at Father Borghesi
may have forwarded copies of his two little volumes to the Imperial
Court at Vienna, and that the Empress expressed a desire to acquire the
clocks.

Father Tovazzi states that in 1780 "the clock invented by him [Borghesi]
was preserved in Vienna, Austria, at the Imperial Court from which the
inventor was receiving an annual pension of 400 florins." No records in
the Palace archives relating to the clock have yet been found, nor
records of payment of an annuity to Father Borghesi. However, a more
exhaustive investigation of the Furniture Depository of the Imperial
Court may bring forth related records. It was the implication in Father
Tovazzi's account that the second clock had been presented to the
Empress prior to the publication of the anonymous, critical letter in
1768 or 1769. He believed that it was envy of Father Borghesi's
ingenuity, fame and financial benefit that had caused the anonymous
mathematician to publish his letter, for Tovazzi asked "Who would have
encountered opposition to such a marvel? Envy is not yet dead, and has
always reigned."

This last-mentioned theory about the presentation may be the most likely
one. Some evidence may be found in the second clock itself which bears
out this assumption. The multiple chapter ring, with its many
inscriptions, is engraved and silvered in a relatively crude manner,
presumably by Bertolla himself. The main dial plate, however, which is
of gilt brass, is engraved with the utmost skill by one of the great
masters of the art. The inscription below the Imperial Hapsburg eagle
relates to Francis I, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. It is entirely
possible that although Father Borghesi originally had no intention of
giving the clock to the Emperor or the Empress at the time that it was
made, he later changed his mind. Accordingly, he may have commissioned a
master engraver, possibly in Trent or in Vienna itself, to produce a
dial plate which would be of such a quality as to be worthy of the
Emperor himself. If so, this was done shortly after the clock was
completed, for the Emperor died in August of the following year. Perhaps
by the time that the clock was ready, the Emperor had already died, and
Father Borghesi gave the clock instead to Maria Theresa without revising
the inscription.

The acceptance of the clocks by the Empress, and the annuity which was
his reward, would have constituted considerable honor even for one of
the foremost clockmak