380 Old Time Gardens 



plate of metal in the general shape of a right-angled 

 triangle, cut often in some pierced design, and 

 occasionally inscribed with a motto, name, or date. 

 Sometimes the dial-maker placed on the gnomon 

 various Masonic symbols — the compass, square, 

 and triangle, or the coat of arms of the dial 

 owner. 



One old English dial fitting we have never copied 

 in America. It was the taste of the days of the 

 Stuart kings, days of constant jesting and amuse- 

 ment and practical jokes. Concealed water jets were 

 placed which wet the clothing of the unwary one 

 who lingered to consult the dial-face. 



The significance of the sun-dial, as well as its classi- 

 cism, was sure to be felt by artists. In the paintings 

 of Holbein, of Albert Diirer, dials may be seen, not 

 idly painted, but with symbolic meaning. The mys- 

 tic import of a sun-dial is shown in full effect in 

 that perfect picture, Beata Beatrix, by Dante Gabriel 

 Rossetti. I have chosen to show here (facing page 

 380) the Beata Beatrix owned by Charles L. Hutch- 

 inson, Esq., of Chicago, as being less photographed 

 and known than the one of the British Gallery, from 

 which it varies slightly and also because it has the 

 beautiful predella. In this picture, in the words of 

 its poet-painter : — 



'* Love's Hour stands. 



Its eyes invisible 

 Watch till the dial's thin brown shade 

 Be born — yea, till the journeying line be laid 

 Upon the point." 



