LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. ill 



carried the machine and delineation to the late 

 Martin Folkes, Esq. President of the Royal 

 Society, on a Thursday afternoon. He expressed 

 great satisfaction at seeing it, as it was a new dis- 

 covery -, and took me that evening with him to 

 the Royal Society, where I shewed the delineation, 

 and the method of doing it. 



When the business of the society was over, one 

 of the members desired me to dine with him 

 next Saturday at Hackney ; telling me that his 

 name was Ellicott, and that he was a watch-maker. 



I accordingly went to Hackney, and was kindly 

 received by Mr. John Ellicott, who then shewed 

 me the very same kind of delineation, and part of 

 the machine by which he had done it; telling me 

 that he had thought of it twenty years before. I 

 could easily see, by the colour of the paper, and 

 of the ink-lines upon it, that it must have been 

 done many years before I saw it. He then told 

 me what was very certain, that he had neither 

 stolen the thought from me, nor had I from him. 

 And from that time till his death, Mr. Ellicott was 

 one of my best friends. The figure of this 

 machine and delineation is in the 7th Plate of my 

 book of Astronomy. 



Soon after the style was changed, I had my Ro- 

 tula new engraved ; but have neglected it too much 

 by not fitting it up and advertizing it. After this, 

 I drew out a scheme, and had it engraved, for 

 shewing all the problems of the Rotula except the 

 eclipses : and in place of that, it shews the times 



