National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-09
sUxDIALs FOB PLEASURE GROUNDS
~ A. d. GRIDLEY.

SUNDAYS FOR PLEASURE GROUNDS.
'BYA. D. eRIpLEY.
We are not trssnsible to the beauty and fitness
Of vases statussy and arbors fer lawns and flower
gardens, but We wish just now to say word IN
behalf OF that aDsient rural enzSeilishuent, tbs
sun-disl Mr.. Downing once wrets Of 10: "Sun-
dials are Emong the oldest decorations for the
garden and grounds, and there are scarcely any
which we think more suitable. They are not
merely decorative, but have also . useful cliarsc.
ter. When we meet daily In our wsaks with one
Of these silent monitors Of the flight Of time we
become in degree attraoted to It, and really look
on It a. gifted with species ofinteligence, beam
ing out when the sunbsams smile on Its dial
plate" .-..... .,
It has history worth knowing. The sBacy-
lonians are supposed to have invented 1t, though
the Egyptians have put In claim to the same
honor. King Ahas set up one Of these tnstru-
msnts In his palace grounds rs years before the
Christian Era. A. century later we ind tho
Greeks eulttvating the sciences Of geometry and
astronomy, and excslling all other nations In MI
mute and accurate divisions Of time. About 600
years before Christ Ansximsuder erected .
gnonon, or pyramid, which showed the time OF
noon either BY its shortest shadow or By the
shadow falling on meridian line. g.. IL =.
The Romans appear to have boen slow In adopt.
ing any scientific raethed for dividing time: As
late as 500 years before Christ the only periods Of
the day noted by them vere the sunrise, noon and
sunset The nrst sundial which appeared in Rome
was 3 trophy Of battle taken In the first Punie
war. and was brought from Oatsnis, Sicily. It
was not o perfect time-keeper, however, there
being four degrees difference between Rome and
Catsnis for which latter place It was constructed
Ninety mine years aftsrward the Consul Martius
Phiilipus caused new and more accurate one to
be paade. He doubtless employed some WISE
handed Greek to do the work, for Roman con-
quests had now begun to bring many Of these
acute and learned people to the imperial city.
And here We may add, parenthetically, that after
another century Of study and experiment Greek
wit coutrived an instrument for determining the
hour also in cloudy weather and by night. It was
called the olepsydra, and measured time by the
dropping OF water, somewhat after the manner of
the modern hour-glass dropping sand.
No reader Of ancient literature can have failed
to notice its frequent illusions to sun-dials. The
Grecian poet Menander describes o hungry para
site sitting by dial and watching the hour Of his
usual meal but who. in his eagerness to begin his
breakfast, had mistaken the light Of tho moon for
that of the sun. When o sun-dial was first shown
to Epicurus, he exclaimed: 'SWhat Q fine inven,
ton to prevent ones forgetting the hour of din
ners" A jovial Greek once engraved on his dial
| the inscription: ''Six hours Of the day are given
for labor; the remaining say to mortals, Live
In comedy Of Plautus an epicure exclaiml
| against sun-dlals thus: May the gods confound
the fellow who first invented hours and placed the
dial here which doles out the day plecemeal tc
me- unhappy wretch; for when was a boy my
belly was my dial, and 1t was by far the best ant
truest Of them ALL ate whenever it warned me-
that is, If anything could be had; but now, what
ever there may be, 1t is nothing unless, forsooth
| nj asath Inn
filled with dials, the greater part Of the people
crawl about starving with hunger"
The best accounts We have seen Of ancient sun
dials represent that Berosus, q Chaldean, In
vented the dial known as the hemicycle; Aristar
chus of Ssmos, the scophe. Dionysidorus the con-
dial Scopss the plynthium. The dial Of Aristar
chus was the simplest Of them all. st was
hemisphere cut in cubic block Of stone, havinl
its base horizontal. At the bottom Of the csvit.
a style (rod pointer was erected, tho top 0
which was at the centre of the sphere. It is cas-
to see that the summit Of the style would ever!
day describe an arc of y circle. One OF these In
strumsnts was found in the year 174l, in the ruin
OF an ancient Roman house at Tusculum, which
is supposed to have belonged to Cicero. Other
of similar pattern have been found in the neigh
borhood Of Rome and among the ruins Of Pom
peii. One found at Ravenna has the figure Of
hemisphere supported on the shoulders of a Her
cules.
Upon the revival of learning in Europe tn
science and art Of diaIing received increased at
tention, and many new styles Of instrument
were Invented, But, as lamps are not needed ate
sunrise, 50 when clocks EeF9 invented disls grad
ually went out of general use. Yet, as clock
would sometimes get out Of order and needed
regulating by correct standard Of time, dial,
were still found ssryicsable. They vere also ia
vorite embellishments of pleasure-grounds, be
cause of the beauty with which they might b.
constructed and the interesting associations Will
which time had invested them. Accordingly VI
find that they have continued to be used until the
present day in all parts Of Europe; and they ar
now being introduced more and more into the gar
dens and lawns Of our own country.
A genial and appreeistive writer, In describin,
Mr.. Downings place, lat Newburgh,) shortl.
after hts death, thus speaks Of his dial: ION tn
path We have now entered you catch q glimps
through the trees of the little sun-dial, with 1t
motto, 'HorGs non numero, nisi serenGs;' and few
other than sunny hours passed over this happy
place. When fr:t saw this dial Mr.. Downing
was with me, and, I remember, told me abou
some ancient dial he had seen abroad. Thi
morning the first snow Of winter is on the dIs
and on his grave"
II is quite customary to inscribe some sort O
motto on the dtaI-pIate. or these We give few
examples: The proprietor of one Of the fines
country-sests on the Hudson (wodenethe) send
Us the following: "Pereunt, ct impHtantur;" which
! may be freely rendered: 1.-THE hours are passing
away, and are reckoned against u.s." Another
common and not very significant one is: "Timt
rides upon the dial's point" A neighbor and
friend has just copied the following from the dia
| in his own grounds: "0ccasto eaIpa Post"-"Op
portunity lost is irrecoverable." Mr.. Henry Bow
ditch. Of Boston, being about to set an antique
| sun-dI in his own grounds applied to the poet
Whittier for . suitable inscription; whereupon hs
received the following:
with warning hand mark times rapid flight,
| From lifes glad morning to its solemn night;
| But, through the dear Gods love, also show
There's light above me by the shade below"
The writer Of this paper may be supposed tc
think well Of the following motto, since he has
inscribed 1t upon o dial beneath his own library.
window: "Fruers PGeesenti, non immsmor VI
timc"-"Enioy the present hour, not unmindful
Of the lsst."-New York Independent
| ~