CHAPTER VII

THE SUN-DIAL AS AN EMBLEM
" An Emblem is but a silent Parable. Before the knowledge of letters, God was known by hieroglyphics. And what indeed are the Heavens, the Earth, nay every creature, but Hieroglyphics and Emblems of His Glory? I have no more to say : I wish thee as much pleasure in the reading as I had in the writing. Farewell ! Reader!"
— Emblems Divine and Moral (The Preface'), FRANCIS QUARLES, 1634.
" How the face of common day Is written all over with tender histories, When you study it that intenser way. Till now you dreamed not what could be done With a bit of rock, and a ray of sun."
— JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
EARLY all original forms of sun-dials were good, because simple and conventional, and certain decorative ideas which appeared after a time were also good; but sun- dials in general, as made to- day, have scant originality. This is surprising when we note the originality of de- sign displayed of late in architectural decoration. I believe the true reason for this monotony is the fact that the sun-dial is looked upon solely
163
164 Sun-dials and Roses of Yesterday
as an architectural detail, not as an individual ob- ject with a place of its own in the world ; there is a lack of appreciation of the ideality of the sun-dial. All this commonplaceness of design will vanish, all this monotony cease, if designers learn to love the sun-dial, and to regard it as an Emblem, and one of importance, an Emblem with a capital initial, Emblem in the highest, the specific, the Shakespearian sense of the word, Emblem with a moral lesson to suggest or even tell in detail.
Let me explain precisely what I term an Em- blem. The word has had many meanings, and offers a curious example of word-variation. Originally its classical meaning was simply an inserted ornament which had some significant place — often this was of mosaic or marquetry work ; then it became a detach- able ornament, still significant, which was hung on pillars or vases ; then it became simply the " pic- ture and short posie expressing some particular conceit" which is the definition in Cotgrave's Dic- tionary, which I fancy was the dictionary known of Shakespeare.
A noted Emblem writer, Geoffrey Whitney, gave in the year 1586 a lucid explanation of an Emblem in such definite, albeit quaint, phrasing that I quote it in full.
" This worde Embleme is as much to say in English as To set in or to put in : properlie ment by suche figures or workes as are wrought in plate or in stone in the Pave- mentes, or on the Waules, or suchlike, for the adorning of the place : having some wittie Devise expressed with cun- ning woorkmanship, something obscure to be perceived at
SH A R P E prickes prcferue the Rofe, on cuenc prte, That who in halle to pull the Tame intervdes, Is like to priclce his fingers, nil they fmarte? Bat being gotte, it makes him flraighc amcndes It is Co frefhc, and pleafant to the fmell, Thoughe he was ptick'd , he thinkes lie ventur'J well And he that fame woulde get the gallant tofc, And will not reache, for feare his fingecs bleedc; A nettle, is more fitter fan his note ? Or hemblockc meete his appetite to fecdc?
None merites (weetc , who rafted not tkc fower, Who feares to clirabe, de/crues no fruiftc, not flower. Which fliowes, we (Vioulde not fainte for anie ptne. For to atchieuc tlic fruides of our drfre: But ftill proceede , and hope ai lengthe to gaine, The thinkes u-ee wifhe, and craue with hanes endre: NX'hich all our toile , and labour, fhal requite, For after paine, co-.ne^ pleafare, and delightc. ^licn winter emic1:, conns in the plc.ifant fpnngc. \Vlirn mgh'e n d>>ne, the c.l.idfo-.iK- Jn>c appeares. When gtcifc? be j">nc, ihrn JQ>C doth make vj fmge.
i laiiru we
Page from the Emblems of Geoffrey Whitney.
The Sun-dial as an Emblem 165
the first, whereby when with further Consideration it is understoode, it maie the greater delighte the beholder. And although the Worde doth comprehende manie things, and diuers matters maie therein be contained, yet : all Emblems maie for the most parte, be reduced into those three kindes, which is Historical^ Natural/ and Morall. Historical! as representing the actes of some noble persones, being matter of Historic : Naturall as in expressing the nature of crea- tures, for example the Loue of yonge Storkes to the ould, and suchelike : Morall, pertaining to vertue and instruction of Life."
This careful explanation illumines the meaning I wish to convey of the sun-dial as an Emblem : the dial should, like any other Emblem, have " some witty device," be " of cunning workmanship," have " something obscure not to be perceived at first," and should " greatly delight the beholder." And the significance of the sun-dial could also be classed very clearly under the heads, historical, natural, and moral. Another sentence of Whitney, in the title- page of his book, A Choice of Emblems, 1586, runs thus : —
" A Worke adorned with varietie of matter, both pleasant and profitable, wherein those that please may finde to fit their fancies. Herein by the office of the eie and the eare, the minde may reap double delighte through wholesome preceptes, shadowed with pleasant devises : both fit for the vertuous, to their incoraging : and for the wicked, for their admonishing, and amendment."
Which words should also apply to the sun-dial : Let it be literature to the bookless ; a monitor to
1 66 Sun-dials and Roses of Yesterday
the heedless; an encouragement to the virtuous; a reproof to the wicked ; let it be a delight to the eye, and above all let it be significant of something, be this historical, natural, or moral. It must have some implied meaning in addition to its actual pres- entation or it is not an Emblem.
Emblems are ancient devices. Dutch, German, and Italian authors wrote Emblems in profusion by the close of the fifteenth century. Then these books suddenly multiplied in all European languages, and with the improved art of pictorial illustration reached a high degree of excellence. Our great English authors, Spenser and Shakespeare, show plainly the influence of Emblem books. A splendid book called Sbakespere and the Emblem Writers, by Henry Green, reveals the similarity of thought and expres- sion shown by them all ; it also tells of all the chief Emblem books, scores in number, previous to the year 1616, A.D. The general conception held of a book of Emblems is of a child's book, and it is true that they are most appropriate for that purpose. It is natural for children to like Emblems, and they under- stand them. Emblems suit their fancy. Stevenson says, " Making believe is the gist of the whole life of a child. Children are content to forego what we call the realities and prefer the shadow to the sub- stance." Others think of a book of Emblems as having always a spiritual or religious meaning, such as the Emblems of Francis Quarles or Willet's Cen- tury of Sacred Emblems. In truth an emblem should be serious ; it does not welcome flippancy any more than does a sun-dial. But it is not a sacred device,
The Sun-dial as an Emblem
67
nor even a religious one. A study of the old em- blematic books such as The Dance of Death ; The Ship of Fools, 1 500 ; The Dialogue of Creatures, 1530; A Garden of Heroic all Devices •, 1612 ; A Dis- play of Heraldry, 1 6 1 1 ; Allciat's Emblems, 1 549 ; Holbein's Imagines Mortis, 1 545, would doubtless give to a ready mind frequent suggestion for sun-dial design.
A great love of Em- blems sprung up in France through the wonderful popularity of the poet Theodore Beza, whose story is so pleas- ant to read. In France, Mary, Queen of Scots, learned to love Emblem books, as did her son James. And through this love grew his great interest in the allegorical
representations dubbed masques, which so prevailed at his court after he became king of England. I will tell at some length of Mary's interest in Em- blems, as the story affords a striking example of the part they played in the history of that day.
The many Emblem books furnished to her, as to other English women, beautiful and abundant de- signs for the decoration of houses and furniture. In Drummond's History of Scotland is a letter to Ben Jonson, from which we learn of a wonderful piece
1 68 Sun-dials and Roses of Yesterday
of needlework of Mary, Queen of Scots ; the let- ter begins thus : —
u I have been curious to find out for you the Impresses and Emblemes on a Bed of State wrought out and embroid- ered all with gold and silk by the late Queen Mary, mother to our sacred Sovereign : the first is the Loadstone turning towards the pole, the word her Majesties' name turned on an "Anagram. Marie Steuart sa virtu, m'attire. This hath reference to a Crucifix before which with all her Royall ornaments she is humbled on her knees most lively."
There was also an imprese of a phoenix in flames; an Apple tree growing on a Thorn; an arrow passing through three birds; Caduceus with two flutes, and a peacock ; two women upon the wheel of fortune, one of these (a figure of peace with a cornucopia) signified Queen Elizabeth ; a pyramid overgrown with Ivy; a ship with her mast broken and fallen in the sea ; a big lion and whelp ; a lion in a net with hares passing wantonly over him ; a Palm tree ; a bird in a cage with a hawk flying about, and the motto " 'Tis ill with me now, but I fear worse betides me " ; a tri- angle with the sun in a circle ; a porcupine among rocks; a portcullis; an " impresae of Henry VIII"; one of the Duke of Surrey ; the Annunciation ; a tree planted in a churchyard environed with dead men's bones ; eclipses of the sun and moon ; a sword cast in to weigh down gold ; a Pine tree watered with wine ; a wheel rolled from the moun- tain to the sea ; a heap of wings and feathers ; a " Trophic upon a Tree with Mytres, Crowns, Hats,
The Sun-dial as an Emblem
169
Masks, Swords, Books, and a Woman with a Vail about her eyes or muffled, pointing to some about her."
One of the noblest of these allegories gave three crowns, two below and one above in the sky. The motto was " And awaits another," implying that her crowns of France and Scotland would be ended with a crown in heaven. A homely but most significant design showed the plant Camomile growing in a garden; the motto, Fructus calcata dat amp/os,- -Trampled
upon,
she
gives out
Sun-dial at Adlington Hall, Cheshire, England.
greater fragrance. A panoply of war, com- posed of helmets, lances, pikes, muskets, cannon, had the motto, Dabit Deus bis quoque finem, — God can put an end to these things.
The full royal arms of England, Scotland, and France " severally by themselves and all quartered " appeared in every part of the bed. It was said that " the workman- ship was neatly done and above all value." Nearly all the designs bore a Latin motto, also the name and title of the person or event in politics or history signified by each of these twenty-nine Emblems. The designs for these embroidered Emblems were
170 Sun-dials and Roses of Yesterday
taken from various books, from Whitney, and from Jovio's Design of Love ; one of the latter was " the Impressa of King Francis First, a salamander, which signified that he was burning with love for the Oueen and sought the flames."
This wonderful piece of needlework might well have been the one praised by the Water Poet in 1640 in these lines : —
"Flowers, Plants and Fishes, Beasts, Birds, Flyes and Bees Hills, Dales, Plains, Pastures, Skies, Seas, Rivers, Trees There's nothing near at hand, or farthest sought But with the needle may be shap'd and wrought; Moreover, Posies rare, and Anagrams, Signifique searching Sentences from Names, True History or various pleasant Fiction In sundry colors mixt, with art's commixion ; All in Dimension Ovals, Squares and Rounds Art's life included within Nature's bounds."
This extraordinary bed, so " curiously wrought," has wholly disappeared ; we might doubt the possi- bility of any one bedstead holding all these designs were it not that at Hinckley in Leicester there is another having the same number of emblematical designs and " Latin mottoes in Capital letters con- spicuously introduced."
I have no lovelier picture in my mind of this fair queen — and she is often pictured before me in my day-dreams — than her presence as she sat bending over her embroidery frame, needle and crewels in hand, steadily working upon the marvellous cover- ing of this great bed ; working through the long weary hours of the dark winter days ; working at
The Sun-dial as an Emblem
the deep-recessed, ill-lighted windows of the thick- walled Scottish castles which were her prisons ; working at the slit-like gun-windows of her later dungeons ; working by the scant firelight so grudg- ingly supplied her; working by the dim and tiny cruisie of her day, or by waxen tapers ; and often working with that wonderful cheerfulness which seems to have been God-given to her. She found, I trust, the comfort which every good needlewoman has in doing good needlework.
" Yet howsoever Sorrow came or went She made the needle her companion still And in that exercise her time she spent."
She is not the only woman who has turned to her needle as the only thing which could occupy and comfort her grief- filled days. I have wondered whether in the many thoughts that crowded her ever active brain, she had no illuminations of the future, whether she did not thus work with the thought, the hope, that through this needlework she could send a message to suc- ceeding centuries, that women, certainly,
. •/ 3 Sun-dial in Inner Temple Garden,
would understand. London.
1 72 Sun-dials and Roses of Yesterday
It was certainly natural that this unhappy crea- ture should turn to symbols and devices, to allego- ries and prophecies, with a despairing hope of a happy end to all her troubles. With her supersti- tious nature we can easily believe that in those symbols she both rejoiced and trembled. Her own personal devices were many and varied ; all were interesting. After the death of her boy-hus- band, the dauphin of France, her device was a Liquorice plant ; the root only of this is sweet, and that is underground. Her motto was Du/ce meum terra legit, — The earth covers my sweet one. Another was a vine from which the withered branches are being pruned by a hand with a prun- ing-bill. A third was an Apple tree growing on a thorn ; the motto, Per vincula crescit.
In the family archives of the Earl of Leven is a letter written by her in which she orders embroidery materials just as we might have done yesterday.
" Ye shall not fail to send with this bearer to me a half- ell of incarnatt Satin, and a half-ell blew Satin ; also more twined silk gif there rests any, and sewing silver and sew- ing gold ; . . . with twa ounce black sewing silk. . . . Ye shall cause make ane dozen of raising needles and moulds and send me. And speir at Sewals'gif he has any other covering of beds to me nor green."
After she received these materials she worked for many months upon a magnificent over-garment for Queen Elizabeth, with a significant design ; and showed true womanly pleasure when it was finished and despatched with a letter to the queen, whose
Obelisk-shaped Dial in Garden at Linburn House, Midlothian
Scotland.
The Sun-dial as an Emblem
173
faded tawny hair would ill consort with the carnation satin when compared with the darker locks of the Scottish queen, who, I doubt not, "tried it on' again and again in process of making.
Mary received from another source four hanks of gold thread and moulds and needles for " rais- ing," which was the heavily embossed and difficult embroidery much in vogue in her day. A splendid screen of her " raised ' work still exists, and is most valuable as a record of the costumes of her day ; every detail is given ; the jewellery is worked in satin-stitch with glazed yellow flaxen thread and the pearls are tiny knots. Fardingales, ruffs, and fans, all are faithfully depicted. The drawing of the figures is ani- mated and good. Sir Walter Scott thought it represented some old French or Italian ballad or romance; while Miss Strickland thought it pictured the ill-fated love of Mary and Darnley, as the gallant knight of the screen seems to spring from two Marguerite flowers, which apparently typified the two queens, Margaret Tudor and Margaret
iial in
' F
174 Sun-dials and Roses of Yesterday
Lennox, from whom Darnley claimed descent. The woman's figure wears the costume of Mary, and bears the Rose cognizance. One singular and inex- plicable panel shows a gentleman seated with his leg bound and stretched on a block and about to be cut off, apparently by the order of a stern queen who stands near, while other ladies of the court turn away in horror. Taylor might have written of her instead of Katherine, wife of Henry VIII : —
" Although a Queen, yet she her days did passe In working with the Needle curiously, As in the Towre, and places more beside, Her excellent memorials may be seen Whereby the Needle's prayse is dignified By her fair ladies, and herself, a Queen."
The tenderness which most women have for the history of this unhappy queen comes largely through her womanliness. We are drawn to her through her instinct in womanly doings. She took great pleasure in gardening, filling the gardens at Holyrood with flowers and trees from France. Two beautiful Plane trees stood till this century, and were pointed out as her trees. Her sun-dial was removed to Fingask Castle in Perthshire. Nothing could seem so close to her daily life as this sun-dial. I know not whether it still exists, nor what it was like ; but there were beautiful dials in Scotland in her day.
Other English women adorned their closets with embroidered emblems ; forty-two were in the painted closet of Lady Drury at Hemstead. Samplers were found in every household, the work of every house-
The Sun-dial as an Emblem
Wife, of every woman-child who reached the age of ten, and of some not more than half that age. Often they have an imprese or a family crest. They form a fascinating example of domestic Emblems. Whatever women could do with their needles served to perpetuate Emblems, for their imaginative side ap- pealed to a woman's nature ; often women ordered the erection of symbolistic pillars and sun-dials.
The original Emblem, any figure or ornament made for a sun-dial by sculptor, painter, engraver, or architect, by any worker in stone, metal, or wood, should be symbolized ; it should be the sign or token of a saying, an event, a thought, a sentiment, a fancy, a quality of the mind or heart, a peculiarity or attri- bute of character, any abstract idea, — nay more, it might mark an operation of the soul. The devices of heraldry can aid greatly in giving the his- tory of a man, a family, a race, a nation. Many crests and coats of arms are truly emblematical ; and therefore heraldry offers an infinite variety of suggestions for sun-dials. There were heraldic devices on sun-dials, and sun-dials were used as devices in heraldry. The Emblem here given is of special interest to us because the device is a sun-dial. It was the favorite Emblem of the gentle and neglected wife of Henry III of France,
Emblem of Louise de Valdemont.
176 Sun-dials and Roses of Yesterday
Louise of Valdemont. Above the sun-dial, which is on a pedestal, shines the full-rayed sun. On a rib- bon the meek motto, Aspice ut aspiciar, — Look on me that I may be looked on.
Sir Philip Sidney also had a sun-dial as his per- sonal emblem, and it was chosen in order " to acknowledge his essence to be in his gracious Sov- ereign ' -whatever that may mean. It was a sun- dial with the sun setting; the motto, Occasu defines esse. Relying upon his prince's favor, he devised the sun shining upon a bush, inscribed Si deferis pireo. To indicate the persistency of his character, he had another Emblem representing the Caspian Sea, which never ebbs nor flows, and the motto Sine Reflexa. Another rather sacrilegious device showed his love for his fair lady ; a Venus in a cloud with the motto Salve Me Domina. He had several other impresses to signify courage, assiduity, and also re- venge.
Frederick Cornaro, Bishop of Padua, had as a device a Rose with this sun-dial motto : Una dies aperif, conficit una dies, — One day opens, one day ends it. This seems to me perhaps a bit fanciful for a sun-dial, save for one designed especially with the thought of the life of a day — such as one with a floral design.
Another personal emblem or device existed from mediaeval days, and was known as a badge. A crest differed from a badge in that the former was worn only on the helmet and by its proper owner, while the badge was worn by followers or retainers, and was placed on the sleeve or breast of the body gar-
The Sun-dial as an Emblem 177
ment. These formal badges or cognizants often
^j ^3
alluded to a name, an estate, an office of honor, or some family exploit, a deed of valor or of rare hap- pening, or an escape from death ; they glittered on standards, were embroidered on the dress on sleeve or breast, or when fashioned in metal were worn on the sleeve. These were hereditary, and a few are
Washington Sun-dial.
still retained in old English families ; among them are the Stafford knot and the Pelham buckle.
The introduction of a coat-of-arms or crest upon a dial gives it at once an emblematic value, and still more, a personal value.
On this page is shown an ancient dial-face, 7/hich is of much interest to all patriotic Americans, because
N
1 78 Sun-dials and Roses of Yesterday
it bears a dated Washington coat-of-arms, which is believed to have furnished the notion of our national
Ancient Cross at Great Brington, Northamptonshire.
" Stars and Stripes." This dial was found at " The Washington House," Little Brington, Northampton- shire, England. It is a circular slab of sandstone
The Sun-dial as an Emblem 179
sixteen inches in diameter. The letters R. W. can be dimly seen. These were probably the initials of Robert Washington. On page 178 is the old cross just outside the churchyard at Great Brington. This may once have held a dial. Its date is earlier than 1400. The ancestors of George Washington must have passed close to this cross every time they attended church. In the yard of the rectory of this Great Brington church stands the dial shown on page 181 ; this is at the home of A. L. Y. Morley, Esq., the faithful antiquary who has given me the many sun-dials from Northamptonshire which are shown in this book. The motto on his dial is most quaint.
" Haste ! oh Haste ! Thou Sluggard, Haste ! The Present is already past."
It was natural that in the highest forms of Em- blem making and emblematic writing color should take an important part ; it did so directly and also in some occult ways, of which we have had a hint for many a year. In 1886 Arthur Rembaults put this hint into verse in his sonnet about the colors of vowels. Novelty-seeking French folk eagerly queried to other French folk, as though asking a conundrum, " What colors are your vowels ? '
" A, black ; E, white ; I, blue ; O, red ; U, yellow ; But purple seeks in vain its vowel-fellow,"
wrote the poet.
Walter Savage Landor had such a profound sense of color that he had a language or standard for
^j ^j
colors. Purple expressed grandeur of thought;
180 Sun-dials and Roses of Yesterday
scarlet, vigor of expression ; pink, liveliness; green, an equable composition. I have long had another notion, - - that I should like to use vari-colored printer's inks, printing certain words in certain colors, or using a specially symbolic tint for a certain chapter.
We can remember the value of symbolic color when painting sun-dials ; as, for instance, those on the wall of a house. In continental Europe painted sun-dials are seen constantly, even on very humble houses, and most effective and interesting they are ; they might well be adopted on country houses in America. For handsomer mansions, when chosen with thought and taste and fitted to the style of the architecture of the house, a painted and gilded dial- face has many advantages over a carved one. It can be seen more distinctly if upon the high wall of a house, and can readily be kept in freshness. I saw recently upon a half timbered house, on the end of a gable, a painted sun-dial in heraldic colors which seemed to me the perfection of good taste. Upon the long stables of an English country house, where the original timbering and external beams of the early barn structure have been carefully carried out, there is a richly painted sun-dial facing each point of the compass, so that the time of the day can readily be told on all sides by farm and stable workers.
There is no doubt that any object or any deed which has or has had a symbolic meaning receives through this a certain charm, a charm occult and often scarcely formulated, yet nevertheless present.
The Sun-dial as an Emblem
181
This subtle interest exists in very commonplace objects ; we feel it in sign-boards, in sign-posts or guide-boards ; let us see why. Whence is the word sign? Think of the very word, and you have the key to the secret --and to the interest. I never wearied in weeks of research about sign-boards, hanging signs, for my book, Stage- Coach and Tavern Days, sim- ply because they had that inexplicable charm. I never cease to feel a half-liking for guide-boards, which are fast disappearing because useless in our days of travel by railroads and electric cars. You find them now at the angles of the road, flat in the grass and bushes, or standing twist- ed askew, point- ^ ing skyward or nowhere. Their very place at the cross-roads has a significance, what or whence I know not, for it is a significance of " forbidden." We know that in our country even in the nineteenth cen- tury suicides were buried at the cross-roads ; buried in the years preceding, with a stake through
i
Sun-dial in Rectory Garden, Great Brington, Northamptonshire.
1 82 Sun-dials and Roses of Yesterday
their hearts — a cruel old Dutch and English law. Judge Sewall tells of the public obloquy and horror of suicide in Massachusetts in colonial days. Under a heap of stones suicides were buried at night in deepest disgrace ; one at a Connecticut cross-roads thus slept in ignominy till it was discovered that the poor fellow had been murdered.
A more grotesque sight still saw the old New England cross-roads in a " shift-marriage," when a widow, " clad only in her shift," was thus married to her second husband. By this ordeal she was freed from liability for her first husband's, debts. This was an ancient symbol, derived from the marriage investiture of the Orientals. In Dutch New York a widow obtained future immunity from debt by placing a key or a straw on her dead husband's coffin and then taking it away. The use of a straw or turf as a symbol to indicate worldly possessions extended to legal transfers — when real estate was conveyed by livery of seisin. A new owner was given corporal possession by transferring to him, if the property were a house, a key or door-latch ; if land, a turf or twig. It formerly accompanied all transfers. The word livery in its many symbolisms forms an interesting word-study ; the meaning of giving possession, and in sequence, the delivery itself. Liveries were allow- ances of food, clothing, and other provisions, as in the army, or to a great family; from this, keeping on a regular allowance as applied to horses only, — as to keep a horse at livery; also a second meaning of an allowance of uniform garments, and hence a regular dress for servants.
The Sun-dial as an Emblem 183
A weather-vane is another everyday object with a halo of interest as a symbol ; the cock was the nat- ural herald of the day, and the weathercock -now employed to show "the way of the wind," was origi- nally a sun emblem. In the symbolic writing of the Chinese, the sun is represented by a cock in a circle. Beautiful ancient gems exist, — some are in the pos- session of ancient societies of Free Masons, - -cut with the figure of a cock, meaning the sun.
All symbolists would of course have us include in these objects of mysterious influence all archi- tectural erections conspicuous for height and slen- derness, such as obelisks, steeples, minarets, tall towers, and upright stones and monuments, under the assertion that they represent the pyramidal forms of fire, and have had a symbolic meaning ever since the days of the fire-worshippers. Cer- tainly we will not deny that they have a strong influence ; the tall steeple of the New England meeting-house doubtless had an earlier form in the " reminding-stone," the monuments of earlier days. The Bible records the setting up of monuments by the patriarchs. Monoliths are known of in all early religions. In the turreted temples of the Bhudds, in the fire-towers of the Sikks, in the spires of the Hindoos, in the flame-fanes of the Parsees, in the pyramids of the Egyptians, we find testimony to the deification of fire. Many of these pyramidal forms bear emblems of sun-worship ; some bear sun-dials ; many are the gnomons of sun-dials.
In writing of Emblems we have to resist firmly constant inclination to turn into side paths and walk
184 Sun-dials and Roses of Yesterday
therein gossiping garrulously ; one of these by-paths would lead us to write at length of the symbolical language of mythology and of ancient art. As spe- cially allied to the subject of sun-dials, we are led to learn all sun-lore; to know of sun-worship, of sun-tradition, of sun-influences in various sciences, especially medicine. The mystic doctrines of ancient Greece are not wholly lost in daily life to-day. These doctrines were conveyed by allegories and symbols which had a character of sanctity. Many of the emblems of these mystical religions are found now in our Christian churches. Such are the rose-window, the altar and candles.