casualty of the throne being graced by so placable an ornament to it, was owing that we hear no mere of this premeditated indignity (for it has the appearance of being such) shown to "the King's most excellent Majesty." In fact, though clumsily masked with "an escutcheon of pretence," for which Cromwell would have kicked them down stairs. History teaches that these beneficial constraints of temper, are of rare occurrence among distinguished men. Socrates and Washington,[1] were remarkable for practising self-command, even against the discoveries of the physiognomist; and Themistocles, when struck with a cane by his colleague, in the heat of argument, had the presence of mind to recollect that the common cause of Greece was of
- ↑ It is not generally known, that Mr. Stuart, the painter, after attending to the lines of the President's face, was of opinion, that had he been born among the aboriginal tribes, he would have been one of the fiercest of the savage race.
and the learned Abbe De la Caille, had no reply forthcoming, is aggravated by the consideration that they never enquired for, nor once contemplated publishing the register of the going of the last made Timekeeper, under his Majesty's inspection, as an appendage to Dr. Maskelyne's report of the successful Watch. Had they done as much, it might have tended to extenuate the nefarious party motives, in the spirit of which that trial was concerted and thrust forward. But having neglected this cheap expedient of doing some justice to the gems of John Harrison, and the merit of his illustrious Patron inclusively, we are constrained to apply to their conduct a phrase heretofore confined to some bad play, which is held to be 'damned beyond redemption.'
