause a clock to be constructed; but as it would cost a larger sum of money than they thought they had a right to dispose of by their own authority, they applied to Charles VIII. to request leave to employ a certain part of the public funds for that purpose.

“The great clock in the church of the Virgin Mary at Nuremberg was erected in the year 1462.

“A public clock was put up at Venice in the year 1497[1084 - Thes. Ital. iii. p. 3, p. 308.].

“In the same century an excellent clock, which is described in a letter of Politian[1085 - Politiani Op. 1533, 8vo, p. 121.] to Francis Casa, in the year 1484, was constructed by one Lorenzo, a Florentine, for Cosmo I. of Medici.

“Towards the end of this century clocks began to be in use among private persons. This appears from a letter of Ambrosius Camaldulensis to Nicolaus, a learned man of Florence: ‘When I received your letter I immediately made ready your clock, and should have sent it had any one been at hand to have taken it. I have caused it to be cleaned, for it was full of dust, and thus as it could not go freely it was retarded; and because it could not thus run correctly, I gave it to that illustrious youth Angelo, who is most skilful in these things[1086 - “Horologium tuum mox, ut tuas accepi literas, paravi, misissemque, si fuisset præsto qui afferret. Ipsam mundari feci, nam erat pulvere obsitum, atque ideo, ne libere posset incedere. retardabatur. Et quia ne sic quidem recte currebat, Angelo illi illustri adolescenti harum rerum peritissimo dedi.”].’

“About this period also, mention is made of watches. Among the Italian poems of Gaspar Visconti, there is a sonnet with the following title: ‘Si fanno certi orologii piccioli e portativi, che non poco di artificio sempre lavorano, mostrando le ore, e molti corsi de pianeti, e le feste, sonando quando il tempo lo ricerca. Questo sonetto è facto in persona de uno inamorato, che, guardando uno delli predicti orologii, compara se stesso a quello, &c.’[1087 - This sonnet I shall here transcribe from A. Saxii Hist. Litterario-typographica Mediolan.: —Hò certa occulta forza in la secretaParte del cor, qual sempre si lavoraDe sera a sera, e d’una a l’altra aurora,Che non spero la mente aver mai quieta.Legger ben mi potria ogni discretaVista nel fronte, ove amor coloraD’affanno e di dolore il punto e l’ora,E la cagion, che riposar mi vieta.L’umil squilletta sona il pio lamento,Che spesso mando al cielo, e la fortuna,Per disfogar cridando il fier tormento.De le feste annual non ne mostro una,Ma pianeti iracondi, e di spavento,Eclipsati col sole, e con la luna.Dominico Maria Manni, in his book De Florentinis Inventis, chap. 29, calls the artist Lorenzo a Vulparia, and says that he was a native of Florence.]

“It appears, therefore, that Doppelmayer is mistaken when he says that watches were invented by Peter Hele, at Nuremberg, in the sixteenth century; and that because they were shaped like an egg, they were called Nuremberg animated eggs. I. Cocleus, in his Description of Germany, speaking of this Hele, says, ‘This young man has performed works which the most skilful mathematicians may admire. For he makes small watches of steel with numerous wheels, which, as they move without any weight, both point out and strike forty hours, even though they are contained in the bosom or in the pocket[1088 - Added to his Comm. in Pomp. Melam, cap. de Noriberga. “Eum juvenem adhuc admodum, opera efficere, quæ vel doctissimi admirentur mathematici. Nam ex ferro parva fabricat horologia plurimis digesta rotulis, quæ, quocunque vertantur, absque ullo pondere, et monstrant et pulsant xl horas, etiam si in sinu marsupiove contineantur.”].’”

CLOCKS AND WATCHES[1089 - This article was written by the Hon. Daines Barrington. It is here given with the addition of Professor Beckmann’s notes, which are distinguished by the initials of his name.] (ADDITIONAL)

The term Horologia occurs very early in different parts of Europe; but as this word, in old times, signified dials as well as clocks, nothing decisive can be inferred from it, unless it can be shown by concomitant circumstances or expressions, that it relates to a clock rather than a dial. Dante seems to be the first author who hath introduced the mention of an orologio that struck the hour, and which consequently cannot be a dial, in the following lines: —

Indi come horologio che ne chiami,
Nel hora che la sposa d’Idio surge,
Amattinar lo sposo, perche l’ami[1090 - Dante, Paradiso, c. x.].

Dante was born in 1265, and died in 1321, aged fifty-seven; striking-clocks therefore could not have been very uncommon in Italy, at the latter end of the thirteenth century or the beginning of the fourteenth.

But the use of clocks was not confined to Italy at this period; for we had an artist in England about the same time, who furnished the famous clock-house near Westminster Hall, with a clock to be heard by the courts of law, out of a fine imposed on the Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, in the sixteenth year of Edward I., or in 1288[1091 - Selden, in his preface to Hengham.]. Blackstone in his Commentaries has observed, that this punishment of Radulphus de Hengham is first taken notice of in the Year Book[1092 - Mic. 2 Ric. III.], during the reign of Richard III., where indeed no mention is made of a clock being thus paid for; but if the circumstances stated in the report of this case are considered, it was highly unnecessary, and perhaps improper, to have alluded to this application of the Chief Justice’s fine.

It appears by the Year Book, that Richard III. had closeted the judges in the Inner Star Chamber, to take their opinions upon three points of law; the second of which was, “Whether a justice of the peace, who had enrolled an indictment, which had been negatived by the grand-jury, amongst the true bills, might be punished for this abuse of his office.” On this question a diversity of opinion arose amongst the judges, some of whom supposed that a magistrate could not be prosecuted for what he might have done, whilst others contended that he might, and cited the case of Hengham, who was fined eight hundred marks for making an alteration in a record, by which a poor defendant was to pay only six shillings and eightpence, instead of thirteen shillings and fourpence. Thus far the answer of the judges to the question was strictly proper; but the application of the fine to build a clock-house was not the least material[1093 - We find that this clock was considered, during the reign of Henry VI., to be of such consequence, that the king gave the keeping of it, with the appurtenances, to William Warby, dean of St. Stephens, together with the pay of sixpence per diem, to be received at the Exchequer. See Stow’s London, vol. ii. p. 55. The clock at St. Mary’s, Oxford, was also furnished in 1523, out of fines imposed on the students of the university.]; besides, that it was probably a most notorious fact to every student, upon his first attending Westminster-hall, as we find judge Southcote, so much later, in the early part of queen Elizabeth’s reign, not only mentioning the tradition, but that the clock still continued there, which had been furnished out of the Chief Justice’s fine[1094 - III. Inst. p. 72.]. Sir Edward Coke likewise adds, that the eight hundred marks were actually entered on the roll, so that it is highly probable he had himself seen the record[1095 - IV. Inst. p. 255.].

But we have remaining to this day some degree of evidence, not only of the existence of such a clock, but that it is of the antiquity already ascribed to it, viz. the reign of Edward I. On the side of New Palace-yard, which is opposite to Westminster-hall, and in the second pediment of the new buildings from the Thames, a dial is inserted with this remarkable motto upon it, “Discite justitiam moniti,” which seems most clearly to relate to the fine imposed on Radulphus de Hengham being applied to the paying for a clock. But it may be said that this inscription is on a dial and not upon a clock; which though it appears upon the first stating it to be a most material objection, yet I conceive it may receive the following satisfactory answer. The original clock of Edward the First’s reign was probably a very indifferent one, but from its great antiquity, and the tradition attending it, was still permitted to remain till the time of queen Elizabeth, according to the authorities already cited. After this, being quite decayed, a dial might have been substituted and placed upon the same clock-house, borrowing its very singular motto; which whether originally applied in the time of Edward I. or in later reigns, most plainly alludes to Hengham’s punishment for altering a record. It should also be mentioned that this dial seems to have been placed exactly where the clock-house stood according to Strype[1096 - p. 55, in his Additions to Stow. This clock-house continued in a ruined state till the year 1715. – Grose’s Antiquarian Repertory, p. 280.].

Mr. Norris, secretary to the Society of Antiquaries, hath been likewise so obliging as to refer me to the following instance of a very ancient clock in the same century: Anno 1292, novum orologium magnum in ecclesia (Cantuariensi), pretium 30l.[1097 - Dart’s Canterbury, Appendix, p. 3.].

I shall now produce a proof, that not only clocks but watches were made in the beginning of the fourteenth century. Seven or eight years ago, some labourers were employed at Bruce Castle, in Fifeshire, where they found a watch, together with some coin, both of which they disposed of to a shopkeeper of St. Andrews, who sent the watch to his brother in London, considering it as a curious piece of antiquity. The outer case is silver, raised in rather a handsome pattern over a ground of blue enamel; and I think I can distinguish a cypher of R. B. at each corner of the enchased work. On the dial-plate is written Robertus B. Rex Scotorum, and over it is a convex transparent horn, instead of the glasses which we use at present. Now Robertus B. Rex Scotorum can be no other king of Scotland than Robert Bruce, who began his reign in 1305, and died in 1328; for the Christian name of Baliol, who succeeded him, was Edward; nor can Robertus B. be applied to any later Scottish king. This very singular watch is not of a larger size than those which are now in common use; at which I was much surprised till I had seen several of the sixteenth century in the collection of Sir Ashton Lever and Mr. Ingham Forster, which were considerably smaller.

As I mean to deduce the progress of the art of clock-making in a regular chronological series, the next mention I find of horologia is in Rymer’s Fœdera, where there is a protection of Edward III., in the year 1368, to three Dutchmen, who were Orlogiers. The title of this protection is, “De horologiorum artificio exercendo;” and I hope to have sufficiently proved that there was no necessity of procuring mere dial-makers at this time.

Clock-makers however were really wanted at this period of the fourteenth century, as may be inferred from the following lines of Chaucer, when he speaks of a cock’s crowing: —

Full sikerer was his crowing in his loge,
As is a clock, or any abbey orloge[1098 - Chaucer was born in 1328, and died in 1400.]:

by which, as I conceive at least, our old poet means to say, that the crowing was as certain as a bell or abbey-clock[1099 - To the time of queen Elizabeth clocks were often called orologes:He’ll watch the horologe a double set,If drink rock not his cradle. – Othello, act ii. sc. 3.by which the double set of twelve hours on a clock is plainly alluded to, as not many more than twelve can be observed on a dial; and in the same tragedy this last time-measurer is called by its proper name:More tedious than the dial eight score times. – Ibid. act iii. sc. 4.The clock of Wells cathedral is also, to this day, called the horologe.]. For though we at present ask so often, “What is it o’clock?” meaning the time-measurer, yet I should rather suppose, that in the fourteenth century the term clock was often applied to a bell which was rung at certain periods, determined by an hour-glass or a sun-dial. Nor have I been able to stumble upon any passage which alludes to a clock, by that name, earlier than the thirteenth year of the reign of Henry VIII.[1100 - See Dugdale’s Origines Jurid. Lydgate, therefore, who wrote before the time of Henry VIII., says,I will myself be your orologereTo-morrow early. – Prologue to the Storye of Thebes.] The abbey orloge (or clock) however must have been not uncommon when Chaucer wrote these lines; and from clocks beginning to be in use we might have had occasion for more artificers in this branch, though it should seem that we had Englishmen, who pretended at least to understand it, because the protection of Edward III. above-cited, directs that the persons to whom it was granted, should not be molested whilst they were thus employed.

I now pass on to a famous astronomical clock, made by one of our countrymen in the reign of Richard II., the account of which I have extracted from Leland. Richard of Wallingford was son of a smith, who lived at that town, and who, from his learning and ingenuity, became abbot of St. Albans. Leland, speaking of him, says, “Cum jam per amplas licebat fortunas, voluit illustri aliquo opere, non modo ingenii, verum etiam eruditionis, ac artis excellentis, miraculum ostendere. Ergo talem horologii fabricam magno labore, majore sumtu, arte vero maxima, compegit, qualem non habet tota Europa, mea opinione, secundam, sive quis cursum solis ac lunæ, seu fixa sidera notet, sive iterum maris incrementa et decrementa[1101 - Leland de Script. Brit. [The translation of this passage will be found at p. 350 (#Page_350).]].” Richard of Wallingford wrote also a treatise on this clock, “Ne tam insignis machina vilesceret errore monachorum, aut incognito structuræ ordine silesceret.” From what hath been above stated, it appears that this astronomical clock continued to go in Leland’s time, who was born at the latter end of Henry VII.’s reign, and who speaks of a tradition, that this famous piece of mechanism was called Albion by the inventor.

Having thus endeavoured to prove that clocks were made in England from the time of Edward I. to that of Richard II., it is not essential to my principal purpose to deduce them lower through the successive reigns; but when I have shortly stated what I happened to have found with regard to this useful invention in other parts of Europe, I shall attempt to show why they were not more common in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

The citation from Dante, which I have before relied upon, shows that they were not unknown in Italy during that period; and M. Falconet, in Mémoires de Litterature, informs us, that a James Dondi, in the fourteenth century, assumed from a clock made by him for the tower of a palace, the name of Horologius, which was afterwards borne by his descendants.

In France, or what is now so called, Froissart mentions, that during the year 1332, Philip the Hardy, duke of Burgundy, removed from Courtray to his capital at Dijon a famous clock which struck the hours, and was remarkable for its mechanism[1102 - Froissart, vol. ii. ch. 127.]. The great clock at Paris was put up in the year 1370, during the reign of Charles V., having been made by Charles de Wic[1103 - Falconet, Mémoires de Litt. vol. xx.] a German. Carpentier, in his supplement to Du Cange, cites a decision of the parliament of Paris in the year 1413, in which Henry Bye, one of the parties, is styled Gubernator Horologii palatii nostri Parisiis[1104 - See Carpentier, art. Horologiator.]. About the same time also the clock at Montargis was made, with the following inscription: —

Charles le Quint (sc. de France)