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 \ye 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.” 
