i88 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. 



howevcf, invented feme, and thefe moft iifclul arts, fuch as that 

 mechanical art of clock-makings by which we meaiure the fuga tem- 

 porisy as Horace calls it, (a thing the moft voluble and fleeting that 

 we know), much better than the antients did by their Clepfydra. 

 And not only do we meafure time (the moft valuable thing we en- 

 joy at prefent, as upon the right ufe of it depends both our happi- 

 nefs in this life and in the life to come) by the inftrument before 

 mentioned that we keep in our houfes, but by another inftrument 

 called a watcb^ that we carry about with us in a fmall pocket. And 

 there is a thing which was altogether unknown to the antients, al- 

 though moft ufeful for domeftic life, that we have alfo invented; I 

 mean glafs for our windows, by which we fee the bright light of the 

 fun (which to fee, is, in Homer's language, to live *,) without being 

 incommoded by wind or cold. And, indeed, I think the enjoy- 

 ment of the fun, not obfcured by clouds or fogs, but fhining with 

 full luftre, is a great pleafure of life; and I am perfuaded that the 

 heat of the fun, 



—— \vhofe energy divine 



(as Dr Armftrong fays in his poem upon Health J 



Dwells not in mortal fire, 



is much more conducive to the health both of animals and vegetables 

 than our culinary fire. Pliny mentions a Roman who was in ufe 

 to fit for hours naked in the fun, which he fuppofed contributed 

 much to his health; and our dogs, though they be very fond of the 

 fire, and though there be a fire in the room, yet if the fun be fhin- 

 ing in it, chufe rather to lie in the funfhine than upon the hearth. 

 But the antients, who had windows in their houfes as well as we, 

 muft have had them always open or fhut like their doors. 



Befides thefe inventions, fo ufeful at land, we have invented a moft 



ufeful. 



