The representative of the Winn family was created Lord
St. Oswald in 1885. Harrison is not quite forgotten at Foulby.
The house in which he was born was a low thatched cottage, with
two rooms, one used as a living room, and the other as a sleeping
room. The house was pulled down about forty years ago; but the
entrance door, being of strong, hard wood, is still preserved.
The vicar adds that young Harrison would lie out on the grass all
night in summer time, studying the details of his wooden clock.
Footnotes to Chapter III.
[1] Originally published in Longmam's Magazine, but now rewritten
and enlarged.
[2] Popular Astronomy. By Simon Newcomb, LL.D., Professor U.S.
Naval Observatory.
[3] Biographia Britannica, vol. vi. part 2, p. 4375. This volume
was published in 1766, before the final reward had been granted
to Harrison.
[4] This clock is in the possession of Abraham Riley, of Bromley,
near Leeds. He informs us that the clock is made of wood
throughout, excepting the escapement and the dial, which are made
of brass. It bears the mark of "John Harrison, 1713."
[5] Harrison's compensation pendulum was afterwards improved by
Arnold, Earnshaw, and other English makers. Dent's prismatic
balance is now considered the best.
[6] See Mr. Folkes's speech to the Royal Soc., 30th Nov., 1749.
[7] No trustworthy lunar tables existed at that time.
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