Right Honourable Earl of Morton, Prefident of the Royal

Society.

Reverend Mr. Mafkelyne, Aftronomer Royal.

Reverend Mr. Hornby, Savilian Profeffor of Aftronomy at Oxford.

Reverend Mr. Betts, Savilian Profeffor of Geometry at Oxford. Reverend Mr. Shepherd, Plumian Profeffor of Aftronomy and Experimental Philofophy at Cambridge.

Sir Thomas Salufbury, Judge of the High Court of Admiralty. Philip Stephens, Efq; Secretary of the Admiralty.

George Cokburne, Efq; Comptroller of the Navy.

Reverend Dr. Long, Lowndes's Profeffor of Aftronomy at Cambridge.

Mr. Harrison, who was attending, was then called in, (together with his fon) and being informed that the board was now ready to fix upon a time for his making the above-mentioned discovery, agreeable to the resolutions of the two last boards,' which had been communicated to him, and to which he had before given his affent; he denied ever having given fuch affent, and abfolutely refufed to do it agreeable to those resolutions; and, at the fame time, referred the board to a letter, which he faid he had delivered at their last meeting, containing his objections thereto. The board, not recollecting any thing of that letter, were naturally led into an enquiry concerning it; and thereupon found, that such a one had been discovered, lying upon the table, by fome of the Commiffioners who remained after the last board broke up, and had been given by them to the Secretary; but it did not appear to whom the faid letter had. been delivered, or how it came upon the table. It was then called for, and read in the words following, viz.

My Lords and Gentlemen,

"ON Tuesday I received, by the hand of my fon, your "refolutions on that day; the first of which is what I thought you would demand, therefore my fon was commiffioned to "comply with it.

"The first part of the second resolution, viz. << That I ""fhall give a farther explanation by word of mouth," may "alfo be complied with; but it must be mentioned who I am "to give this farther explanation to, for I will never attempt "to explain it to the fatisfaction of the Commiffioners, and "who they may appoint; nor will I ever come under the "directions of men of theory. As to the other part of this 61 your fecond refolution, viz. Experimental exhibitions, ""where judged neceffary, relative to the faid watch, pro""ducing the fame, taking it in pieces, and answering "upon oath to every queftion proposed by the board, and "" fuch

F 4

""fuch perfons as may be appointed by them for the exa""mination thereof;" these are terms which I cannot comply ❝ with.

"As to your third refolution, that I certainly will comply "with, when I have got my juft reward.

"I cannot help thinking but I am extremely ill ufed by gen"tlemen who I might have expected a different treatment from; for if the Act of the 12th of Queen Anne be deficient, "why have I fo long been encouraged under it, in order to "bring my invention to perfection? and, after the completion, "why was my fon fent twice to the Weft-Indies? Had it "been faid to my fon, when he received the laft inftructions, "there will, in cafe you fucceed, be a new Act at your return, in order to lay you under new restrictions, which were not "thought of in the Act of the 12th of Queen Anne; I say, had this been the cafe, I might have expected fome fuch treat❝ment as I now meet with.

"It must be owned that my cafe is very hard, but I hope I "am the first, and, for my country's fake, fhall be the last that "fuffers by pinning my faith on an English Act of Parliament. "Had I received my juft reward, for certainly it may be fo

called after 40 years clofe application in the improvement of "that talent which it had pleafed God to give me, then my invention would have taken the courfe which all improve❝ments in this world do, that is, I must have inftructed work"men in its principles and execution, which I fhould have been "glad to have had an opportunity of doing: but how widely this

is different to what is now propofed, viz. for me to inftruct "people that I know nothing of, and fuch as may know no"thing of mechanicks; and if I do not make them under

ftand to their fatisfaction, I may then have nothing! hard "fate indeed to me, but ftill harder to the world, which may "be deprived of this my invention, which must be the cafe, "except by my open and free manner of defcribing all the prin"ciples of it to gentlemen and workmen, who almoft, at all times, have had free recourse to fee my inftruments; and if "any of thefe workmen fhall have been fo ingenious as to have got my invention, how far you will pleafe to reward them for their piracy, must be left for you to determine; and I "must fit myself down in old age, and thank God I can be "more eafy in that I have made the conqueft, and though I

have no reward, than if I had come fhort of the matter, and by fome delufion had the reward. I am, Lords and Gen*tlemen, your humble Servant,

"May 30, 1765. "JOHN HARRISON." Mr. Harrison was then told, by a majority of the Commifs prefent, that with regard to experimental exhibitions,

to

to which he feemed to make fo much objection, all that the board meant thereby, was, that in cafe there fhould be any particular operations relating to the conftruction of his timekeeper, which could not be fufficiently explained by words, fo as to convey a full and clear idea of the method of executing the fame, in fuch cafe the board would expect to fee the operation performed, or the experiment made. The method of tempering his fprings was inftanced as one of thofe operations or experiments; and it was fuppofed there might be others of the like nature. Upon which he left the board abruptly, declaring, "That he never would confent to it, fo long as he had a "drop of English blood in his body."

The form of an oath (grounded upon the above-mentioned refolutions of the 28th and 30th of last month) was then drawn up, and Mr. Harrifon's fon (his father being gone) was called in; and the said form having been fhewn to him, he was asked, if he thought his father would take it previous to the discovery; he answered in the negative, and told the board, that his father had declared, before he went," that he would have nothing fur"ther to do with it."-He was then defired to withdraw.

Refalved, nem. con.

. That it is the opinion of this board, that the terms which have been propofed to Mr. Harrison, for a difcovery of the principles and conftruction of his watch, or time-keeper, are reasonable and proper; and that, as he has fo peremptorily refused to comply therewith, they do not think themselves authorized to give him any certificate, or that it is to any purpose. to treat with him any further upon the matter, till he alters his prefent fentiments.

On a very attentive and impartial perufal of the above minutes, we cannot help being of opinion with the Commiffioners, that the terms propofed to Mr. Harrison, are by no means unreasonable or improper; and cannot conceive why he should object to them; unless he hath fome private reafon for distrusting his own difcovery or their honour; against the latter of which we think he hath thrown out fome groundless infinuations.

MONTHLY CATALOGUE, For JULY, 1765.

Art. 12. The Contrast: With Corrections and Restorations. And an Introductory Differtation on the Origin of the Feuds and Anianofities in the State. Small 8vo. 3s. 6d. Kearney.

THE

T

HE Contrafter was originally a political Effayift in the Daily Gazetteer, in which paper he first made his appearance, on the 29th of June, 1763, and was continued, on Wednesdays only, till the 14th of December following; when the Author took leave of the public, in The Farewell Contrait,' N°. 24. His effays having excited fome degree of attention, he has here collected them into a decent volume, with corrections (which they much needed) and a restoration of fuch paffages as, in their first form, the printer's caution induced him to omit.

The Contraster is a bold, spirited, but irregular huffar kind of Writer; hafty to affert; keen at invective; mean and fcurrilous in his language; incorrect and inelegant in his ftyle: partial to the people whose cause he efpouses, and prejudiced, in the highest degree, against those whom he attacks. Of the first, Mr. Pitt ftands foremost; and he is an hero, a patriot, a character immaculate: equalled only by the patriotic comcouncil of the city of London. Among the latter, the most diftinguished are, the diffenters, the Earl of Bute, and the Scotch; and they are horrible monsters! hated by Gods and men!

mon

In his introductory difcourfe on the origin of the late feuds and animofities in the ftate, he thus fpeaks of the FAVOURITE. Among the Scots appointed to office about the Heir apparent, was a man whose determined refolution of oppofing government, whether right or wrong, had juftly excluded him from being one of the fixteen peers, during the administration of Sir Robert Walpole: and who, after his exclufion, in difguft, had retired for fome years to the Ifle of Bute, where, by converfing only with his vaffals and dependents, he increased his natural referved and tyrannical difpofition, which had before rendered him illfuited to the English. His good fortune, and his Scotch friends, procured him a very high office at Saville-houfe: the Scotch talent is to acquire favour; he applied himself to every ingratiating art, he fucceeded to the utmost of his wifhes, becoming the favourite and exclufive ruler of that court. Thus far, p. 6 and 7. At p. 27 his lordship again appears on the ftage; and now, indeed, he is reprefented as appearing on the frage, in a literal fenfe. The Scot now + affumed the whole power of the nation, and this he did, like the valiant Drawcanfir, " because he dared," having no pretence for fo doing, but that it was his humour, his country's intereft, and that the power of promoting himself was in his own hands 1. If Difinterestedness herself was to draw the negative qualities of the first officer of state in this kingdom, it would be much`

In the dedication of his book, to this truly loyal and honourable' body, he ftyles them, the conftant friends and patrons of the VIRTU ous: the never failing opponents to the wicked and oppreffive; the zealous fupporters of the JUST PREROGATIVES of the CROWN; the watchful guardians of the liberties of their fellow SUBJECTS;-who have with zeal and affection faithfully ferved the ILLUSTRIOUS HOUSE OF HANOVER; who deteft and abhor the very name of STUART; and who glory in their steady attachment to REVOLUTION PRINCIPLES.'-Nothing can exceed this; no, not even the late addrefs of the magiftrates of Konigsberg-To the most ILLUSTRIOUS, NOBLE, LEARNED, and VENE RABLE, the Lord Mayor and Senators of the renowned City of London.' After Mr. Pitt's refignation. Odd fort of pretences these! Who the deuce is fre?

Juch

fuch a character as had now affumed the reigns of government. He was a man that at no part of life had opportunity or inclination of applying to business. When young, he was difpofed to gaiety; and though, as I before mentioned, having been, at the clofe of a feffion, elected one of the fixteen peers, yet by his oppofing, right or wrong, all measures of government, was at the next election excluded, and then in disgust retired to an ifle in the kingdom of Scotland, where he spent many years in close monafterial retirement. This being the prime of his life, in which most men, after the fchool of books, enlarge their ideas in the only tufeful fchool, the converfation of men, he formed his from theory became referved, full of ftrong prejudices, and unfit for any thing but the tyrannic domain of an highland clan.

When he returned, as if fate was ftill making him her sport, one time exalting him, the more compleatly to deprefs him another, he was taken notice of on an occafion, that no one could have conceived introductory to the prime-miniftership. The Dutchefs of Queensberry having entertained her friends with the play of the FAIR PENITENT, the part of Lothario fell to the lot of his lordship, in which he fucceeded so much better than in his late performances in the character of a flatef man, that he was greatly admired, and particularly by his late Royal Highness Frederic Prince of Wales, who took great notice of this occafional Rofcius, and invited him to Leicefter-houfe, which laid the foundation of a connection, that I fear England will ever repent 1.

After the death of this excellent prince, at the fettling of the houfhold at Saville houfe, his lordship became a great favourite; his talents, however unfit for public imploy, very defervedly made him amiable to his young mafter, in a private capacity; his morals were unexceptionable, and he was well difpofed to arts and artists, though he has ever been directed by national attachments, caprice, or private friendships, and not by a difinterested zeal for real merit. If any doubt thefe affertions, I appeal to thofe miferable pictures that disgrace Guildhall. If they boat his judgment in fculpture, I appeal to the new-invented figure at the Royal Exchange. If they fay that he knows more of poetry than an Hottentot does of cookery, I appeal to thofe unfortunate people who yawned at the excellent Scotch performance, called Agis, King of Sparta. But if it should be faid that his private regard for Ramfay, Wilton, and Home, make him promote them at the expence of his own reputation for tafte, I then applaud his good-nature, but cannot acquiefce in his public pretenfions of being a Mecenas. He was in every respect adapted to the fmall circle of a coal-fire; here his virtues were known, and his fincere attachments made him amiable; but when viewed in the enlarged light of a minifter, or Mæcenas, were truly ridiculous or contemptible, and the means of bringing those works of nius into difgrace, that he had made a parade of promoting.

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This was the man that became fo great a dupe to his pride, vanity and ambition, and the felfifhnefs of his dependents; that, after the expulfion of the ableft and most approved miniftry this nation ever had, during which there was the greatest union and harmony ever known be. + All other fchols, then, are of no use! Was England then guilty of forming this connection? Review, Vol. XVIII. p. 275,

Query, how many?

Il See

tween