The Pendulum Clock

...which would be joined together. If I may be permitted to claim some small recommendation for my work, so that it does not appear entirely unworthy of your greatness, I profess that I have achieved this more successfully in this invention of the Clock original: "Horologii" than in any other. For while the invention is partly mechanical, on the other hand—and this is by far the most important part—it rests upon geometric principles. As for what pertains to this latter part, it had to be sought with no small effort from the innermost recesses of the art; so much so, that among all the subjects I have handled with more intense study until now, I would undoubtedly grant the first place to this speculation.
There is no need, most powerful King original: "Rex potentissime", for me to labor to show you at length what the utility of these things may be. For you have not only discovered through long experience—ever since our Self-moving machines original: "Automata nostra"; here referring to his pendulum clocks deserved to be received into the inner chambers of your royal palace—how much they excel other machines of this kind in the steady demonstration of the hours; but you are also aware of their more important uses, for which they were destined by me from the very beginning. Namely, those uses which they are fit to provide both in Observations of the Heavens and in measuring the Longitudes of places original: "Longitudinibus locorum" during navigation. Indeed, by your command, our Clocks have been carried across the sea more than once. Under your auspices, many of these same clocks, dedicated to the uses of Astronomy, are seen in that famous Citadel of Urania original: "Vraniæ arce"; a poetic reference to the Paris Observatory which you recently took care to build with such signal magnificence, greater than any king before. Whenever I reflect upon these things, I consider the fortune of this—