When thick watches with removable cases were in fashion, and before the introduction of the present compact form, the outer case of the old-fashioned “turnip” was frequently the repository of verses and sundry devices, generally placed there by the watchmaker. Others, again, consisted of the maker’s name and address, with some appropriate maxim, and were printed on satin or worked with the needle, and occasionally so devised as to appear in a circle without a break, as in the following:

“Onward perpetually moving These faithful hands are proving How soft the hours steal by; This monitory pulse-like beating, Is oftentimes methinks repeating, ‘Swift, swift, the hours do fly.’ Ready! be ready! perhaps before These hands have made One revolution more, Life’s spring is snapt,— You die!”

A watch-paper described by a writer in “Notes and Queries” gave the address of Bowen, 2 Tichborne Street, Piccadilly, on a pedestal surmounted by an urn. On the other side of the label was a winged figure, holding in one hand a watch at arm’s length, and in the other a book. At her feet lay a sickle and a serpent with his tail in his mouth—the emblems of Time and Eternity. Round the circumference of the label were these lines—

“Little monitor, impart Some instruction to the heart; Show the busy and the gay Life is wasting swift away. Follies cannot long endure, Life is short and death is sure. Happy those who wisely learn Truth from error to discern: Truth, immortal as the soul, And unshaken as the pole.”

The bottom of the case was lined with rose-coloured satin, on which was a device in lace-paper—the central portion representing two hearts transfixed by arrows, and surmounted by a dove holding a wreath in its bill. A circular band enclosed the device, and bore the motto—

“Joined by friendship, Crowned by love.”

The lines next given are by Mr. J. Byrom, common called Dr. Byrom, whom we have previously referred to:

“Could but our tempers move like this machine, Not urged by passion, nor delayed by spleen; But true to Nature’s regulating power, By virtuous acts distinguish every hour: Then health and joy would follow, as they ought, The laws of motion and the laws of thought: On earth would pass the pleasant moments o’er To rest in Heaven when Time shall be no more!”

The last lines of this watch-paper have been occasionally varied to—

“Sweet health to pass the pleasant moments o’er And everlasting joy when Time shall be no more.”

A watchmaker named Adams, who practised his craft many years ago in Church Street, Hackney, was fond of putting scraps of poetry in the outer case of watches sent him for repair. One of his effusions follow:

“To-morrow! yes, to-morrow! you’ll repent A train of years in vice and folly spent. To-morrow comes—no penitential sorrow Appears therein, for still it is to-morrow; At length to-morrow such a habit gains That you’ll forget the time that Heaven ordains; And you’ll believe that day too soon will be When more to-morrows you’re denied to see.”

Another old engraved specimen contained this verse:

“Content thy selfe withe thyne estat, And sende no poore wight from thy gate; For why, this councell I thee give, To learne to dye, and dye to lyve.”

The following lines by Pope, occurring in his Epistle to the Earl of Oxford, have been used in this way:

“Absent or dead Still let a friend be Dear. The Absent claims a sigh, the dead a tear. May Angels guard The friend I love.”

Milman’s poems have furnished a verse for this purpose:

“It matters little at what hour o’ the day The righteous fall asleep; death cannot come To him untimely who is fit to die. The less of this cold world, the more of heaven; The briefer life, the earlier immortality.”

Various other examples of watch-case verses follow:

The Watch’s Moments.

“See how the moments pass, How swift they fly away! In the instructive glass Behold thy life’s decay. Oh! waste not then thy prime In sin’s pernicious road; Redeem thy misspent time, Acquaint thyself with God. So when thy pulse shall cease Its throbbing transient play, The soul to realms of bliss May wing its joyful way.” “Deign, lady fair, this watch to wear, To mark how moments fly; For none a moment have to spare, Who in a moment die.”

To a Lady with the Present of a Watch.

“With me while present, may thy lovely eyes, Be never turned upon this golden toy; Think every pleasing hour too swiftly flies, And measure time by joy succeeding joy. But when the cares that interrupt our bliss, To me not always will thy sight allow, Then oft with fond impatience look on this, Then every minute count—as I do now.” “Time is thou hast, employ the portion small; Time past is gone, thou canst not it recall; Time future is not, and may never be; Time present is the only time for thee.” “Watch against evil thoughts Watch against idle words; Watch against sinful ways; Watch against wicked actions. What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.”

The following lines have a sand-glass engraved between the first four and the last four lines:

“Mark the rapid motion Of this timepiece; hear it say, Man, attend to thy salvation; Time does quickly pass away. Why, heedless of the warning Which my tinkling sound doth give, Do forget, vain frame adorning, Man thou art not born to live?”

On a sun-dial the following verse has been found engraved:

“Once at a potent leader’s voice it stayed; Once it went back when a good monarch prayed; Mortals! howe’er ye grieve, howe’er deplore, The flying shadow shall return no more.”

This was found under an hour-glass in a grotto near water:

“This babbling stream not uninstructive flows, Nor idly loiters to its destined main; Each flower it feeds that on its margin grows, Now bids thee blush, whose days are spent in vain. Nor void of moral, though unheeded glides Time’s current, stealing on with silent haste; For lo! each falling sand his folly chides, Who lets one precious moment run to waste.”

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