culated to convey an idea of the person or manners of distinguished people to the American public. I mention it, lest, at first thought, I might seem to have abused the hospitality or frankness of those on whom letters of introduction have given me claims for civility.'

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The defence of the personal descriptions is thus grounded on their appearance in an American Journal being quite a different thing from publishing such Letters in London.' True:-but these letters are published in London, and we are, therefore, led at once to Mr Willis's alternative; and must conclude, by his own showing, that he has abused the hospitality and frankness of those on whom letters of introduction' had given him claims for 'civility.' We believe that in the American Journal the names were published at full length. In the London edition he gives us the initial letters: but, considering the fulness of his concomitant descriptions, there is a poor affectation in this thin disguise, which rather aggravates the offence, and shows a consciousness of impropriety without the merit of repairing it. 'One of Mr Willis's excuses for the appearance of these personalities on this side of the Atlantic is, that against his will they were dragged into notice by insertion in the pages of an English Review. It may also be pleaded in palliation of his fault that, with the exception of his remarks upon Mr Lockhart, with whom he is indignant for imputed injustice, he seems to have erred without malice, and to have had no deliberate intention of wounding the feelings of any individual. He has sinned most (but we think not maliciously) against Mr Moore and Professor Wilson. It was wrong to publish, unpermitted, the private tabletalk of these gentlemen, however innocent might be the substance; doubly wrong to publish, as coming from their lips, comments upon the conduct and character of living persons,-such as he ascribes to Mr Moore upon Mr O'Connell, and to Professor Wilson upon Mr Lockhart. These are violations of confidence which we cannot deprecate too strongly. We shall not make ourselves accessaries to the offence by quoting any of these reported conversations. To provoke the caper which we seem to chide,' is not consistent with our plain notions of literary honesty ; and we should regard it as a mean and miserable affectation to condemn such reprehensible and mischievous passages, if we were, at the same time, aggravating the mischief, and pandering to the appetites of a scandal-loving public, by giving them a more extended circulation.

ART. V.-An Account of the Rev. John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal; compiled from his own Manuscripts, and other authentic Documents, never before Published. To which is added, his British Catalogue of Stars, Corrected and Enlarged. By FRANCIS BAILY, Esq. Vice-President of the Royal Astronomical Society. 4to. London 1835.

THE HE present volume comes before the world through an unusual channel, having been printed at the public expense, for the benefit of science, by order of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. The editor, Mr Baily, is a gentleman of great eminence in the scientific world, and distinguished as the author of several works and memoirs on astronomy, of the highest utility and excellence. The subject matter of it relates to the life and astronomical labours of an individual, of whom, perhaps, some of our readers may not have heard, but who was, nevertheless, a very distinguished character in his day, the father of practical astronomy in England, and the author of a great national work, the Historia Britannica Cœlestis.

The history of the publication is not a little curious.

'Some time during the year 1832,' says Mr Baily, I was informed that an opposite neighbour of mine (Edward Giles, Esq., No. 5, Tavistock Place) was in possession of a large collection of original manuscript letters, written by the celebrated Mr John Flamsteed to his friend, Mr Abraham Sharp, who had formerly been his assistant at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, and who made the mural arc then in use. These letters were found some years ago, at Mr Sharp's house, in a box deposited in a garret, filled with various books and papers; and Mr Giles was good enough to send them over to me for my perusal. I immediately recognised the handwriting of Flamsteed, and found that they contained much interesting and original matter connected with his astronomical labours not generally known. The whole collection (at least that part of it which relates to Flamsteed) consists not only of the letters written by Mr Flamsteed (124 in number), but also of one letter from Mrs Flamsteed, and 60 from Mr Joseph Crosthwait, his assistant likewise at the Royal Observatory, all addressed to Mr Sharp, who at that time resided at Little Horton, near Bradford, in Yorkshire, on an estate of his own, where he lived a very secluded life, passing most of his time in astronomical calculations. When Flamsteed set about reducing his observations, he requested Mr Sharp to undertake the computation of the places of several of the stars in his catalogue, and also of the moon and planets, from the original observations; and an extensive and friendly correspondence was thus commenced and kept up between them till the time of Flamsteed's death, which was afterward continued with Mr Crosthwait, who super

intended the printing of Flamsteed's works, after his decease. This correspondence embraces a variety of subjects; but the principal, the most novel, and the most interesting, is the account of the repeated difficulties and impediments which delayed and almost prevented the publication of the Historia Cœlestis, and the new light which it throws, not only on the history of that transaction, but also on the whole of Flamsteed's labours in the science of Astronomy.'-P. xiii.

The perusal of these interesting documents induced Mr Baily to make further enquiries; and, having instituted a search at the Royal Observatory, he found, to his great surprise and delight, ' a vast mass of manuscript books, papers, and letters, belonging to Flamsteed, which had been lying on the shelves of the library, for the last sixty years, unnoticed and unknown.' These manuscripts belonged to government, having been purchased by the Board of Longitude, in 1771, on the recommendation of the Royal Society.

They contain, amongst a mass of valuable matter, the original entries, not only of Flamsteed's astronomical observations, made at the Royal Observatory, but also those which he previously made at Derby and the Tower, as well as duplicate copies of the same-a great variety of computations connected with his astronomical labours and researches, more especially those from which the British Catalogue has been deduced several of his catalogues, in various states of progress-many particulars relative to the history of his own life-the original preface that was intended for the third volume of the Historia Cœlestis, but which was suppressed by his editors-a vast collection of letters, from various individuals in this and in foreign countries, amongst which are nearly the whole of Mr Sharp's answers, to those of Flamsteed, already mentioned in the early part of this preface-together with much other matter, the nature of which will be best learned from an inspection of the Catalogue above alluded to; nearly all of which (with the exception of the correspondence) are in Flamsteed's own handwriting.'-P. xv.

On examining the various documents which had thus fallen into his hands, Mr Baily soon perceived that the information they contained was equally novel and important. Flamsteed's catalogue of nearly 3000 stars, independently of its intrinsic value, is peculiarly interesting to astronomers, from its being the first that was computed from observations made with the telescope and micrometer. But, for various reasons, which had never yet been very satisfactorily explained, this monument of Flamsteed's labours, and indeed the whole of his works, were given to the world under circumstances of peculiar disadvantage. The catalogue, as is generally known, was first published under the care of Dr Halley, not only without the consent of the author, but in direct opposition to his wishes, and in spite of his remonstrances. It was also known, that Halley took the liberty of introducing considerable alterations-that Flamsteed

was so much dissatisfied with the performance that he undertook to reduce it anew, and publish it, together with his numerous observations, at his own expense-that he died whilst the work was in progress and that it finally appeared at the expense of his widow, and through the exertions of two of his friends, who had been his assistants in the Observatory. These facts have long been matter of history; but the reasons which prevented him from publishing the catalogue himself in the first instance_the causes of his quarrel with Newton and the committee of the Royal Society, who were appointed by the Crown, visitors of the Observatory-the great difficulties he had to struggle against through want of proper support from the governmentthe zeal with which he prosecuted his important labours, in spite of ill health and impediments of various kinds-and the pecuniary sacrifices he made to procure instruments and assistance in the public service (all which circumstances are recorded and minutely detailed in the manuscripts), were either altogether unknown, or had been invidiously misrepresented.

Conceiving the vindication of a man, who had been treated with much neglect by the governments of his day, and whose labours reflected so much honour on the country, to be an act of public justice, Mr Baily addressed a letter to his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, President of the Board of Visitors of the Royal Observatory, representing the circumstances, and suggesting the republication of the Catalogue, in a corrected form, accompanied by such portions of the papers as were necessary to place Flamsteed's character in its true light, or as tended to illustrate the scientific history of the period; and offering at the same time to take upon himself the labour of correcting the Catalogue, arranging and selecting the papers, and superintending the publication. This representation was transmitted by the Board to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, with a recommendation that it should be carried into effect; and the result has been the appearance of the sumptuous volume now before us. The whole impression, which was a very small one, has been distributed among the public libraries and scientific institutions, and individuals known to be interested in astronomical science.

The work consists of two distinct parts. The first part, besides an excellent preface by the editor, contains an account (or rather accounts-for there are no fewer than seven separate fragments) of Flamsteed's life and astronomical labours, written by himself; and followed by an appendix of 258 pages, consisting of correspondence with Sir Jonas Moore, Sir Christopher Wren, Dr Wallis, Sir Isaac Newton, Dr Halley, Dr Arbuth

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not, Mr Sharp, and other celebrated men of that time; besides various other documents, illustrative of the facts stated in the autobiography. Most of these letters and documents were found in the collections we have above alluded to; but Mr Baily, in order to render the work as complete as possible, extended his researches to various other quarters where information was likely to be obtained. He informs us that he had free access to all the documents in the British Museum; that he procured a search to be made in the several libraries at Oxford examined the collection of Newton's MS. letters preserved in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge; and was permitted to inspect the valuable collection of Newton MSS. belonging to the Earl of Portsmouth. In the course of his enquiries, he met with several interesting documents connected with his subject, which had never yet been published, and which have been incorporated in the present volume. The whole collection forms one of the most remarkable literary productions ever given to the world.

The second part of the volume contains the British Catalogue, corrected and enlarged, with a very valuable Introduction by Mr Baily, describing the mode in which it was originally constructed, and the nature of the corrections and additions that have now been made; various Notes from the same quarter, of great interest to the practical astronomer; and several Tables to aid the computer who would compare the places of Flamsteed's stars with those of modern catalogues. Of the manner in which the editor has executed this laborious, and, in a scientific point of view, most important part of his task, it would be difficult to speak in terms of too high praise. But our present concern is with Flamsteed's history.

At first view it must appear extraordinary, that the real circumstances of transactions of so public a nature as those here detailed, should have remained so long unknown, or rather should have been forgotten; for it appears they did not escape remark at the time. The explanation, however, is easy. Flamsteed had the misfortune to live in a state of violent hostility with men, who, from their eminent position in the scientific world, exercised much influence on public opinion; and such meagre and imperfect accounts of the circumstances as have been hitherto known, have come to us indirectly through the biographers and eulogists of his enemies. Flamsteed has never been heard in his own defence; for the vindication which he prepared in the last years of his life, and intended to form the preface to his Historia Cœlestis, was suppressed by his editors; either from regard to the feelings of the eminent individuals (then alive) against whom he