Page:Memoirs of a Trait in the Character of George III.djvu/68

Rh the King, or that most useful aggregate of qualities comprised in the term, steadiness, were not apparently shaken by so unlooked for a failure in the anticipated correctness of the machine; which he attributed to the mal-practices of some sinister agent he appeared anxious to discover: or to one of those accidents no human prudence could guard against—In brief, with a refinement on humanity equally creditable to his head and his heart, this Prince was willing to ascribe the default to any cause rather than a defect in the construction of the Timekeeper, which would have reduced its value below the utility of those commonly made for the pocket. For he rightly judged, that the aged mechanician, whose mind was wrapped up in the success, and consequent reputation of his discovery, would not long have survived the disgrace, had so unexpected a sequel been imputed to his incompetency for what he had undertaken.

The reader, if he has himself cherished and matured a scheme of magnitude, on which both fame and emolument depended; or if he has witnessed in others that inquietude, that anguish, comprehensively denoted when we repeat that 'hope deferred maketh the heart sick,' may fully conceive the painful suspense of John Harrison, as well as his solicitude to exculpate himself before so august an inspector of his deserts, who, when the insignia of royalty were laid aside, condescended to become the active and zealous friend of a humble man of science.