ater distinction as Abbot of St. Albans. A text
by him, dated 1326-27, described in detail the construction of a great
equatorium, more exact and much more elaborate than any that had gone
before.[30] Nevertheless it is evidently a normal manually operated
device like all the others. In addition to this instrument, Richard is
said to have constructed _ca._ 1320, a fine planetary clock for his
Abbey.[31] Bale, who seems to have seen it, regarded it as without rival
in Europe, and the greatest curiosity of his time. Unfortunately, the
issue was confused by Leland, who identified it as the Albion (_i.e._,
all-by one), the name Richard gives to his manual equatorium. This clock
was indeed so complex that Edward III censured the Abbot for spending so
much money on it, but Richard replied that after his death nobody would
be able to make such a thing again. He is said to have left a text
describing the construction of this clock, but the absence of such a
work has led many modern writers to support Leland's identification and
suppose that the device was not a mechanical clock.

[Illustration: Figure 17.--FRENCH GEARED ASTROLABE OF TREFOIL GOTHIC
DESIGN, _ca._ A.D. 1300. The gearing on the pointer is, from the
center: (32)/14-45+27-39, the last meshing with a concave annular gear
of 180 teeth around the rim of the rete of the astrolabe. A second
pointer, geared to this so as to follow the Moon, seems to be lacking.
(_Photo courtesy of Science Museum. London._)]

[Illustration: Figure 18.--GEAR TRAIN OF POINTER in figure 17. (_Photo
courtesy of Science Museum, London._)]

A corrective for this view is to be had from a St. Albans manuscript
(now at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge) that described the
methods for setting out toothed wheels for an astronomical horologium
designed to show the motions of the planets. Although the manuscript
copy is to be dated _ca._ 1340, it clearly indicates that a geared
planetary device was known in St. Albans at an early date, and it is
reasonable to suppose that this was in fact the machine made by Richard
of Wallingford. Unfortunately the text does not appear to give any
relevant information about the presence of an escapement or any other
regulatory device, nor does it mention the source of power.[32] Now a
geared version of the Albion would appear to correspond very closely
indeed to the dial-work which forms the greater part of the de Dondi
clock, and for this reason we suggest now t