hen thick watches with removable cases were in fashion, and before the introduction of the present compact form, the outer case of the old-fashioned “turnip” was frequently the repository of verses and sundry devices, generally placed there by the watchmaker. Others, again, consisted of the maker’s name and address, with some appropriate maxim, and were printed on satin or worked with the needle, and occasionally so devised as to appear in a circle without a break, as in the following:
| “Onward perpetually moving These faithful hands are proving How soft the hours steal by; This monitory pulse-like beating, Is oftentimes methinks repeating, ‘Swift, swift, the hours do fly.’ Ready! be ready! perhaps before These hands have made One revolution more, Life’s spring is snapt,— You die!” |
A watch-paper described by a writer in “Notes and Queries” gave the address of Bowen, 2 Tichborne Street, Piccadilly, on a pedestal surmounted by an urn. On the other side of the label was a winged figure, holding in one hand a watch at arm’s length, and in the other a book. At her feet lay a sickle and a serpent with his tail in his mouth—the emblems of Time and Eternity. Round the circumference of the label were these lines—
| “Little monitor, impart Some instruction to the heart; Show the busy and the gay Life is wasting swift away. Follies cannot long endure, Life is short and death is sure. Happy those who wisely learn Truth from error to discern: Truth, immortal as the soul, And unshaken as the pole.” |
The bottom of the case was lined with rose-coloured satin, on which was a device in lace-paper—the central portion representing two hearts transfixed by arrows, and surmounted by a dove holding a wreath in its bill. A circular band enclosed the device, and bore the motto—
| “Joined by friendship, Crowned by love.” |
The lines next given are by Mr. J. Byrom, common called Dr. Byrom, whom we have previously referred to:
| “Could but our tempers move like this machine, Not urged by passion, nor delayed by spleen; But true to Nature’s regulating power, By virtuous acts distinguish every hour: Then health and joy would follow, as they ought, The laws of motion and the laws of thought: On earth would pass the pleasant moments o’er To rest in Heaven when Time shall be no more!” |
The last lines of this watch-paper have been occasionally varied to—