" Where learning and
science failed, natural genius seems to have triumphed.
The truth is, that the great mechanic, like the great poet, is
born, not made; and John Harrison, the winner of the famous
prize, was a born mechanic. He did not, however, accomplish his
object without the exercise of the greatest skill, patience, and
perseverance. His efforts were long, laborious, and sometimes
apparently hopeless. Indeed, his life, so far as we can
ascertain the facts, affords one of the finest examples of
difficulties encountered and triumphantly overcome, and of
undaunted perseverance eventually crowned by success, which is to
be found in the whole range of biography.
No complete narrative of Harrison's career was ever written.
Only a short notice of him appears in the 'Biographia
Britannica,' published in 1766, during his lifetime'--the facts
of which were obtained from himself. A few notices of him appear
in the 'Annual Register,' also published during his lifetime.
The final notice appeared in the volume published in 1777, the
year after his death. No Life of him has since appeared. Had he
been a destructive hero, and fought battles by land or sea, we
should have had biographies of him without end. But he pursued a
more peaceful and industrious course. His discovery conferred an
incalculable advantage on navigation, and enabled innumerable
lives to be saved at sea; it also added to the domains of science
by its more exact measurement of time.
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