Thirteenth stroke of the clock
If the clock strikes thirteen when on the lowest step and two when on the highest, it shows that the end of the rack tail is a little too far off from the snail and must be set a little closer.
The story goes that St Paul's Cathedral clock on one occasion struck thirteen bongs of the bell at midnight, with the result of saving the life of a soldier accused of sleeping at his post.
An obituary notice of a John Hatfield that appeared in the Public Advertiser a few days after his death states that a soldier in the time of William III and Mary II was tried by a court-martial on a charge of having fallen asleep when on duty upon the terrace at Windsor.
He swore as a proof of his having been awake at the time that he heard St Paul's Cathedral clock strike thirteen, the truth of which was much doubted by the court because of the great distance.
[7][a] There is a poem that alludes to this published in July 1873 called A Trip to Windsor by Timothy Scribble: The terrace walk we with surprise behold,Of which the guides have oft the story told:Hatfield, accused of sleeping on his post,Heard Paul's bell sounding, or his life had lost.
[8]An early 19th-century legend set in England also details the account of a clock striking thirteen at midnight and saving a man's life.
The clock in the tower of St. Andrews Church in Plymouth is said to have mysteriously struck thirteen on a night when two strangers stood under it, one of whom was Captain Jarvis.
Weeks later, the other man was put on trial in Bodmin for having committed a murder on that night, and, not knowing even the name of the stranger who had witnessed the clock striking thirteen with him, had no alibi by which to clear himself.
He replied saying he had nothing to say except that he was innocent, and only one man in the world, whom he did not know, could clear him, for they two had both heard the clock of St. Andrews Church in Plymouth strike thirteen on that night in question.
[12] Mark Twain is claimed to have said: "The thirteenth stroke of the clock is not only false of itself, but casts grave doubt on the credibility of the preceding twelve".
The most famous is the first line in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four when it starts with, "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen".
[15] Thomas Hardy wrote in Far from the Madding Crowd (1872): "This supreme instance of Troy's goodness fell upon Gabriel's ears like the thirteenth stroke of a crazy clock."
