Page:Memoirs of a Trait in the Character of George III.djvu/44

Rh trial prescribed; yet when the success of the Timekeeper was anticipated, and probably within the nearest limits of the Act, such unequivocal symptoms of jealousy were apparent in the Professors from Oxford and Cambridge, at seeing the Mechanics carry off such a largess, to the prejudice of men of science, as led the Father and Son to believe that, whatever might be the merits of the Invention, pretexts would never be wanting to procrastinate the payment of the reward indefinitely (which was soon verified after the return from Jamaica.) For the satisfaction therefore of their descendants, and the friends of the family—that it might be seen their failure (in this point of view) was not attributable to their own neglect, but arose from causes they could not control, they adopted the practice of committing to paper, on their return home, what had passed between them and the Commissioners, or other persons connected with these proceedings. The Manuscript, which is in folio and bound, extending to 113 pages, commences in March, 1761, with an order from Lord Anson, respecting the intended trial, and concludes in May, 1766, with the delivering up of the three machines, considered by the Candidate as "the first essays towards this long-desired Invention."

It is not in the hand-writing of either of the Harrisons, except a few verbal corrections by the Son, and, from circumstances, the Author concludes the present copy to have been written out