80 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



now but by few gentry in the northern." He tells us that " there 

 are some few of brass . . . but the most of them of wood, and 

 these chiefly of box ; others there are of fir, and some of oak, but 

 these not so frequent . . • aud others inscribed in a hollow bone. 

 . . . All people, no question, made them of such materials as 

 they thought fittest for their purpose." And as to their sizes, he 

 says " there are some public, of a larger size, which hang commonly 

 here at one end of the mantletree of their chimneys for the use of 

 the whole family, and others private, of a smaller size, which they 

 carry in their pockets." He gives a sketch of one which was 

 "in use in his native country of Staffordshire" at the time he 

 wrote. 



The usual form was that of a razor-strop, some having four 

 equal surfaces, and others being about 2 inches wide and \ inch 

 thick. The former, probably a later form, bore the marks for a 

 quarter of the year on each surface ; and the latter had the days of 

 half the year on each side. Some were of an elaborate description, 

 showing the Moon's Changes and the Grolden Numbers ; but few 

 were so perfect. They were first made centuries before the inven- 

 tion of the printing-press, when a vast majority of the people were 

 unable to read, and were probably originally employed in con- 

 nexion with the churchmen, to whom, in early times, learning was 

 confined. It is likely that one was kept in a public place in every 

 parish or hundred ; and later, one might be found in every house, 

 suspended by a cord or ring, or hung on a nail beside the fire-place 

 in the hall or principal room, where every member of the household 

 might use it. 



The days were marked on the edges by notches; and every 

 seventh day was indicated by a longer notch ; while Holy Days 

 and Saints' Days were denoted by signs (peculiar to the occasion) 

 on the flat surfaces, proceeding from the notches in the edge. 



I cannot find that cloggs similar in outline to that in the 

 Museum were usual. A cursory glance at it would lead one to 

 imagine that it is of some antiquity. In the first place, its shape 

 is very inconvenient for handling. The squared staff with a 

 handle is much less so ; and I merely follow the laws of development 

 iu assuming that the improved form is of a date posterior to the 

 other. And again (what much more surely goes to prove the local 

 earliness of this class of clogg) the symbols which represent the 



