INSTRUMENTS for measuring time are not of very ancient invention. The Greeks and Romans had only a sort of dial, - the gnomon or sundial; and to record the progression of the hours, they made use of the clepsydra, which allowed either water or fine sand to trickle slowly from one receptacle into another; whence arose the custom of representing Time as holding in one hand a scythe and in the other an hour-glass.

It is in the middle-ages, between 944 and 959, that clocks with toothed-wheels and weights seem to have been invented. Some authors have ascribed the honour of the discovery to a French monk, Gerbert, who was elevated to the Papal chair in 999, under the name of Sylvester II., and died in 1003. This assumption is based on the wide range of knowledge possessed by Gerbert, whose learning caused him even to be suspected of sorcery.

Clocks were first placed upon public edifices, and the most celebrated were - that of Wallingford, Abbot of St. Alban's, who died in 1325; that upon the Tower of Padua, constructed in 1363 by Jacques de Dondis; that of Courtray, removed to Dijon in 1363; and the clock of Henri de Vic, placed on the Tour du Palais in 1370 by Charles V., which was the first public clock possessed by the city of Paris; Jean de Jouvence made that of Montargis in 1380, and in 1391 another was erected at Metz.

In the fifteenth century celebrated clocks are tolerably numerous; the cathedral of Seville inaugurated hers in 1401; Moscow, in 1404, had one made by a Serf named Lazarus; Gian-Paolo Rinaldi constructed that of Saint Mark at Venice; the famous clock of Strasburg was not completed by its maker, Conrad Dasyporus, before 1573; and Nicholas Lippius, of Basle, made that of Lyons in 1598.

But we must retrace our steps. It was in the reign of Charles VII., that is to say, in the first half of the fifteenth century, that the invention of a coiled spring instead of weights enabled the construction of portable timepieces. A Frenchman, Carovage or Carovagius, who was living as late as 1480, is regarded as the inventor of these clocks, which were furnished with an alarum, and a striking apparatus. A great step in advance was then taken. Every one would have in his house, or on his table, an instrument which reckoned the hours, and which he could even carry with him when travelling. No object in collections is more common than these time-pieces, many of them remarkable for their elegance and finish; and we frequently meet with specimens in cases of stamped leather, provided with a handle, enclosed in which they could be transported without risk.

Small Clock, with dome, of copper chased and engraved. German work of end of the Sixteenth Century.

The Farnose escutcheon and heraldic lions which serve as supporters, have been added at a later period.

(Sauvageot Collection, in the Museum of the Louvre).

During the Renaissance, the construction of clocks was not a mere mechanical art. By the side of the mechanician was the man of taste and talent, who sought to render the ornamental portion of his work as attractive as possible; nor was any limitation imposed on the exuberance of his imagination. In the statutes of the Corporation, remodelled in the reign of Francis I., "The clockmakers as well as the goldsmiths were authorised to employ in their work gold, silver, and all other materials." Of the privilege thus given they did not fail to avail themselves; and, whether we hold in our hands the work of the famous clockmakers of Augsburg, or that of the French artists, we find, in various degrees, taste, elegance, and the peculiar charm which is due to the skilful subordination of details to general effect.

The form of these horary instruments is, most commonly, that of a rectangular edifice supported on small columns, or caryatides, resting on a base, and terminated above by a dome, frequently of carved open work. In the earlier examples the sides are also thus perforated, that the intricate mechanism and movements might be the more easily examined. This fashion was in vogue until the time of Louis XIII., as may be noticed in several specimens in the museum of Cluny, and in the celebrated clock of Gaston of Orleans in the Dutuit collection.

However, towards the middle of the sixteenth century, ornamentation became much more complex; the school of Augsburg in which Werner flourished, who died in 1544, and J. Schlotthcim, who was but little behind the progress made in Italy, presents us, in 1579, with that remarkable piece, now in the possession of the Baronne de Rothschild, in which bas-reliefs in silver repousse-work and exquisite engravings re-produce the charming compositions of Etienne de Laulne; and with that other, no less meritorious in style, which shows in its complex system of dials not only the progress of the hours, but also that of the seasons and of the stars, the day of the month, and the combinations of a perpetual calendar. This masterpiece of astronomical clock-work is signed by Jeremias Metzker, who, with Nicholas Planckh, Martin Zollner, and Cristopher Margraff, made Germany famous in the sixteenth century.

We meet with yet another description of clocks, whether astronomical or others, in which the horizontal movement is surrounded by an engraved case, either perforated or covered with paintings of Limoges enamel; these are the table clocks. In the days of our ancestors, the meals formed a principal recreation of the great; the number of dishes, the games to which the art of drinking gave rise, prolonged them to such an extent that it was necessary to be reminded of the flight of time to know when to bring them to an end. One need not wonder, then, at the great number of these instruments, several of which are simply enclosed in plaques of crystal.