The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 4, April, 1852Various
History
The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 4, April, 1852
Various
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- History -- Periodicals
Speaking of this monarch reminds us, that previous to the scattering of
the treasures of Strawberry Hill, there was preserved in the library
there a little clock, of silver gilt, the gift of Henry, on the morning
of his marriage, to the ill-fated Anne Boleyn. It was elaborately chased
and engraved, and adorned with fleurs-de-lys, and other heraldic
devices, and had on the top a lion supporting the arms of England. The
gilded weights represented _true-lovers-knots_, inclosing the initials
of Henry and Anne; and one bore the inscription, "The most happye," the
other the royal motto. Though more than three hundred years had passed
since the tragic ending of time with its original possessor, it was
still going when the ivory hammer of the famous Robins struck it down to
another new and more fortunate owner, About this period watches are said
to have been in use; and in the Holbein chamber of the collection just
mentioned, a bust of the royal _wife-slayer_, carved in box-wood,
represented him with a dial suspended on his breast. The earliest watch
known was one in Sir Ashton Lever's Museum, which bore date 1541; but
from various imperfections in the workmanship, they were not very
generally used till towards the end of Elizabeth's reign.
Shakspeare frequently mentions the clock, and in "Twelfth Night" he
makes Malvolio--"While exclaim, in his babblings of fancied greatness
I, perchance, _wind up my watch_, or play with some rich jewel," an
expression that would lead us to suppose that they were even then
regarded rather as toys or ornaments than things of necessary use.
Archbishop Parker, in 1575, left by will to the Bishop of Ely his staff
of Indian cane, with a _watch_ in the top of it; a position that savors
more of whim than utility. Yet the excellence of some of these ancient
timekeepers is remarkable; for Derham, in his "Artificial Clockmaker,"
mentions a watch of Henry VIII., which was in order in 1714, and of
which Dr. Demanbray had often heard Sir Isaac Newton and Demoivre speak;
and the old wooden-framed clock of Peterborough Cathedral, which,
instead of the usual key or winch, is wound up by long handles or
spikes--a sufficient proof of its antiquity--still strikes, says
Denison, upon a bell of considerable size.
Guy Fawkes carried a watch in a more practical spirit than Malvolio or
Archbishop Parker; Stowe tells us, one was found upon him which he and
Percy had bought the day before, "to try conclusions for the long and
short burning of the touch-wood with which he had prepared to give fire
to the train of powder;" a proof that even in the third year of the
reign of James I. watches were not commonly worn, or the circumstance
would not have been mentioned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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