This watcher, awake while all others slept, ranged the palace, and raised from hour to hour the cry of the farmyard, repeating it as often as was necessary, and thus supplying a clock.

This man, promoted to be cock, had in childhood undergone the operation of the pharynx, which was part of the art described by Dr.
Conquest.

Under Charles II.

the salivation inseparable to the operation having disgusted the Duchess of Portsmouth, the appointment was indeed preserved, so that the splendour of the crown should not be tarnished, but they got an unmutilated man to represent the cock.

A retired officer was generally selected for this honourable employment.