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.