Welsh Journals

Oct. 5, 1898 BYE-GONES. 487 OF SUNDIALS. The jubilee memorial clock recently placed in the parish church tower at Llansantffraid was formally set hi motion on Thursday afternoon by Major Evans of Gadlys, after which it was solemnly dedicated by the Archdeacon of Montgomery. Archdeacon THOMAS said in dedicating that new clock which was to tell them the time, hour by hour, they would naturally ask what people did before the days of watches and clocks. Going far back, there were two or three ways by which the people counted the time of day. There was first the clepsydra or water clock, which was first of all used in Egypt, and consisted of a large globe, with a small orifice. The globe was filled with water, which trickled out very slowly. By these means, for short spaces of time, people used to tell how long an operation lasted. Then there came the hour glass, which comprised a frame, filled with sand, which used to run very slowly for about an hour. At the end of the hour the glass was turned upside down, and the sand started again. Some of these frames, but without the glass, were to be seen at the present time fixed near the pulpits in some country parishes. He had not seen one himself, but a representative survived in the sand¬ glass which measured the time for boiling egg?. Another way of counting the time was by the help of the sun, which lent its aid to the sundial. This was the oldest form of all for measuring time. He supposed it must have come into use as soon almost as the command was given that man should earn his bread in the sweat of his brow. He believed the earliest method of counting time by the aid of the sun was by means of one's shadow on the ground, the shadow lengthening and shortening at different times of the day. To some thoughtful philosopher occurred the idea of making a circle around the shadow, and so by degrees was worked out the sundial. The development of the dial was a slow one. The dial first took the form of a pole or post lodged in the earth, but many calculations had to be made to arrive at the correct time. Ulti¬ mately they had the dial, with the hours inscribed on the face. The dial as a rule occupied a position near the south door of the church ; very often it was affixed to the tower, and at other times on the south wall of the nave, They would find one in almost every old parish opposite the south door of the church, and the connection was happily hit off in the motto which was occassionally to be seen upon them. This motto was Via lucis, Via crucis—the way of light is the way of the cross. This was, he thought, a beautiful motto, and a beautiful idea. These dials were generally fixed horizontally; others were occasionally placed in a vertical position, on the wall of a church or tower, sometimes the dial occupied three sides of a pillar as at Alber- bury. These dials often contained much informa¬ tion. As a rule they stated the latitude and longitude of the particular spot on which they stood ; also the donor's name, with his or her coat of arms, and the time it was given. The dial in their own churchyard gave the year it was given (1810), and by whom. In some cases there ap¬ peared the names of the churchwardens in ad¬ dition to that of the maker, together with an explanation of the motives which prompted its erection. Tn the neighbour¬ ing churchyard of Bwlchycibau such a dial was put up in memory of the Bentinck family, while there was a somewhat curious one at Llan- fechain which was given to the parish by a mem¬ ber of the Kynaston family of Bryngwyn. It not only gave the time of the day at Llanfechain, but the time of day in other parts of the world as compared with noon at Greenwich. Even after watches and clocks came into use it was customary for people to regulate them by the dial, The dials contained a further teaching, and he would mention two or three mot¬ toes which people were enabled to read when they came to consult the time and regulate their own timepieces. The object of these mottoes was to remind people of their duty as they set about their daily tasks. A very common motto was " Ora et labora," which meant " Work and pray;" " Fugit hora, ora labora"—"The hour passes away: work and pray." At Llansiliu the motto was " Ut hora, sic vita "—" As the hour, so is life." Another motto—and it was a needful one of warning—was " Cras minus aptus erit "-"Tomorrow will be les3 convenient than to¬ day." Another dial containedthesimple words "We shall," the meaning of which was " We shall dial " (die-all). He concluded by mentioning a motto which most of those present, doubtless, often passed but seldom read. It was inscribed on their own sun-dial, and was " Ab hoc momento pendet eternitas "—which meant " On this moment de¬ pends eternity." OCTOBER 5, 1398. NOTES. PRINTED AT WHITCHURCH.—I have, bound up with other compositions, " Robin Hood's Garland, to which is prefixed a more particular account of His Life than any hitherto published," printed by James Wright, Whit¬ church, 1799. W.O. THE SHREWSBURY SCHOOL WELSH MS.—There is a truly amazing statement in Bye-GoneSj p. 378, col. 2 (May 25, 1893), where the Governing Body of Shrewsbury School are said to have exhibited (inter alia), in the late Exhibition of Shropshire Antiquities at Shrews¬ bury, "one of tho very earliest Welsh M3S. in existence, tho 'Book of Hours, etc.,' about 1400." Now anyone with the most elementary and superficial knowledge of the subject of early Welsh MSS. knows that the oldest Welsh MS3. (if we confine that expression to MSS. written entirely or mostly in the Welsh language) go back to the 12th century, while Welsh MSS. of the 13th century are numerous, and of the 14th very numerous. The depth of the abyss of ignorance which can state that a MS. of about 1400 is " one of the very earliest Welsh MSS. in existence " may thus bo plumbed. When I saw the statemenb in the Oswestry Advertizer I wrote to a common friend of mine and of Mr