220 Relics of Ancient Population on Oldbury Hill, Wilts. 
ring-dial ;' and as this instrument is not generally known, the fol- 
lowing description is quoted from a paper by Thomas A. Couch, Esq., 
of Bodmin.’ It is a brass ring, like a miniature dog’s collar; and 
having, in a groove in its circumference, a narrower ring, with a 
small boss, pierced with a hole so as to admit a ray of light. This 
narrow ring is made moveable, to suit the varying declination of 
the sun, and accordingly, on either side of it, 2.e., on the broad 
ring, the initials of the months are cut in ascending and descending 
order. On the inside of the great ring, opposite the boss, a scale 
of the hours is engraved. It has also the following inscription :— 
‘Set me right and use me well, 
And i y® time to you will tell.’ 
In conformity with this direction, we will for instance, move the 
boss on the sliding ring to D (December) and suspend it by the 
string, directly opposite the sun, when the ray of light, passing 
through the aperture, will fall on the inner surface, opposite, and 
show, with tolerable accuracy, the time of day. ” 
These instruments were in common use in the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries, and were also called pocket-dials, journey- 
rings (Viatorium—Solarium), &c. ‘ King Charles the First had a 
large one of silver. They were continued in use down to the middle 
1The late Mr. Llewellyn Jewitt kindly gave the writer the wood engraving 
which is here printed. 
2 From the ‘‘ Reliquary,” No. 7. 
3 Mr. Couch gives an interesting illustration as follows :—‘ Shakspeare is the 
only writer I recollect who alludes to such a form of horologe as having been in 
common use; and I regard my curiosity the more, as I believe it illustrates a 
well-known passage of our great poet. Iam fain to think, and in this I shall 
be glad to have any confirmation from my readers, that it was just such another 
which gave occasion to the fool in the Forest of Arden ‘ to moral on the time’ 
in words ‘so deep—contemplative’; 
* And then he drew a dial from his poke: 
And, looking on it with lack-lustre eye, 
Says, very wisely, It is ten o’clock ; 
Thus may we see, quoth he, how the world wags.’ 
The date of the play of ‘ As You Like It’ is generally referred to the year 1600 ; 
and as pocket-watches were not introduced into England until about the year 
1577, it is very unlikely that the fool would have been possessed of so novel and 
costly a convenience.” 
