578 
IKYEMTION or CLOCKS. 
then father of the grand duke of Tuscany, made the first pendulum 
clock at Florence, by direction of Galileo Galilei, a pattern of which 
was brought into Holland. The Academy de’I Cimento says expressly, 
that the application of the pendulum to the movement of a clock was 
first proposed by Galileo, and first put in practice by his son Vincenzo 
Galilei, in 1049. Be the inventor who he may, the invention never 
flourished till it came into Huygens’ hands, w'ho insists, that if ever 
Galileo thought of such a thing, he never brought it to perfection. 
The first pendulum clock made in England v/as in 1602, by Mr. 
Fronientil, a Dutchman. Before the invention of the pendulum, a 
balauce was used, resembling the fly of a jack. 
Another account of clocks is the following. 
The first clock ever known in France, was erected in the fifth centurv, 
in the cathedral church at Lyons. Gondebart, or Gombart HI. 
king of Burgundy, having been informed that Theodoric, king of the 
Goths, who resided at that time in Ravenna, had machines whi *h 
marked the order of the time accordingto the movements of the hea- 
venly bodies, wrote to him to have one. It was accordingly executed 
by Boccins, a celebrated mechanic, and presented to Gondebart. 
Clock-makers were first introduced into England in 1308 ; when 
Edw'ard HI. granted a license for three artists to come over from 
Delft, in Holland, and practise their occupation in this country. The 
oldest English clock of note is in a turret of the royal palace, Hampton, 
constructed in the year 1540, whicii was in the reign of Flenry VIIL 
by a maker whose initials are N. O. To the time of queen Elizabeth, 
clocks were often denominated orlcgcs or horologes. Among the 
modern clocks, those of Strasburg and Lyons are very eminent for 
the richness of their furniture, and the variety of their motions and 
figures. In the former, a cock claps his wings, and proclaims the 
hour ; the angel opens the door, and salutes the Virgin; and the holy 
Spirit descends on her, »fec. In the latter, two horsemen encounter, 
and beat the hour upon each other ; a door opens, and there appears 
on the theatre the Virgin, wdth Jesus Christ in her arms ; the magi, 
with the retinue, marching in order ; and presenting their gifts ; two 
trumpets sounding all the while, to proclaim the procession. These, 
how'ever, are far excelled by tw'o that have been made by English 
artists, as a present from the East India Company to the emperor of 
China. These two clocks are in the form of chariots, in each of 
which a lady is placed, in a fine attitude, leaning her right hand upon 
part of the chariot, under which appears a clock of curious w orkman- 
ship, little larger than a shilling, that strikes and repeats, and goes 
for eight days. Upon the lady’s finger sits a bird, finely modelled, 
and set with diamonds and rubies, with its wings expanded in a flying 
posture, and actually flutters for a considerable time, on touching a 
diamond button below it ; the body of the bird, in which are con- 
tained part of the wheels, that animate it as it were, is less than the 
sixteenth part of an inch. The lady holds in her left hand a golden 
tube, little thicker then a large pin, on the top of which is fixed a 
circular ornament not larger than a sixpence, set with diamonds, which 
goes round in near three hours in a constant regular motion. Over 
the lady’s head is a double umbrella, supported by a small fluted 
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