14 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»d S. VII. Jak 1. '59. 



ST. Paul's clock striking thieteen. 



(P' S. i. 198. 449. ; 2"'i S. vi. 490.) 



S. P. repeats a Query : Is the alleged fact me- 

 chanically possible ? I apprehend it to be not 

 only possible, but probable. I have never seen 

 St. Paul's clock ; but as far as I know, all turret 

 clocks, as well as all chamber clocks which strike 

 the hours, whether they are spring-clocks or clocks 

 with weights, consist of what clockmakers call two 

 parts. Those turret clocks which strike quarters 

 are three part clocks ; but the chamber clocks 

 which strike the half-hours, as most French clocks 

 do, are still only two part clocks. Most of your 

 readers probably know little about clock-work ; 

 but they may have observed that 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 12, it raises a catch connected with 

 the striking part (which has been standing still 

 for the previous 60 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, it again 

 stops the striking work till the minute reaches 

 12 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, which may be 

 after the next hour (striking two only together), 

 or after any number of hours, or till the striking 

 work is run down, which, when It happens in a 

 fourteen-day clock, makes a considerable sensa- 

 tion : 1+2+3+4+5+6+7 + 8+9+10+11 + 12 

 =78, and 78x30=2340, the number of strokes 

 in 15 times 24 hours. If a clock strike midnight 

 and the succeeding hour together, there is 13 at 

 once, and very simply : then, unless corrected, it 

 would strike 2 at 1, 3 at 2, and so on. I have a 

 clock at this moment that always strikes 7 (I think 

 it is), and the following half-hour together at 7 ; 

 then, at half-past 7, it strikes 8, and so on ; but gets, 

 of course, half an hour wrong in evei-y 12 hours, 

 one hour in every day. No doubt this is from 

 the wear of one particular notch. If the story of 

 St. Paul's clock be true, and it only happened 

 once, it must have been from stiffness or some 

 mechanical obstacles. I should apprehend that it 

 is questionable how far St. Paul's clock can be 

 heard at all at Windsor. I believe the great bell 

 when tolled has been heard there. I. P. O. 



a similar principle to the thirty-hour house clocks 

 of the present day, i. e. with a simple striking ac- 

 tion, not the repeating one that is now always 

 used for turret and eight- day house clocks. If 

 St. Paul's clock were of the old construction, a 

 slight derangement of the mechanism would cause 

 it to strike thirteen strokes, either at the hours of 

 6 and 7 or 12 and 1. If the repeating striking 

 principle were used, the probability of it striking 

 thirteen would be slight. J. M. 11. 



The mechanical possibility of a turret clock 

 striking thirteen successive strokes would mate- 

 rially depend upon the particular construction of 

 the striking work. Till within a comparatively 

 recent period church clocks were congtructed upon 



LINES BY TOM MOORE. 



(2°'^ S. vi. 267.) 

 In 1823, when the French army, preparing to 

 invade Spain, v/as collected at the foot of the Pyre- 

 nees, and called Le Cordon Sanitaire, a song with 

 that title obtained considerable popularity. It was 

 afterwards avowed by Beranger, and is to be found 

 in the Brussels edition of his Works, iii.44. Seve- 

 ral English versions appeared. The lines cited by 

 E. A. E. are from an imitation called Le Cordon 

 Salutaire, which was in the newspapers, but I do 

 not know where to find it. I offer the following 

 copy, should no one send a better : It is from me- 

 mory only, and, I have no doubt, inaccurate : — 



" Le Cordon Salutaire. 



" A parrot in the Place Vcndome, 



Perched on the pillar, loudly oried. 

 Come round me, brother Frenchmen, come, 

 I've much to tell you wish to hide. 



. " You're but a fluttering fickle set, 



Good deeds when past you've soon forgot. 

 Mark me, the way true fiime to get, 

 Is to be wise, — and you are not. 



" You prate and make a boisterous route 

 Of fame and conquests long gone by, 

 And, when we come to find it out, 

 'Tis half reproach, and half a lie. 



" You gave j'our best friend twice the slip, 

 And sent your worst one on the trot ; 

 The way a tyrant's wing to clip, 

 Is to be firm, — and you are not! 



" Where are your Gallic eagles gone, 



Which shadowed with extended wings 

 The sceptered pride of all, save one, 

 Of I'urope's subjugated kings? 



" The white cloth waving o'er my head — 

 For shame ! Is this the thing you've got ? 

 In justice to the mighty dead, 

 i wish you true, — and you are not! 



" On Lodi's bridge with this white rag 

 Did youthful warriors lead the way? 

 On battle plain, or Alpine crag. 



Waved it in view one well-fought day ? 



" Take it, and hide your deep disgrace. 

 For that at last is all you've got ; 

 And leave it to a future race 

 To gain the freedom you dare not." 



H. B. C. 

 U. U. Club. 



