'Tis a prodigious Thing to consider the Multitudes of People which this plaguy Distemper carries off, there not being one in ten that escapes. The Generality of the Living never had it, and be they ever so old, so few are excus'd from it, that they seldom die of any other Disease. If this were not the Case, the Country would in all Appearance be exceeding populous, whereas at present 'tis but thinly inhabited, considering the Goodness of the Soil, and the Purity of the Air.
Not long after this, the King made two or three other Conquests, so that in four Years after his first Marriage, he had seven Wives. My Comrade and I were at all those Solemnities, and had great Share of the Pleasures of them. Wherever we came, we were sure to be commended upon Account of our Clocks, tho' many People knew that I had the least Share in them.
That I might not go without my Reward, I told the King, that we had indeed adorn'd his Palace with a Machine, with which he had the Goodness to seem pleas'd, but that if he desir'd it, I would make him another to put up at the Front of the Temple which should be subject to no Variation, and be regulated by the Course of the Sun. I am convinc'd, _said the Monarch_, from the little Knowlege I have of Astronomy, that it would not be impossible to divide an artificial Day into any equal Parts by the Shade, which might be form'd from a Body in the Sun-shine, but we have had no Body here that I know of, who ever apply'd to it. Before I go to work upon it, _said I_, I must examine which way the Front of this Edifice stands. That's not necessary, _said the King_, I know that it declines from East to North 22 Degrees 30 Minutes, and what is yet more, I know it by Experience. Pardon me, Sir, _said I_, if I take the Freedom to ask you what Method you took to be sure of the Fact. I caus'd a Board to be plan'd, _said he_, perfectly smooth with several Circles drawn upon it by the Compass; and in the Centre I set up perpendicularly a Stile of Copper Wire, to the End of which hangs a Button as big as a small Nut. This square Instrument I place against the Wall of the Temple, and when the Sun is ascended some Degrees above the Horizon, I stay till the Shadow of the Button of my Stile falls upon the Circumference of one of the Circles of the Board, when I mark that Place by a Point, and then with another Point I mark the Place on the opposite Side of the Circumference, where the Shadow falls in the Afternoon. I divide the Arch between these two Points into two equal Parts by a straight Line which passes thro' the Centre of the Stile, which Line is the Meridian of the Place where I make the Operation. There are several Ways, _said I_, whereby you may easily attain to the same End of which that you mention is one of the best I know; but I will make you a vertical Sun-Dial according to the above Declination of the Front of the Temple. No, _said the King_, as the Point in Question is only drawing of Lines, you must do me the Pleasure to teach me the Construction of 'em. I consented willingly to his Demand, so that we made a Sun-Dial of 8 Foot broad, and 6 in height, and another horizontal Dial of Copper, which was plac'd on a Pedestal of Agate of 8 Sides before the King's Palace, and both had the Signs of the Zodiac upon them. These two Machines supply'd fresh Matter of Admiration to those who saw them; and I make no doubt but they were of more Service to them than the others after our Departure, because not a Man in the Kingdom knew how to keep them, much less to make them.