Hon. Mr. Barrington mentions that a thief was detected by watches called "strikers," which he says were introduced in the reign of Charles II.; but repeating watches were worn in the time of Ben Jonson. In his "Staple of News," we read—
—It strikes! one, two,
Three, four, five, six. Enough, enough, dear watch,
Thy pulse hath beat enough. Now stop and rest;
Would thou couldst make the time to do so too;
I'll wind thee up no more.
Too Many Watches.
Watches were very common in 1638. It is complained in the "Antipodes," a comedy of that year, that
—Every clerk can carry
The time of day in his pocket.
On which account a projector in the same play proposes to diminish the grievance by a
—Project against
The multiplicity of pocket watches.
Wearing Two Watches.
About 1770 it became the fashion to wear two watches. In a rhyming recipe of that date, "To Make a Modern Fop," appear the lines—
"A lofty cane, a sword with silver hilt,
A ring, two watches and a snuff-box gilt."