Hi Friends,
I have come across two sundials having the same strange motto and both marked
1671. One is described in The Teesdale Mercury, Sept. 8, 1920 under local
news. I transcribe it here:
Mr. Ingram Dawson, of Oak Bank, is the owner of a quaint old sun dial, dated
1671, and bearing the following inscription, reminding the passers-by of the
flight of time and the uncertainty of life, a favourite subject of dial-makers
:--
Arise, my friends : no time to dream.
Thou art passing hence. Ere the sunray's beam.
As the day runs. So your death comes-
Ye time and hour, ye knoweth not.
Note: The paper probably meant the locale Oaks Bank, which is near Teesdale,
County Durham, England.
The second example is in private hands. It has the same poem but varies in
spelling and punctuation. It may be a copy of the first one. I suspect it is
not from 1671. I dare say that the first may also be circa 1900 and not 1671,
but I have not seen it.
Does anyone know the current location of the Oaks Bank dial (if it survives)?
Has anyone seen any other sundials similar to these two?
Does anyone know a source for this inscription (aside from the reference to
Matthew 25:13--Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour)?
I look forward to any leads you can give me.
Stay safe in these days of the coronavirus!
Sara
Sara J. Schechner, Ph.D.
David P. Wheatland Curator of the Collection of Historical Scientific
Instruments
Lecturer on the History of Science
Department of the History of Science, Harvard University
Science Center 251c, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617-496-9542 | Fax: 617-495-3344
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> | @SaraSchechner
http://scholar.harvard.edu/saraschechner
http://chsi.harvard.edu/
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