MD3PAD 727-729

[Toby G Levy]

        Maskelyne tells Mason that the office of Astronomer Royal has
been diminished since Bradley vacated and Maskelyne took over. Maskelyne
says he is little more than a drudge.

        They continue to argue over the words to be used in Mason's
report on his observation of the transit of venus.

        Clive of India has purchased his relative Maskelyne an expensive
Astronomer's couch for his office. Maskelyne is wearing his favorite
observing suit, which he designed himself.

vw#138: celadon - A pale to very pale green.

        The suit was produced in India by a Mr Deep and shipped to him
by "East Indiaman" which Maskelyne's brother Edmund says is "the third
fastest thing on the planet...behind light and sound."

        Maskelyne misses his old life as a regular astronomer. Now his
time is taken up assessing Harrison's solution to the longitude problem.
The room steward in which the watch is kept tells Mason that Maskelyne
kept acting like a player in Hamlet. The Hyperarts Mason and Dixon says
that Gonzago is the name of the murdered king in the play within a play
of Hamlet.

        Maskelyne's torture over Harrison's watch begins to attract an
audience and they discuss Maskelyne's travail right in his presence
until Maskelyne cries out his responses to them in his own defense.

Toby