paying me and my Son for our time at the rate of common mechanics;[1] a discouragement to the im-
- ↑ From the Commissioners being spoken of in the plural of course, the real state of the business is often kept out of sight.—Had the Board come under the management of some person of superior abilities, it would have been consonant to what is
convenient to him to be present, on April 11th, when the affair was to be enquired into, although there was a full attendance on that day, there being fourteen Commissioners at the Board. The occasion which led to Mr. Mudge being sent for as above, was that the French Government being attentive to the subject but not aware that they had only to wait perhaps a few months for the publication of the principles and construction of the Timekeeper, sent over M. Berthoud, the best watchmaker in Paris, to purchase the secret, if he could, of the Inventor; but who, as the Gentlemen who had received the explanation were by the agreement strictly enjoined to secrecy, would not attend to the proposal, unless in an open and undisguised manner. Afterwards hearing that Mr. Mudge had explained the particulars as well as he could to this foreigner, he addressed two letters on the subject to Sir Charles Saunders (then at the head of the Admiralty) by whom they were transmitted to the Commissioners. The minutes of the Board furnish no information as to the result of this enquiry; what is stated is very brief, and they pass on to other matters; which leaves it to be inferred that the Lunar party, who identified their interests with those of the Manager contrived to quash further proceedings; and the Journal of the Adventurer having been discontinued after the delivering up of the three machines; the letters to Sir Charles, and other particulars which might have been preserved in it are wanting. We may yet be allowed to remark, that what is known leaves no trace of the calculating prudence for which Dr. Maskelyne complimented the Inventor of the Timekeeper, whether sincerely or with an ironical purport, we decline to decide.
