The book of days : a miscellany of popular antiquities in connection with the calendar, including anecdote, biography, & history, curiosities of literature and oddities of human life and character / edited by R. Chambers.

Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The book of days : a miscellany of popular antiquities in connection with the calendar, including anecdote, biography, & history, curiosities of literature and oddities of human life and character / edited by R. Chambers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    since the writer heard the tale related in a remote part of Scotland. In later times, the question has been put, Is there any historic basis for this tra- dition ? followed by another still more pertinent. Is the alleged fact mechanically possible ? and to both an affirmative answer has been given. An obituary notice of John Hatfield, who died at his house in Glasshouse-yard, Aldersgate, on the 18th of June 1770, at the age of 102—which notice appeared in the Public Advertiser a few days afterwards—states that, when a soldier in the time of William and Mary, he was tried by a court-martial, on a charge of having fallen asleep 'when on duty upon the terrace at Wind- sor. It goes on to state—‘ He absolutely denied the charge against him, and solemnly declared [as a proof of his having been awake at the time], that he heard St Paid’s clock strike thirteen, the truth of which was much doubted by the court because of the great distance. But while he was under sentence of death, an affidavit was made by several persons that the clock actually did strike thirteen instead of twelve; whereupon he received his majesty’s pardon.’ It is added, that a recital of these circumstances was en- graved on the coffin-plate of the old soldier, e to satisfy the world of the truth of a story which has been much doubted, though he had often confirmed it to many gentlemen, and a few days before his death told it to several of his acquaintances.’ An allusion to the story occurs in a poem styled A Trip to Windsor, one of a volume published in 1774 under the title of Weeds of Parnassus, by Timothy Scribble: ‘ The terrace walk we with surprise behold, Of which the guides have oft the story told : Hatfield, accused of sleeping on his post, Heard Paul’s bell sounding, or his life had lost.’ A correction, however, must here be applied— namely, that the clock which struck on this im- portant occasion was Tom of Westminster, which was afterwards removed to St Paul’s. It seems a long way for the sound to travel, and when we think of the noises which fill this bustling city even at midnight, the possibility of its being heard even in the suburbs seems faint. Yet we must recollect that London was a much quieter town a hundred and fifty years ago than now, and the fact that the tolling of St Paul’s has often been heard at Windsor, is undoubted. There might, moreover, be a favourable state of the atmosphere. As to the query, Is the striking of thirteen mechanically possible? a correspondent of the Notes and Queries has given it a satisfactory answer.*. ‘ All striking clocks have two spindles for winding: one of these is for the going part, which turns the hands, and is connected with and regulated by the pendulum or balance- spring. Every time that the minute hand comes to twelve, it raises a catch connected with the striking part (which has been standing still for the previous sixty minutes), and the striking work then makes as many strokes on the bell (or spring gong) as the space between the notch which the catch has left and the next notch allows. When the catch falls into the next notch, * Second Series, vii. 14. it again stops the striking work till the minute hand reaches twelve again an hour afterwards. Now, if the catch be stiff, so as not to fall into the notch, or the notch be worn so as not to hold it, the clock will strike on till the catch does hold. ... If a clock strike midnight and the succeeding hour together, there is thirteen at once, and very simply. ... If the story of St Paul’s clock be true, and it only happened once, it must have been from stiffness or some mecha- nical obstacles.’ In connection with the above London legend, it is worthy of remark that, on the morning of Thursday the 14th of March 1861, ‘ the inhabi- tants of the metropolis were roused by repeated strokes of the new great bell of Westminster, and most persons supposed it was for a death in the royal family. It proved, however, to be due to some derangement of the clock, for at four and five o’clock, ten or twelve strokes were struck instead of the proper number.’ The gentleman who communicated this fact through the medium of the Notes and Queries, added: ‘ On mentioning this in the morning to a friend, who is deep in London antiquities, he observed that there is an opinion in the city that anything the matter with St Paul’s great bell is an omen of ill to the royal family; and he added: “ I hope the opinion will not extend to the Westminster bell.” This was at 11 on Friday morning. I see this morning that it was not till 1 a.m. the lamented Duchess of Kent was considered in the least danger, and, as you are aware, she expired in less than twenty-four hours.’ DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A WATCH AND A CLOCK. A watch differs from a clock in its having a vibrating wheel instead of a vibrating pendu- lum; and, as in a clock, gravity is always pulling the pendulum down to the bottom of its arc, which is its natural place of rest, but does not fix it there, because the momentum acquired during its fall from one side carries it up to an equal height on the other—so in a watch a spring, generally spiral, surrounding the axis of the balance-wheel, is always pulling this towards a middle position of rest, but does not fix it there, because the momentum acquired during its ap- proach to the middle position from either side carries it just as far past on the other side, and the spring has to begin its work again. The balance-wheel at each vibration allows one tooth of the adjoining wheel to pass, as the pendulum does in a clock; and the record of the beats is preserved by the wheel which follows. A main- spring is used to keep up the motion of the watch, instead of the weight used in a clock; and as a spring acts equally well whatever be its position, a watch keeps time though carried in the pocket, or in a moving ship. In winding up a watch, one turn of the axle on which the key is fixed is rendered equivalent, by the train of wheels, to about 400 turns or beats of the balance-wheel; and thus the exertion, during a few seconds, of the hand which winds up, gives motion for twenty- four or thirty hours.—P>r. Arnott.