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.