It is curious to note that although sundials have ever been in use, since their discovery there seems to have existed from time to time what I would like to call waves of popularity in the history of “ye horologe.” Such are clearly marked by the many existing dials which appertain to certain periods. If we could only get a census of dates, it would be a matter of great interest to trace the state of the country at the time of varying output, and to note the years of war and peace, of prosperity and depression. I think it would be found that even as “ye horologe” marks only our sunny hours, so also the sunny hours of a nation’s life has bade the sundial live.
The marked interest that has been taken in the sundial during recent years shows it has still a great future before it. If, then, age can add to its value, and yet in nowise impair its reliability, who will be without such a garden ornament that gives also a gentle touch to what is already a beautiful possession? Calling upon the thoughtful as it does by many an apt line or verse to consider the brevity of time, it warns and exhorts with far greater emphasis than the voice of man. Though only of iron and stone, the work of men’s hands, it seems almost to gain our sympathy, for given to one who has experienced the ravages of time, it demonstrates the value of quiet endurance and resignation under trouble.
T. G. W. H.
Photograph No. 1 of Saxon Sundial built into the South Porch of a Norman Church, Stanton S. Quintin, Chippenham, Wilts.
Photograph No. 2 of the Saxon Sundial discovered by the Author at Stanton S. Quintin, Chippenham, Wilts.
Famous Men and the Sundial, with Notes on Mottoes.
CHAPTER II.
The study of “ye horologe” is a most pleasing occupation and a most engrossing science. So much so that when it has come before the special notice of the great men of bygone ages, it has always effected some lasting record of their interest, and oft-times improvement, in the construction of what was a most necessary acquisition for every establishment.
Shakespeare, in his Richard II. (act v. scene 5), makes King Richard, who was incarcerated in a dungeon in Pomfret Castle, give utterance to the following words:—