I have compared some of these with such as have been brought from London, and find one of Mr. Short's, of six inches focal distance, compared with one of the best I have seen from London, of nine inches and three-tenths focal distance, to exceed it in brightness, distinctness, and magnifying power; and when 1 called an indifferent person, who knew not who had made the instrument, to give his opinion, he very readily preferred that of six inches focal distance. It also manifestly exceeded another I had from London, of eleven inches and a half focal distance. The same was the result of some other comparisons.
Upon the whole, I am convinced he has much im proved this excellent invention, and that his instru ments are by far the best of their lengths that have yet been executed." In 1736 Mr. Short was invited to London by Queen Caroline to give mathematical instructions to William Duke of Cumberland, and he was soon after elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, to whose Transactions he contributed several valuable papers. In 1759 he accompanied the Earl of Morton to the Orkney Islands where he was employed in a geographical survey of that part of Scotland.
Upon his return to London, Mr. Short established himself as an optician, and in 1742, he was employed by Lord Thomas Spencer to make for him a reflector of 12 feet focal length, for which he received 600 guineas. He soon executed several other instruments with different improvements, and in 1752, he complet ed one for the king of Spain, which cost X1200. Mr. Short paid two or three visits to Scotland, the last of which was in 1766. After a short illness, lie died of a mortification of his bowels, at Newington Butts, near London, on the 15th June, 1768, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. He left a fortune of about £20,000, about £15,000 of which was bequeathed to two ne phews, and the rest in legacies. To Lady Mary Douglas, the daughter of his patron, the Earl of Mor ton, he left £1000, and the reversion of his fortune, If his nephews died without issue; but this lady, at the desire of her father, relinquished the reversion by a deed in favour of Mr. Short's brother, Mr. Thomas Short, and his children.