MARIA. Was the hourglass then the first instrument invented to tell the time of day?

MR. CONSTANCE. No, my dear; we learn, from the Scriptures, that it was customary with the ancients to mark the progress of the day by the shadow of the pillar or doorpost upon the steps of the house; at least this appears to have been the means resorted to at the palace of Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah, king of Judah; the stone answering the purpose of a dial-plate, and the shadow of a pillar serving for that of a gnomon.

MRS. CONSTANCE. As Ahaz lived seven hundred years before Christ, when the world had, according to Holy Writ, existed for the immense space of near four thousand years, it is more than probable, I should think, either that some other method of computing time had been practised, or that the mode so adopted had been long in use.

ANGELINA. We have sundials in the present day; I wonder if they are like those papa has mentioned.

MR. CONSTANCE. They are, of course, something similar, although greatly improved. After an interval of one hundred and sixty years from the time of Ahaz, mention is made of an amendment by one Milesius, who added a gnomon to the dial. In the course of three or four centuries they were used at Rome, in which place they were probably looked upon as an important improvement of the mode there in use; the only method by which the people were enabled to ascertain the time, being by means of the appearance of the sun between the rostrum where orators harangued, and the spot where ambassadors stopped when deputed to the Roman senate, at which time the crier of the consuls proclaimed noon.

WILLIAM. But these dials, although ingenious in their invention, could have been of no service except when the sun shone; and at night, I suppose, the people were compelled to observe the course of the moon.

MR. CONSTANCE. The inconvenience you mention was obviated by the next improvement, which was in the year 595 of Rome, being 157 years before Christ. A waterclock, termed a clepsydra, supposed to have been invented at Alexandria, was an important and useful contrivance, on somewhat the same principle as the hourglass now in use, excepting that water was used instead of sand. It was, in fact, nothing more than a basin filled with water, which was emptied in a certain number of hours, through a hole in the bottom, into another vessel, in which it rose around a graduated scale of the hours: or, more simply still, a conical glass with the scale marked on the sides; and which, being perforated at the base, denoted the hour as the liquid subsided. But these, simple as they then were, soon became much improved by the Romans, and served the purpose of ascertaining the time with tolerable accuracy: they also eventually led the way for that still common instrument, the hourglass. The clepsydra, together with the sundial, were first introduced into Britain by Julius Cæsar.

MRS. CONSTANCE. Did not Alfred the Great invent some method for telling the time of day?

MR. CONSTANCE. I know not whether he was the first person who devised what was then called the time cal culator, which was merely a waxlight of a certain thickness, three inches of which lasted an hour; but I believe it has not been disputed, that Arthur constructed a kind of lantern to protect the light from the wind; which lantern he made from the horns of cattle. This, in addition to the waterclock and sundial, were the instruments used by our ancestors for computing their time.

WILLIAM. Pray, Sir, how many years is it since the first clock or dial was invented?

MR. CONSTANCE. It has never been ascertained satisfactorily at what time, nor by whom the first clock was

constructed; some authors assert that clocks were known in the year 510 of the Christian era, and give the honour of the discovery to one Boethius; while others claim it for Pacificus, archdeacon of Verona, who lived in the ninth century. But whether the machinery of wheels and pulleys was invented by either of those persons, is not known. It is generally believed that all the contrivances prior to the eleventh century, were nothing more than some improvement upon the clepsydra, or waterclock. About that time, however, clocks moved by weights and wheels certainly began to be used in the monasteries of Europe, for which invention we are probably indebted to the Saracens; from whom, indeed, in the early ages, all mathematical science appears to have emanated.

ARTHUR. I should like to have seen the first clock. It was, no doubt, a wooden affair.

MR. CONSTANCE. They were, very probably, of rude construction; and the numerous directions found in the ancient records of convents, for their regulation when out of order, would lead us to conclude that they must have been very imperfect in their operation. About the 12th century, however, mention is made of them as striking the hour in Italy. The oldest clock of which there is any account in this country, was erected in the year 1288, on a building called the Clockhouse at Westminster. It was considered of such value, that in the reign of Henry VI. the care of it was intrusted to the Dean of St. Stephen's, with a salary of sixpence a day; and it was still existing in the time of Queen Elizabeth. The clockhouse was standing so late as 1715, when it was pulled down to make room for the buildings in Palace Yard.

MARIA. I believe the most ancient clock now standing in England, is that at Hampton-court Palace.

MR. CONSTANCE. It is so: the date of which is 1540. Previously to that time, however, so great was the improve

ment of the discovery, that mention is made of the first watch, which was invented by one Peter Hale, a native of Nuremburg. In 1500, a watch is stated to have been used for the purpose of taking astronomical observations, by a mathematician of Vienna. And yet, notwithstanding these statements, it has since been contended, that they were not known until the year 1658; and that either the distinguished English philosopher, Dr. Hooke, or his contemporary, M. Huggens, was the inventor.

MARIA. That must certainly be a mistake, papa; for, in the late Sir Ashton Lever's Museum, there was a watch bearing the date of 1541, and which was considered the oldest watch known in this country.

MRS. CONSTANCE. I have also heard mention made of a watch belonging to Henry VIII.; and in the will of Archbishop Parker, dated April 1575, he bequeaths to the Bishop of Ely, "his staff of Indian cane, with a watch in the top;" which proves that they were not only invented before that period, but ingeniously adapted.

MR. CONSTANCE. I believe instances might be multiplied to show that watches were known at the early period you have mentioned; yet they do not appear to have been in general use until about the time of Queen Elizabeth. But there are so many contradictory accounts, that little reliance can be placed upon them.

ANGELINA. No doubt each of the persons named as exercising their ingenuity in the invention of the watch, can lay claim to some portion of ability in improving and bringing to perfection that useful pocket companion, to which we are now so much indebted. But, having made us acquainted with the supposed periods when these serviceable articles were introduced, you now, papa, come more immediately to the subject of the Calendar, as being the table or register adopted to note the division of time throughout the year; of which please to inform us,

MR. CONSTANCE. We are able to trace the origin of the Calendar to Romulus, the founder of Rome. It receives its name from the Latin Calendæ, a Roman name for the first day of the month. The terms Almanack, Calendar, Ephemeris, are also words describing date-books for the current year. Al manach signifies the reckoning, and is the Arabic designation given to a table of time, which the astrologers of the East presented to their princes on new-year's day; and Ephemeris is a Greek word, signifying for the day. An Almanack, therefore, is a register of time for the year; Calendar for the month, and Ephemeris for the day. Prior to the year 450 of Rome, it was there customary to call or proclaim the Calends (4) on the appearance of every new moon; after that period, however, a Calendar was affixed to all public places, that the information therein contained might be more generally. known. As knowledge advanced, further facilities were afforded for the publication of these useful tables; which was ultimately much assisted by the invention of printing. The only ancient Calendar handed down to us, is that of Julius Cæsar, and upon which all succeeding ones appear to have been founded. It consisted of six columns; of which the first contained the Nundinales, a name that the Romans gave to the first eight letters of the alphabet, one of which always expressed their market days, or assemblies called Nundinæ, (quasi novendinæ ;) because they returned every ninth day. On this ninth day, the country people, after working eight days successively, came to town to sell their several commodities, and to inform themselves of what had taken place relative to religion and government. In subsequent calendars, the days were distinguished by the first seven letters of the alphabet, in imitation of the Roman Nundinales; and that letter which, in the Christian calendar, fell opposite to Sunday, was called the Dominical letter. This name