e wrung the water from his dress, and, plunging into the moors,
directed his course to the north-east by the assistance of the polar
star_."--THE MONASTERY.

"_That man amongst mortals who has acquiesced in Necessity is wise, and
is acquainted with divine things_."--EURIPIDES.

Giacomo Tacchi was a watchmaker in Cowfold. He lived, not in the
central square or market-place of the town, for a watchmaker's business
in Cowfold was scarcely of sufficient importance for such a position,
but two or three doors round the corner. It was in Church Street, just
before the private houses begin, a little low-roofed cottage, much
lower than its neighbours, for what reason nobody could tell--much
lower certainly; and yet there it was, a solid, indisputable, wedged-in
assertion, not to be ousted in any way. It had two small bow windows,
one belonging to a sitting-room, and the other to the shop. Across the
curve of the shop bow window a kind of counter was fixed. Here were
Giacomo's lamp, his glass-globe reflector, or light-condenser; here
were all his tools; here lay under tumblers or wine-glasses the works
of the watches on which he was operating, and here he wrought from
morning to night with a lens which slipped into its place in his eye
with such wonderful celerity and precision, that it was difficult to
believe it had not by long acquaintance with the eye become as much a
part of it as the eyelid itself. Inside the window, along the window
frames, hung perhaps twenty or thirty watches, some of which had been
cleaned or repaired, and were waiting till their owners might call,
whilst others had been acquired in different ways, by exchange or by
purchase, and were for sale. There were no absolutely brand new
watches in the collection. If a new watch was ordered as a wedding
present or a gift to a son or daughter on the twenty-first birthday, it
was specially manufactured. Immediately to the left of Giacomo was his
regulator, of which he was justly proud, for it did not vary above a
minute a month. Nevertheless its performance was checked every week by
the watch of the mail-coach guard, who brought the time from St. Paul's
as he started from St. Martin's-le-Grand, and communicated it to the
Cowfold mail-cart driver. All round the shop were clocks of numerous
patterns, but mostly of two types, one Dutch, and one with oak or
mahogany case. Perhaps a dozen or so were generally going, and it was
rather distracting to a visit