watch —
“Give me a,”
RICHARD III., v. 3. 63.
Steevens was, no doubt, right when he observed:“I
believe that particular kind of candle is here meant which was anciently called a
watch, because, being marked out into sections,
each of which was a certain portion of time in burning, it supplied the place of the more
modern instrument by which we measure the hours. I have seen these candles represented with
great nicety in some of the pictures of Albert Durer.”
A General Glossary to Shakespeare's Works. Alexander Dyce. Boston. Dana Estes and Company. 1904.
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