Page:A Dissertation on the Construction of Locks (1785).pdf/36

 of opening the Lock,) by the multiplicity and intricacy of its wards. The haſty execution of a midnight robbery, in which the ſervants of the family do not act a part, will not allow ſufficient time, (if proper inſtruments were at hand) to overcome the difficulties, which, ingenious lockſmiths have oppoſed to foreign invaders; my chief attention, therefore, was applied to contrive a ſecurity againſt the advantage, which a domeſtic enemy poſſeſſes, in the opportunity of executing his purpoſes at his leiſure. But, practicable as I conceived this to be, I did not venture to attempt it by any means, which had hitherto been found ineffectual. I had not the preſumption to imagine, that I could give perfection to an inſtrument, which men of much greater knowledge and ability, had left defective. I was, therefore, as ſollicitous to avoid their excellences, as to eſcape their imperfections, which, are ſo blended in the beſt Locks, as to make it impoſſible to adopt the one,