Page:Memoirs of a Trait in the Character of George III.djvu/117

Rh the important and amiable purpose this Prince bad embarked in, and was determined, from the first, to accomplish, if practicable: while he was restrained by those landmarks which long prescription had set out for the sovereign in all cases pending, the decision of either House of Parliament; and still more coerced by certain reasons of propriety, the "chains invisible" which, by converting his requests into commands, preclude the head of the state from personal solicitation or interference, at times when it would not only be allowed, but commendable in a subject, of whatever rank, to exert himself as to him seemed best.

The Applicant, in a part of his petition, after stating the success of his last made Timekeeper, which, in a trial of ten weeks, had erred only four miles instead of thirty, which it was allowed by the Act, continues 'that your Petitioner has laid undoubted evidence thereof before the Board of Longitude, and is ready to produce the same to this honourable House.'—This "undoubted evidence" was very uncommon—for it was that of "" who, had the forms of the lower House indispensably so required, would have appeared at the bar, under, an inferior title, and given his testimony in accordance with the redress sought.—But this most distinguished deponent, though successful in a considerable proportion, was not so to the full extent of his purpose, £1250 being deducted for money advanced at