Horology (Vol. iv., p. 175.).
—H. C. K. will probably find all he requires in the Penny Cyclopædia (Articles "Horology" and "Pendulum"), or in a two-shilling volume published by Weale last year, Denison on Clocks, Chimes, &c., or in the other works enumerated below:—Ellicott on regulating Clocks, 4to., 1753; Vulliamy's Considerations on Public Clocks, 4to., 1828; Derham's Artificial Clock Maker, 12mo., 1734; Berthoudi's Essai sur l'Horlogerie, 4to., 2 vols. 1763.
H. T. E.
Clyst St. George.
Curfew (Vol. ii., p. 103.).
—In Charleston, the capital of the state of South Carolina, a bell is tolled twice every evening, at eight and ten o'clock in summer, and at seven and nine in winter: this custom dates from early times. At the ringing of the second bell the watch for the night is set, and our servants are prohibited from being abroad after that hour without a permit from their masters; the first bell subserves no purpose, and is merely rung in conformity to ancient usage. I am inclined to think that our ancestors had this bell rung in order to keep up the old custom of the curfew bell of their cherished mother-country. It is still a custom when "the first bell rings" for the younger children of the family to say "Good night," and retire to bed. This is the only practical use to which this early ringing is put, and a capital custom it is, though rather distasteful to the young folks when they are anxious to sit up a little longer.
H. H. B.
Monte Cavallo, South Carolina.
"Going the whole Hog" (Vol. iii., p. 250.).
—A querist asks information as to the origin of the American figure of speech "to go the whole hog." I apprehend its parentage belongs less to America than to Ireland, where a "hog" is still the synonym for a shilling, and a "tester" or "taster" for a sixpence. Previously to the assimilation of the currency of the two countries in 1825, a "white hog" meant the English shilling or twelve pence, and a "black hog" the Irish shilling, of thirteen pence. To "go the whole hog" is a convivial determination to spend the whole shilling, and the prevalence of the expression, with an extension of its applications in America, can be readily traced to its importation by the multitudes of emigrants from Ireland.