2
Hill, and who knowing the sentiments his Majesty expressed in conversation on a subject in which he took uncommon interest, could safely predict the result, were a statement of John Harrison's case to be addressed to himself in such a form, that he could, with the gracious permission of his Master,[1]
- ↑ George 3rd was no stranger to the person of John Harrison, whose fame and success had several years before given him a curiosity to see and converse with so extraordinary a subject; who being honoured with a message to that effect, waited on his Majesty at Buckingham House, attended by his Son. The particular date of this interview cannot be ascertained; the Author conjectures it to have been after the return from Barbadoes, as it appears to coincide in time, that the King was found surrounded by his then infant family—through whom the Old Man, plainly dressed, but with exemplary neatness, as he always was, passed unnoticed to so flattering a colioquy: while the Son, who, like most young men who do not know the world, had imagined it was necessary to be fine in order to be introduced to the King, having equipped himself with a laced suit, of the fashion of that day, and being mistaken by the royal children for a nobleman, they hung round him and caught his hand.—The conversations of those theologians and metaphysicians, Dr. Beattie, and the Chief Justice of Chester,[subnote 1] were preserved by such interlocutors, and Dr. Johnson's interview in the library was not lost to the public; but in this affair neither the Father nor Son having a tincture of letters, what passed between the Monarch and a genius so gifted in his own department is unknown. It may be presumed however to have been gratifying both to the Prince and the subject; and it is not unlikely that the recollection of the condescension our Mechanician experienced on this occasion contributed to the final resolution he took, when cut off from all hope of justice
- ↑ George Hardinge, Esquire.
