Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Time, Politics, Government, Instruments, Machinery

    In this thinly-veiled comparison of Benjamin Disraeli with a sophisticated clock, the author boasts that this 'clever invention' has enabled a 'solid body' to be 'attached to a fixed point while constantly progressing in political space'—a feat enabling Disraeli to have oscillating views without fearing 'being displaced'. Explains that its mechanism remains a mystery but that it resembles 'an ordinary repeater with a dial elegantly enamelled', and has many virtues including a 'powerful alarum' that may 'startle many superstitious people in the dark', 'accuracy', 'self-adjustment', and 'stronger hands'.