The Sun.
London, England, 1823-12-23 00:00:00

• CLOCKS AND WATCHES.

Striking Clocks, or clocks which strike the
hour, are first mentioned by Dante, the Italian
poet, who died 1321, as then common in Italy.—
And about the same time, the famons clock-
house opposite Westminster Ball was furnished
with a clock to be heard by the Courts of Law,
out of a fine imposed on the Chief Justice of the
King's Bench, in the 16th year of the reign of
Edward I. (1288.) A new great clock for Can-
terbury Cathedral is mentioned to have been put
up also in 1299, and to have cost 301.

The next mention of horologic!, or clocks, is in
Rymer's Ryden!, where there is a protection of
Edward 111. (1368) to three Dutchmen, who
were orlogiers. That clockrnakers were really
wanted at this period, may be inferred from the
following lines of Chaucer, when he speaks of
a cork's crowing:—

" Full sikorer was his crowing in his loge,
As is a clock, or an abbey orloge ;"
by which our old poet means to say, that the
crowing was as certain as a bell or abbey clock.
For although we at present ask so often,
" What is it o'clock ?" (meaning the time mea-
surer), yet it seems that in the fourteenth century
clock was often applied to a bell, which was rung
at certain periods, determined by the hour-glass
or sun,dial. Nor
,does there appear any passage
which alludes to "a clock by that name, earlier
than the 13th of Henry VIII. Lydgafe, there-
fore, who wrote before thetime of that Monarch,
says—
Wl' • /
will myse e soar or °ore
To-morrow early.'
Prologue to the Storyf of Thebes.
And Shakspeare, in • his Othello, has the same
term, which proves its me to have been retained
as late as the reign of Elizabeth :
" He'll watch the horolege a double set
If drink rock not his cradle."
The faMous astronomical clock made by one of
our countrymen (Richard of Wallingford) in the
reign of Richard 11. continued to go until the
reign of Henry VIII., at which time it is. men-
tioned in high terms of admiration by Lelanch
This celebrated piece of mechanism was called
Albion by the inventor. ,"

WATCHES are not of such ancient invention as
clocks, but were made much earlier than has
been generally supposed. This fact was proved
some years since by a discovery made by some
labourers, who, being employed at Bruce Castle,
in Fifeshire, found there a watch, together with
some coin ;
,both of which they disposed of to a
shop-keeper of St. Andrew's, who sent the watch
to his brother in London, considering it as a
curious piece of antiquity, and from whom it
came into the possession of his late Majesty.
The outer case of this very curious relic was
of silver, raised, in rather a handsome pattern,
over a ground of blue enamel ; with the cypher,
very indistinct, of it. B. at each corner of the en-
chased work. On the dial place was written
Robertus B. Rex Seottorum, and over it was a
thin, convex, transparent horn, instead of the
glasses which we use at present. Robert Bruce,
King of Scotland, to whom this watch evidently
belonged, died in 1318, a date far beyond that
generally assigned to this species of invention.
What is singular, this watch is not much larger
than those now in common use. In the 16th
century they were made much smaller.

Derham (in his Artfficial Clock Maker, pub-
lished 1714) mentions a watch of Henry VIII,
which was still in order; and Dr. Demainbray
affirmed that he had heard both Sir Isaac• Ne-
wton and Demoivre speak of this watch.
The Emperor Charles V. (Henry's contem-
porary) was so much pleased with these time-
measurers, that he used to sit after his dinner
with severalof them on the table, his bottle be-
fore him in the centre, and when he retired to
the monastery of St. Just, he continued still to
amuse himself by keeping them in order, which
is said to have produced a reflection from him on
the absurdity acids attempt to regulate the mo-
tions of the different powers of Europe.
Some of the watches used at this time seen) to
have been strikers ; at least we find in the Me-
moirs of Literature, that such watches having
been stolen, both from Charles V. and Lewis the
Xlth of France, whilst they were in a crowd,the
thief was detected by their striking the hour.
In most of the more ancient watches, particu-
larly those in the late Leverian Collection, and
that of Mr. Ingrom Foster, catgut supplied the
place of a chain, whilst they were commonly of
a smaller size than we use at present, and often
of an oval form. And Pancirollus informs us,
that about the end of the loth century, watchek
were made no larger than an almond, by a man
vrhose name was Mermecide.

From these, and many other imperfections,
they were not in any degree of general request
till the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's reign ;
accordingly, in Shakepeare's Twelfth Night,Mal-
volio says,—
I frown the while, and perchance wind up my watch,•or
play with some rich jewel."
In the 3d of James I. a watch,wes found upon
Guy Fawkes, which ho and Percy had bought
the day before, " to try conclusions for the long
and short burning of the touch wood, with which
they had prepared to give fire to the train of
powder."

In 1631, Charles the First incorporated the
Clockmakers ; and the charter prohibits clocks,
watches, and alarms, from being exported, which
sufficiently proves that they were now more com-
monly used, as well as that we had artists of our
own, who were expert in this branch of the
business.

About the middle of the 17th century, Huy-
gens made his great improvement in clock-work,
which produced many others from our own coun-
trymen ; the latest of which was the introduction
of repeating watches in the time of Charles the
Second, who is said to have sent one of the first
of these new inventions as a present to Louis
XI V.
The former of these Kings was very curious
with regard to these watches; and an old person
of the trade, many years since, was heard to say
he remembered that the watch-makers (particu-
larly East), used to attend whilst he was playing
at the mall, a. watch being often the stake. And
a more curious anecdote still, of royal attention
to watches, is told in Dr. Derham's

Clock Maker :—One Barlow had procured a 13'
tent, in concert with the Lord Chief Justice Al
lebone, for repeaters; but Quare (anothernlaker)
making one at the same time, upon ideavhe haJ
entertained before the patent --was -graat'd
James the Second tried both, and giving the pre
ference to Quare'j and it was notified in Eh'
Gazette.

In the succeeding reign the reputation of ti
English work in this branch was such, that in lb'
year 1698, an Act passed, obliging the quik'T
'to put their names on watches, lest discreditabß
ones might be sold abroad for English.
" The oldest clock we now have in England, that isOP.:
posed to go tolerably, is of the year 1540, the initial lettetio
the makers name being N. O. It is in the Palace of Hal°
Court."—(Derham's Artificial Clock maker.)
The late Lord Orford had a clock in his pos'
session, ,at Strawberry Hill, which appears by
the inscription to have been a present from
Henry the Eighth to Anne Boleyn. Payne',
Bishop of- Winchester, likewise gave an astrono•
mica! clock to the same King.

LONDON MARKETS.

PRICE or BREAD. H_nricte
' The pi ice of tin 41b. Loaf is stated at yid. by the r
bakers. There are others of the trade wh4 sell horn
penny to three halfpence below that rate.

- IMPORI'ATIONS CO' GRAIN LAST' WE.Er'i,ui....w
B 3
English. tri••
,
Wheat li
5,979
..--•
atley
Malt -
......
4,162 --
Oats
Rye
34 --
......-
ltWsfls .......... ........ . 1,387 .
.....--*
.--
--- Peas
9,098 __..
Tare' ~ ---
-- '
.... . . •----
'Rapeacrd -
- 35 ---
-,--
Mustard -
.....--
Secds
409 ....-.
----
Flour
... 8,033 ---
Drank
47
. ' Linse,d

830

V() SEE:DN, Dec. 511. 7l, MI lig'
Old English Clorcr,aBs7*s---S--nelf,',„. wt74190'
Ditto (reign) 3as 44s 7Si—fine, iias 7is M "
s oi gss
White ditto ............ 65s 703. 604—tilir. gil ; '
„se oil.
Trefoil .. per cwt.. las 25s iris—new 105 16s 0
IRI by ass ... ................ gas 345—new, 40' 43s
Qarraway Seeds ........... 4ds 524 54s
Coriander do . les. I gs—ti tie. 13b
fives per bushel ss &1 to 9, 6,1 Os
St.Foin 3os to 366--fine ..., per gr.
nye-GraiS• • •• . ...... Ids to .24s—fine, sos 335 —1 per fir'
Canary per qr 4ds 506 to 521 Od per it.
White Mustard Seed los to ins (id
tiroten ditto 9s 12s 145 Od
Vtrinter Tarea —s to —s Oil —s per qr. Rape Seed
261 tOs—new, 251 261 Oa per lA'
New Turnip Seeds Los to ihs od pr. bosh'
Linseed -s—lue, —l—s pill

Ni tVGATF. AM) LEADENHALL AlAttril;q's,
By the Carcase. si
Beef ls 4d to 8t 4d 1 Veal 2s id to 4$
Mutton ..... is 4d tuft 4d Pork..
Lamb, Os ud to Os Od.

.S.O-
- it

ST. JAMES'S HAY MARKET, Dee. ge.
0. Hay 31 Si Od to 51 104 Od ; Clover, 41 44 Od to 51 tot
New Hay 01010 d to 01 Os Od Straw il 131 to 0t 01
SMITHFIELD.
Old Ha Y•• •• 41 Os Od to 51 Ss Od---Average, 41 igi 60
840.0dadtoto5101100s,
Straw
1
1
New ditto O4
Clover 5l 104 Od to 61 Os On---Averagr, it 151 °I
WHITECHAPEI-
thy
Average, 01 ui 1
straw
Oi
;lover 4l 104 Od to 51 104 51 101
opidi___---.lverage, 41 Os 01

l'ltll k: OF 1-101-IS, -ptruk%l., Dee. Ri.

Fa
rilbEE.:::;:xfiKtp:eno:l,klce6talso t erbury
Giturrrii, 1923•
Kesot Pockets
Sussex Pockets, 81 8s to 91 9s to 101
16a to get N.—second, 11 os
Kea thigs, 81 its to 101 109s1t0o,1t1o1 lot
" 1‘
:111
Sussex Bags, 71 7s hl 8s to 91 10'
The old duty on the growth of 190, I, au"unced
Essex Bags, 81 8. to 91 15s to 101 iOs to 10
26.01.71 lis.9id.
91811u1sa.tot,!0,10110fiss to

............---
HAW H111hs•
Best Heifers & Steers, per st. Ordinary .. • . Cis id to tidi
3$ Od M
to 3$ 4L' arketCal 1. • eacll.. Is 0.,
Middlings 2s 2,1 to is loti La„,bs.... us ud to or
D Polledwi
.. is s Sdot
ittoSoH64ssE :IP
II SSillitroNlSrilsi
.1 1g II . .0.
~ .
0..(1,1,..4.,, 0 d t 0
0° i
.. -

. PRICE OF LEATHER. a cSJ
Butts, SO to 56lbs each
Ditto, 64 to 661bs each
Dressing Hides per
Coach Hides
Crop Hides, SS to 4011 is for cutting ........ ..18id t° 40 4
9,1 ti) ii
Ditto .... 45 to 501bs
Calf Skins..S6 to 40Ibs
94d " 01
Ditto 50 to .701ba 24d t°ipo
Ditto 7O to bulbs
small Seals (Greenland) tsdi, tto
Large ditto •••
141 to
Tanned Horse Hides l4d I°
Spanish r Horieliitles ..

PRICES OF TALLOW, 11167-087, c• Pet I 71)1.
Town Tallow 3010 d —s od I Yellow Soap ........ • 701
Yellow Russia, 36: Od od Mottled ............. . I,j
White ditto .. 34s 6d —s od Curd ................. /4r,
Soap ditto.... ints 6d--1 'Od Graves ............ " sto
Melting Stuff 30s Od —s Od Good Dregs ..........
Ditto Rough.. 2Os od
PRICE OF CANDLES, vuom TA za.ow CHOP"' 04.
Price of Candles, per dozen, 81 6d Moulds,
• Id per dozen allowed for ready money' qO,
PRICE OF RAN FAT,-Ter Stone of Sil).-Al,teq.o pfd
Price of Tallow (as stated by the Tallow 1k2i.12.er_22,!,..."

-MARKET.
RKET, Dec, gO. so 10
Barley, Il
!leans, prr qr. 1110V' irli/
Pease, per qr. 15i
Rye, per

KET, Dec. '.2.
told.

Pr'°'
45' O
ou -
*.v.