by which the Irregularities in the Motion of a Clock, arising from the Influence of Heat and Cold upon the Rod of the Pendulum, may be prevented' (Phil. Trans. xlvii. 479-494; cf. Gent Mag. xxiii. 429-30); reprinted separately, 4to, London, 1753. It is a bad but very scientific-looking pendulum, and 'is still used in small French clocks made to show and to sell, though it has long ago been abandoned in England' (Beckett, Rudimentary Treatise on Clocks and Watches and Bells, 7th edit. pp. 64-5). His other papers are 'On the Specific Gravity of Diamonds' (Phil. Trans. xliii. 468-72; cf. ib. xlv. 433-4, 453), and 'Experiments in order to discover the Height to which Rockets may be made to ascend and to what Distance their Height may be seen' (ib. xlvi. 578-84; cf. Stukeley, Diaries and Letters, Surtees Soc., ii. 374). Some observations by Charles Mason for proving the going of Ellicott's clock at St. Helena, accompanied with remarks by James Short, appeared in the 'Phil. Trans.' for 1762 (lii. 534-42; also Stukeley, loc. cit. iii. 466. Ellicott had made a delineation of the complex line of the moon's motion about the same time as James Ferguson, but he at once acknowledged Ferguson's equal title to the scheme (Nichols, Lit. Anecd. ii. 423).
By 1761 he had taken a house at Hackney, where he made observations of the transit of Venus (Gent. Mag. xxxi. 318). He died suddenly at Hackney in 1772, aged 67 (Prohate Act Book, P. C. C., 1772; Bromley, Cat. of Engraved Portraits. p. 401). In his will dated l8 Oct. 1771, and proved at London 26 March 1772, he described himself as 'of the parish of St. John, Hackney, watchmaker,' and desired burial 'in the same vault with my late dear wife' (registered in P. C. C, 91, Tavernor). He left issue two sons, Edward and John, and three unmarried daughters, Deborah, Mary, and Elizabeth. A daughter died at Hackney, aged 50, in May 1790 (Gent. Mag. vol. Ix. pt. i. p. 477). Ellicott was a nonconformist, and he bequeathed 20l. to the pastor (Palmer), and 10l. to the poor of the dissenters' meeting-house in Mare Street, Hackney. A mezzotinto three-quarter length portrait of Ellicott, at the age of sixty-seven, engraved by Robert Dunkarton after Nathaniel Dance, was published in 1772, the year of his death. He is represented sitting. A fine impression, presented to the Clockmakers' Company by his grandson, Edward Ellicott, in 1821, is now at the Guildhall (Overall, loc. cit.) Four of his letters to Dr. Thomas Birch, 1752-16, are preserved in the British Museum, Addit. (Birch) MS. 4305, ff. 139-44; another letter dated 1757 is Addit. MS. 28104, f. 36; see also Addit. MS. 6209, f. 217.
Edward Ellicott, the eldest son, having been admitted to partnership about 1769 (Baldwin, Guide to London, 1770, p. 113), succeeded to his father's business, and was likewise appointed clockmaker to the king (Gent. Mag. xliv. 537, 538). He died in Great Queen Street, London, 3 Feb. 1791 (ib. vol. lxi. pt. i. pp. 187, 277, 379). One of his sons, Edward Ellicott, carried on the business at Sweeting's Alley, and became an active member of his company, being elected junior warden in 1828 and 1829, renter warden in 1830-2, senior warden in 1833, and master in 1834, an office he continued to fill until his death 8 July 1836, at the age of sixty-three (Atkins and Overall, p. 89; Gent. Mag. new ser. vi. 219).
[Authorities as above; Atkins and Overall's Some Account of the Company of Clockmakers, p. 165; Nouvelle Biographie Générale, xv. 892, where French authorities are cited; Wood's Curiosities of Clocks and Watches, pp. 137, 138, 347; Nelthropp's Treatise on Watch-work, pp. 92, 100, 224.]
ELLIOT. [See also Eliot, Eliott, and
Elliott.]
ELLIOT, ADAM (d. 1700), traveller, was, according to his 'Narrative of my Travails, Captivity, and Escape from Saile, in the Kingdom of Fez,' a member of Caius College, Cambridge, from 1664 to 1668, when he took his B.A. degree. This much is certain about him (Cantabrigienses Graduati,
p. 129), and the charge subsequently brought against him by his fellow-collegian, Titus Oates, of having been compelled to quit the
university in consequence of his debauched living, was evidently false. But the rest of his career is obscure. According to his own
account, he travelled about the continent for the next two years, and was returning to England in June 1670, when he was taken captive by the Moors and sold as a slave. His description of his captivity and
escape is thrilling, but not necessarily true in every detail. In November Elliot reached England, and for the next two years was a private tutor. In December 1672 he was ordained priest by the Bishop of London. He was then chaplain to Lord Grey of Werke, after which he officiated in Dublin, until in 1679 he was summoned to England as witness in a lawsuit arising out of Lord Grey of Werke's will. He was about to return to Ireland when he was apprehended on the evidence of Gates, who accused him of being a Jesuit priest, and an apostate to Mahomedanism. Elliot gained his discharge without
