220 



Relics of Anoient Population on Oldbury Hill, Wills. 



ring-dial j 1 and as this instrument is not generally known, the fol- 

 lowing description is quoted from a paper by Thomas A. Couch, Esq , 

 of Bodmin. 8 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, i.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 e 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. " 8 



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 



1 The 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. I am 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." 



