MDMD2: None but the best for this Party ...

[Dave Monroe]

"Each of us is to have his own twin Telescope, by Mr. Dollond, fitted
with the latest of his marvellous Achromatics,-- our Clock by Mr.
Ellicott,-- and of course the Sector by your Mr. Bird,-- none but the
best for this Party, I should say!" (M&D, Ch. 2, p. 13)

>From Edwin Danson, Drawing the Line: How Mason and Dixon Surveyed the
Most Famous Border in America (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2001), Ch.
6, "The Transit of Venus," pp. 40-59 ...

"Mason was officially engaged by the Royal Society on September 11
[1760] ... and Dixon was recommended as his assistant....  For the next
two months Charles Mason and his new colleague Jeremiah Dixon were
busily engaged in familiarization and training with their new
equipment.  The instruments for the transit of Venus observations
included a 12-inch Hadley quadrant made by John Bird and two reflecting
telscopes made by James Short, each of 24-inch focal length and
magnifying 120 times.  At least one of the telescopes was fitted with a
micrometer scale....  The Royal Society also furnished them with an
astronomical pendulum clock, or regulator, made by John Shelton, a very
precise and expensive piece of equipment regarding special attention."
(pp. 54-5)

Okay, one at a time here, starting with ...