FLAMSTEED
For the first century of its existence, the lives of its Astronomers
Royal formed practically the history of the Royal Observatory.
During this period, the Observatory was itself so small that the
Astronomer Royal, with a single assistant, sufficed for the entire
work. Everything, therefore, depended upon the ability, energy,
and character of the actual director. There was no large organized
staff, established routine, or official tradition, to keep the
institution moving on certain lines, irrespective of the personal
qualities of the chief. It was specially fortunate, therefore, that
the first four Astronomers Royal, Flamsteed, Halley, Bradley, and
Maskelyne (for Bliss, the immediate successor of Bradley, reigned
for so short a time that he may be practically left out of the
count), were all men of the most conspicuous ability.
It will be convenient to divide the history of the first seven
Astronomers Royal into three sections. In the first, we have the
founder, John Flamsteed, a pathetic and interesting figure, whom
we seem to know with especial clearness, from the fulness of the
memorials which he has left to us. He was succeeded by the man
who was, indeed, best fitted to succeed him, but whom he most
hated. The second to the sixth Astronomers Royal formed what we
might almost speak of as a dynasty, each in turn nominating his
successor, who had entered into more or less close connection with
the Observatory during the lifetime of the previous director; and
the lives of these five may well form the second section. The line
was interrupted after the resignation of the sixth Astronomer Royal,
and the third section will be devoted to the seventh director,
Airy, under whom the Observatory entered upon its modern period of
expansion.
'God suffers not man to be idle, although he swim in the midst
of delights; for when He had placed His own image (Adam) in a
paradise so replenished (of His goodness) with varieties of all
things, conducing as well to his pleasure as sustenance, that
the earth produced of itself things convenient for both,--He yet
(to keep him out of idleness) commands him to till, prune, and
dress his pleasant, verdant habitation; and to add (if it might
be) some lustre, grace, or conveniency to that place, which, as
well as he, derived its original from his Creator.'
In these words JOHN FLAMSTEED begins the first of several
autobiographies which he has handed down to us; this particular one
being written before he attained his majority, 'to keep myself from
idleness and to recreate myself.'
'I was born,' he goes on, 'at Denby, in Derbyshire, in the year
1646, on the 19th day of August, at 7 hours 16 minutes after
noon. My father, named Stephen, was the third son of Mr. William
Flamsteed, of Little Hallam; my mother, Mary, was the daughter
of Mr. John Spateman, of Derby, ironmonger. From these two I
derived my beginning, whose parents were of known integrity,
honesty, and fortune, as they [were] of equal extraction and
ingenuity; betwixt whom I [was] tenderly educated (by reason of
my natural weakness, which required more than ordinary care)
till I was aged three years and a fortnight; when my mother
departed, leaving my father a daughter, then not a month old,
with me, then weak, to his fatherly care and provision.'
The weakly, motherless boy became at an early age a voracious
reader. At first, he says--
'I began to affect the volubility and ranting stories of
romances; and at twelve years of age I first left off the
wild ones, and betook myself to read the better sort of
them, which, though they were not probable, yet carried no
seeming impossibility in the fiction. Afterwards, as my reason
increased, I gathered other real histories; and by the time I
was fifteen years old I had read, of the ancients, Plutarch's
_Lives_, Appian's and Tacitus's _Roman Histories_, Holingshed's
_History of the Kings of England_, Davies's _Life of Queen
Elizabeth_, Saunderson's of _King Charles the First_, Heyling's
_Geography_, and many others of the moderns; besides a company
of romances and other stories, of which I scarce remember a
tenth at present.'
Flamsteed received his education at the free school at Derby, where
he continued until the Whitsuntide of 1662, when he was nearly
sixteen years of age. Two years earlier than this, however, a great
misfortune fell upon him.
'At fourteen years of age,' he writes, 'when I was nearly
arrived to be the head of the free-school, [I was] visited with
a fit of sickness, that was followed with a consumption and
other distempers, which yet did not so much hinder me in my
learning, but that I still kept my station till the form broke
up, and some of my fellows went to the Universities; for which,
though I was designed, my father thought it not advisable to
send me, by reason of my distemper.'
This was a keen disappointment to him, but seems to have really
been the means of determining his career. The sickly, suffering boy
could not be idle, though 'a day's short reading caused so violent
a headache;' and a month or two after he had left school, he had
a book lent to him--Sacrobosco's _De Sphæra_, in Latin--which was
the beginning of his mathematical studies. A partial eclipse of the
sun in September of the same year seems to have first drawn his
attention to astronomical observation, and during the winter his
father, who had himself a strong passion for arithmetic, instructed
him in that science.
It was astonishing how quickly his appetite for his new subjects
grew. The _Art of Dialling_, the calculation of tables of the sun's
altitudes for all hours of the day, and for different latitudes,
and the construction of a quadrant--'of which I was not meanly
joyful'--were the occupations of this winter of illness.
In 1664 he made the acquaintanceship of two friends, Mr. George
Linacre and Mr. William Litchford; the former of whom taught him to
recognize many of the fixed stars, whilst the latter was the means
of his introduction to a knowledge of the motions of the planets.
'I had now completed eighteen years, when the winter came
on, and thrust me again into the chimney; whence the heat
and dryness of the preceding summer had happily once before
withdrawn me.'
The following year, 1665, was memorable to him 'for the appearance
of the comet,' and for a journey which he made to Ireland to be
'stroked' for his rheumatic disorder by Valentine Greatrackes, a
kind of mesmerist, who had the repute of effecting wonderful cures.
The journey, of which he gives a full and vivid account, occupied
a month; but though he was a little better, the following winter
brought him no permanent benefit.
But, ill or well, he pressed on his astronomical studies. A large
partial eclipse of the sun was due the following June; he computed
the particulars of it for Derby, and observed the eclipse itself to
the best of his ability. He argued out for himself 'the equation
of time'; the difference, that is, between time as given by the
actual sun, or 'apparent time,' and that given by a perfect clock,
or 'mean time.' He drew up a catalogue of seventy stars, computing
their right ascensions, declinations, longitudes, and latitudes
for the year 1701; he attempted to determine the inclination of
the ecliptic, the mean length of the tropical year, and the actual
distance of the earth from the sun. And these were the recreations
of a sickly, suffering young man, not yet twenty-one years of age,
and who had only begun the study of arithmetic, such as fractions
and the rule of three, four years previously!
His next attempt was almanac-making, in the which he improved
considerably upon those current at the time. His almanac for 1670
was rejected, however, and returned to him, and, not to lose
his whole labour, he sent his calculations of an eclipse of the
sun, and of five occultations of stars by the moon, which he had
undertaken for the almanac, to the Royal Society. He sent the paper
anonymously, or, rather, signed it with an anagram, 'In mathesi a
sole fundes,' for 'Johannes Flamsteedius.' His covering letter ends
thus:--
'Excuse, I pray you, this juvenile heat for the concerns of
science and want of better language, from one who, from the
sixteenth year of his age to this instant, hath only served one
bare apprenticeship in these arts, under the discouragement of
friends, the want of health, and all other instructors except
his better genius.'
This letter was dated November 4, 1669, and on January 14, Mr.
Oldenburg, the secretary of the Society, replied to him in a letter
which the young man cannot but have felt encouraging and flattering
to the highest degree.
'Though you did what you could to hide your name from us,'
he writes, 'yet your ingenious and useful labours for the
advancement of Astronomy addressed to the noble President of the
Royal Society, and some others of that illustrious body, did
soon discover you to us, upon our solicitous inquiries after
their worthy author.'
And after congratulating him upon his skill, and encouraging him
to furnish further similar papers, he signs himself, 'Your very
affectionate friend and real servant'--no unmeaning phrase, for the
friendship then commenced ceased only with Oldenburg's life.
The following June, his father, pleased with the notice that some
of the leading scientific men of the day were taking of his son,
sent him up to London, that he might be personally acquainted with
them; and he then was introduced to Sir Jonas Moore, the Surveyor
of the Ordnance, who made him a present of Townley's micrometer,
and promised to furnish him with object-glasses for telescopes at
moderate rates.
On his return journey he called at Cambridge, where he visited Dr.
Barrow and Newton, and entered his name in Jesus College.
It was not until the following year, 1671, that he was enabled to
complete his own observatory, as he had had to wait long for the
lenses which Sir Jonas Moore and Collins had promised to procure
for him. He still laboured under several difficulties, in that he
had no good means for measuring time, pendulum clocks not then
being common. He, therefore, with a practical good sense which was
characteristic, refrained from attempting anything which lay out of
his power to do well, and he devoted himself to such observations as
did not require any very accurate knowledge of the time. At the same
time, he was careful to ascertain the time of his observations as
closely as possible, by taking the altitudes of the stars.
The next four years seem to have passed exceedingly pleasantly to
him. The notes of ill-health are few. He was making rapid progress
in his acquaintanceship with the work of other astronomers,
particularly with those of the three marvellously gifted young
men--Horrox, Crabtree, and Gascoigne--who had passed away shortly
before his own birth. He was making new friends in scientific
circles, and, in particular, Sir Jonas Moore was evidently esteeming
him more and more highly. In 1674 he became more intimate with
Newton, the occasion which led to this acquaintanceship being the
amusing one, that his assistance was asked by Newton, who had
found himself unable to adjust a microscope, having forgotten its
object-glass--not the only instance of the great mathematician's
absent-mindedness.
The same year he took his degree of A.M. at Cambridge, designing
to enter the Church; but Sir Jonas Moore was extremely anxious to
give him official charge of an observatory, and was urging the Royal
Society to build an astronomical observatory at Chelsea College,
which then belonged to that body. He therefore came up to London,
and resided some months with Sir Jonas Moore at the Tower. But
shortly after his coming up to London, 'an accident happened,' to
use his own expression, that hastened, if it did not occasion, the
building of Greenwich Observatory.
'A Frenchman that called himself Le Sieur de St. Pierre, having
some small skill in astronomy, and made an interest with a
French lady, then in favour at Court, proposed no less than
the discovery of the Longitude, and had procured a kind of
Commission from the King to the Lord Brouncker, Dr. Ward (Bishop
of Salisbury), Sir Christopher Wren, Sir Charles Scarborough,
Sir Jonas Moore, Colonel Titus, Dr. Pell, Sir Robert Murray,
Mr. Hook, and some other ingenious gentlemen about the town and
Court, to receive his proposals, with power to elect, and to
receive into their number, any other skilful persons; and having
heard them, to give the King an account of them, with their
opinion whether or no they were practicable, and would show
what he pretended. Sir Jonas Moore carried me with him to one
of their meetings, where I was chosen into their number; and,
after, the Frenchman's proposals were read, which were:
'(1) To have the year and day of the observations.
'(2) The height of two stars, and on which side of the meridian
they appeared.
'(3) The height of the moon's two limbs.
'(4) The height of the pole--all to degrees and minutes.
'It was easy to perceive, from these demands, that the
sieur understood not that the best lunar tables differed
from the heavens; and that, therefore, his demands were not
sufficient for determining the longitude of the place where
such observations were, or should be, made, from that to which
the lunar tables were fitted, which I represented immediately
to the company. But they, considering the interests of his
patroness at Court, desired to have him furnished according to
his demands. I undertook it; and having gained the moon's true
place by observations made at Derby, February 23, 1672, and
November 12, 1673, gave him observations such as he demanded.
The half-skilled man did not think they could have been given
him, and cunningly answered "_They were feigned_." I delivered
them to Dr. Pell, February 19, 1674-5, who, returning me his
answer some time after, I wrote a letter in English to the
commissioners, and another in Latin to the sieur, to assure him
they were not feigned, and to show them that, if they had been,
yet if we had astronomical tables that would give us the two
places of the fixed stars and the moon's true places, both in
longitude and latitude, nearer than to half a minute, we might
hope to find the longitude of places by lunar observations, but
not by such as he demanded. But that we were so far from having
the places of the fixed stars true, that the Tychonic Catalogues
often erred ten minutes or more; that they were uncertain to
three or four minutes, by reason that Tycho assumed a faulty
obliquity of the ecliptic, and had employed only plain sights
in his observations: and that the best lunar tables differ
one-quarter, if not one-third, of a degree from the heavens;
and lastly, that he might have learnt better methods than he
proposed, from his countryman Morin, whom he had best consult
before he made any more demands of this nature.'
This was in effect to tell St. Pierre that his proposal was neither
original nor practicable. If St. Pierre had but consulted Morin's
writings (Morin himself had died more than eighteen years before),
he would have known that practically the same proposal had been
laid before Cardinal Richelieu in 1634, and had been rejected, as
quite impracticable in the then state of astronomical knowledge.
Possibly Flamsteed meant further to intimate that St. Pierre had
simply stolen his method from Morin, hoping to trade it off upon
the government of another country; in which case he would no doubt
regard Flamsteed's letter as a warning that he had been found out.
Flamsteed continues:--
'I heard no more of the Frenchman after this; but was told
that, my letters being shown King Charles, he startled at
the assertion of the fixed stars' places being false in the
catalogue; said, with some vehemence, "He must have them anew
observed, examined, and corrected, for the use of his seamen;"
and further (when it was urged to him how necessary it was to
have a good stock of observations taken for correcting the
motions of the moon and planets), with the same earnestness,
"he must have it done." And when he was asked Who could, or who
should do it? "The person (says he) that informs you of them."
Whereupon I was appointed to it, with the incompetent allowance
aforementioned; but with assurances, at the same time, of such
further additions as thereafter should be found requisite for
carrying on the work.'
[Illustration: FLAMSTEED'S SEXTANT.
(_From an engraving in the 'Historia Coelestis.'_)]
Thus, in his twenty-ninth year, John Flamsteed became the first
Astronomer Royal. In many ways he was an ideal man for the post.
In the twelve years which had passed since he left school he had
accomplished an amazing amount of work. Despite his constant
ill-health and severe sufferings, and the circumstance--which may
be inferred from many expressions in his autobiographies--that he
assisted his father in his business, he had made himself master,
perhaps more thoroughly than any of his contemporaries, of the
entire work of a practical astronomer as it was then understood.
He was an indefatigable computer; the calculation of tables of the
motions of the moon and planets, which should as faithfully as
possible represent their observed positions, had had an especial
attraction for him, and, as has been already mentioned, some years
before his appointment he had drawn up a catalogue of stars,
based upon the observations of Tycho Brahe. More than that, he
had not been a merely theoretical worker, he had been a practical
observer of very considerable skill, and, in the dearth of suitable
instruments, had already made one or two for himself, and had
contemplated the making of others. In his first letter to Sir Jonas
Moore he asks for instruction as to the making of object-glasses
for telescopes, for he was quite prepared to set about the task of
making his own. In addition to his tireless industry, which neither
illness nor suffering could abate, he was a man of singularly exact
and business-like habits. The precision with which he preserves and
records the dates of all letters received or sent is an illustration
of this. On the other hand, he had the defects of his circumstances
and character. His numerous autobiographical sketches betray him,
not indeed as a conceited man, in the ordinary sense of the word,
but as an exceedingly self-conscious one. Devout and high-principled
he most assuredly was, but, on the other hand, he shows in almost
every line he wrote that he was one who could not brook anything
like criticism or opposition.
Such a man, however efficient, was little likely to be happy as the
first incumbent of a new and important government post; but there
was another circumstance which was destined to cause him greater
unhappiness still.
If we believe, as surely we must, that not only the moral and the
physical progress of mankind is watched over and controlled by
God's good Providence, but its intellectual progress as well, then
there can be no doubt that John Flamsteed was raised up at this
particular time, not merely to found Greenwich Observatory, and to
assist the solution of the problem of the longitude at sea, but
also, and chiefly, to become the auxiliary to a far greater mind,
the journeyman to a true master-builder. But for the founding of
Greenwich Observatory, and for John Flamsteed's observations made
therein, the working out of Newton's grand theory of gravitation
must have been hindered, and its acceptance by the men of science
of his time immensely delayed. We cannot regard as accidental the
combination, so fortunate for us, of Newton, the great world-genius,
to work out the problem, of Flamsteed, the painstaking observer, to
supply him with the materials for his work, and of the newly-founded
institution, Greenwich Observatory, where Flamsteed was able to
gather those materials together. This is the true debt that we owe
to Flamsteed, that, little as he understood the position in which
he had been placed from the standpoint from which we see it to-day,
yet, to the extent of his ability, and as far as he conceived it
in accordance with his duty, he gave Newton such assistance as he
could.
This is how we see the matter to-day. It wore a very different
aspect in Flamsteed's eyes; and the two following documents, the
one, the warrant founding the Observatory and making him Astronomer
Royal; the other, the warrant granting him a salary, will go far to
explain his position in the matter. He had a high-sounding, official
position, which could not fail to impress him with a sense of
importance; whilst his salary was so insufficient that he naturally
regarded himself as absolute owner of his own work.
_'Warrant for the Payment of Mr. Flamsteed's Salary._
'Charles Rex.
'Whereas, we have appointed our trusty and well-beloved John
Flamsteed, Master of Arts, our astronomical observator,
forthwith to apply himself with the most exact care and
diligence to the rectifying the tables of the motions of the
heavens, and the places of the fixed stars, so as to find out
the so-much-desired longitude of places for the perfecting the
art of navigation, Our will and pleasure is, and we do hereby
require and authorize you, for the support and maintenance of
the said John Flamsteed, of whose abilities in astronomy we have
very good testimony, and are well satisfied, that from time
to time you pay, or cause to be paid, unto him, the said John
Flamsteed, or his assigns, the yearly salary or allowance of
one hundred pounds per annum; the same to be charged and borne
upon the quarter-books of the Office of the Ordnance, and paid
to him quarterly, by even and equal portions, by the Treasurer
of our said office, the first quarter to begin and be accompted
from the feast of St. Michael the Archangel last past, and so to
continue during our pleasure. And for so doing, this shall be as
well unto you, as to the Auditors of the Exchequer, for allowing
the same, and all other our officers and ministers whom it may
concern, a full and sufficient warrant.
'Given at our Court at Whitehall, the 4th day of March, 1674-5.
'By his Majesty's Command,
'J. WILLIAMSON.
'To our right-trusty and well-beloved Counsellor, Sir
Thomas Chichely, Knt., Master of our Ordnance, and to the
Lieutenant-General of our Ordnance, and to the rest of the
Officers of our Ordnance, now and for the time being, and to all
and every of them.'
_'Warrant for Building the Observatory._
'Charles Rex.
'Whereas, in order to the finding out of the longitude of places
for perfecting navigation and astronomy, we have resolved to
build a small observatory within our park at Greenwich, upon
the highest ground, at or near the place where the Castle
stood, with lodging-rooms for our astronomical observator and
assistant, Our will and pleasure is, that according to such plot
and design as shall be given you by our trusty and well-beloved
Sir Christopher Wren, Knight, our surveyor-general of the place
and scite of the said observatory, you cause the same to be
fenced in, built and finished with all convenient speed, by such
artificers and workmen as you shall appoint thereto, and that
you give order unto our Treasurer of the Ordnance for the paying
of such materials and workmen as shall be used and employed
therein, out of such monies as shall come to your hands for old
and decayed powder, which hath or shall be sold by our order of
the 1st of January last, provided that the whole sum, so to be
expended or paid, shall not exceed five hundred pounds; and our
pleasure is, that all our officers and servants belonging to our
said park be assisting to those that you shall appoint, for the
doing thereof, and for so doing, this shall be to you, and to
all others whom it may concern, a sufficient warrant.
'Given at our Court at Whitehall, the 22nd day of June, 1675, in
the 27th year of our reign.
'By his Majesty's Command,
'J. WILLIAMSON.
'To our right-trusty and well-beloved Counsellor, Sir Thomas
Chichely, Knt., Master-General of our Ordnance.'
The first question that arose, when it had been determined to found
the new Observatory, was where it was to be placed. Hyde Park was
suggested, and Sir Jonas Moore recommended Chelsea College, where
he had already thought of establishing Flamsteed in a private
observatory. Fortunately, both these localities were set aside in
favour of one recommended by Sir Christopher Wren. There was a small
building on the top of the hill in the Royal Park of Greenwich
belonging to the Crown, and which was now of little or no use.
Visible from the city, and easily accessible by that which was then
the best and most convenient roadway, the river Thames, it was yet
so completely out of town as to be entirely safe from the smoke
of London. In Greenwich Park, too, but on the more easterly hill,
Charles I. had contemplated setting up an observatory, but the
pressure of events had prevented him carrying out his intention.
A further practical advantage was that materials could be easily
transported thither. The management of public affairs under Charles
II. left much to be desired in the matter of efficiency and economy,
and it was not very easy to procure what was wanted for the erection
of a purely scientific building. However, the matter was arranged.
A gate-house demolished in the Tower supplied wood; iron, and
lead, and bricks were supplied from Tilbury Fort, and these could
be easily brought by water to the selected site. The sum of £500,
actually £520, was further allotted from the results of a sale
of spoilt gunpowder; and with these limited resources Greenwich
Observatory was built.
The foundation-stone was laid August 10, 1675, and Flamsteed
amused himself by drawing the horoscope of the Observatory, a
fact which--in spite of his having written across the face of the
horoscope _Risum teneatis amici?_ (Can you keep from laughter, my
friends?), and his having two or three years before written very
severely against the imposture of astrology--has led some modern
astrologers to claim him as a believer in their cult. He actually
entered into residence July 10, 1676.
[Illustration: THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY IN FLAMSTEED'S DAY.
(_From an engraving in the 'Historia Coelestis.'_)]
His position was not a bright one. The Government had, indeed,
provided him with a building for his observatory, and a small house
for his own residence, but he had no instrument and no assistant.
The first difficulty was partly overcome for the moment by gifts
or loans from Sir Jonas Moore, and by one or two small loans from
the Royal Society. The death of this great friend and patron,
four years after the founding of the Observatory, and only three
years after his entering into residence, deprived him of several
of these; it was with difficulty that he maintained against Sir
Jonas' heirs his claim to the instruments which Sir Jonas had given
him. There was nothing for him to do but to make his instruments
himself, and in 1683 he built a mural quadrant of fifty inches
radius. His circumstances improved the following year, when Lord
North gave him the living of Burstow, near Horley, Surrey, Flamsteed
having received ordination almost at the time of his appointment
to the Astronomer Royalship. We have little or no account of the
way in which he fulfilled his duties as a clergyman. Evidently he
considered that his position as Astronomer Royal had the first
claim upon him. At the same time, comparatively early in life he
had expressed his desire to fill the clerical office, and he was a
man too conscientious to neglect any duty that lay upon him. That
in spite of his feeble health he often journeyed to and fro between
Burstow and Greenwich we know; and we may take it as certain that at
a time when the standard of clerical efficiency was extremely low,
he was not one of those who
'For their bellies' sake,
Creep and intrude and climb into the fold.'
His chief source of income, however, seems to have been the private
pupils whom he took in mathematics and astronomy. These numbered in
the years 1676 to 1709 no fewer than 140; and as many of them were
of the very first and wealthiest families in the kingdom, the gain
to Flamsteed in money and influence must have been considerable. But
it was most distasteful work. It was in no sense that which he felt
to be his duty, and which he had at heart. It was undertaken from
sheer, hard necessity, and he grudged bitterly the time and strength
which it diverted from his proper calling.
How faithfully he followed that, one single circumstance will show.
In the thirteen years ending 1689, he made 20,000 observations, and
had revised single-handed the whole of the theories and tables of
the heavenly bodies then in use.
In 1688 the death of his father brought him a considerable accession
of means, and, far more important, the assistance of Abraham
Sharp,[1] the first and most distinguished of the long list of
Greenwich assistants, men who, though far less well known than the
Astronomers Royal, have contributed scarcely less in their own field
to the high reputation of the Observatory.
[1] Abraham Sharp had been with Flamsteed earlier than this--in 1684
and 1685.
Sharp was not only a most careful and indefatigable calculator,
he was what was even more essential for Flamsteed--a most skilful
instrument-maker; and he divided for him a new mural arc of 140° and
seven feet radius, with which he commenced operations on December
12, 1689. Above all, Sharp became his faithful and devoted friend
and adherent, and no doubt his sympathy strengthened Flamsteed to
endure the trouble which was at hand.
That trouble began in 1694, when Newton visited the Royal
Observatory. At that time Flamsteed, though he had done so much,
had published nothing, and Newton, who had made his discovery of
the laws of gravitation some few years before, was then employed
in deducing from them a complete theory of the moon's motion. This
work was one of absolutely first importance. In the first place
and chiefly, upon the success with which it could be carried out,
depended undoubtedly the acceptance of the greatest discovery
which has yet been made in physical science. Secondarily--and this
should, and no doubt did, appeal to Flamsteed--the perfecting of
our knowledge of the movements of the moon was a primary part of
the very work which he was commissioned to do as Astronomer Royal.
Newton was, therefore, anxious beyond everything to receive the
best possible observations of the moon's places, and he came to
Flamsteed, as to the man from whom he had a right to expect to
receive a supply of them. At first Flamsteed seems to have given
these as fully as he was able; but it is evident that Newton chafed
at the necessity for these frequent applications to Flamsteed, and
to the constant need of putting pressure upon him. Flamsteed, on the
other hand, as clearly evidently resented this continual demand.
Feeling, as he keenly did, that, though he had been named Astronomer
Royal, he had been left practically entirely without support; his
instruments were entirely his own, either made or purchased by
himself; his nominal salary of £100 was difficult to get, and did
not nearly cover the actual current expenses of his position, he not
unnaturally regarded his observations as his own exclusive property.
He had a most natural dislike for his observations to be published,
except after such reduction as he himself had carried through,
and in the manner which he himself had chosen. The idea which was
ever before him was that of carrying out a single great work that
should not only be a monument to his own industry and skill, but
should also raise the name of England amongst scientific nations. He
complained of it, therefore, both as a personal wrong and an injury
to the country when some observations of Cassini's were combined
with some observations of his own in order to deduce a better orbit
for a comet.
Unknown to himself, therefore, he was called upon to decide a
question that has proved fundamental to the policy of Greenwich
Observatory, and he decided it wrongly--the question of publication.
Newton had urged upon him as early as 1691 that he should not wait
until he had formed an exhaustive catalogue of all the brighter
stars, but that he should publish at once a catalogue of a few,
which might serve as standards; but Flamsteed would not hear of it.
He failed to see that his office had been created for a definite
practical purpose, not for the execution of some great scheme,
however important to science. All his work of thirty years had done
nothing to forward navigation so long as he published nothing. But
if, year by year, he had published the places of the moon and of a
few standard stars, he would have advanced the art immensely and
yet have not hindered himself from eventually bringing out a great
catalogue. No doubt the little incident of Newton's difficulty
with the microscope, of which he had forgotten the object-glass,
had given Flamsteed a low opinion of Newton's qualifications as a
practical astronomer. If so, he was wrong, for Newton's insight
into practical matters was greater than Flamsteed's own, and his
practical skill was no less, though his absent-mindedness might
occasionally lead him into an absurd mistake.
The following extract from Flamsteed's own 'brief History of the
Observatory' gives an account of his view of Newton's action towards
him in desiring the publication of his star catalogue, and at the
same time it illustrates Flamsteed's touchy and suspicious nature.
'Whilst Mr. Flamsteed was busied in the laborious work of
the catalogue of the fixed stars, and forced often to watch
and labour by night, to fetch the materials for it from the
heavens, that were to be employed by day, he often, on Sir Isaac
Newton's instances, furnished him with observations of the
moon's places, in order to carry on his correction of the lunar
theory. A civil correspondence was carried on between them; only
Mr. Flamsteed could not but take notice that as Sir Isaac was
advanced in place, so he raised himself in his conversation and
became more magisterial. At last, finding that Mr. Flamsteed
had advanced far in his designed catalogue by the help of his
country calculators, that he had made new lunar tables, and
was daily advancing on the other planets, Sir Isaac Newton
came to see him (Tuesday, April 11, 1704); and desiring, after
dinner, to be shown in what forwardness his work was, had so
much of the catalogue of the fixed stars laid before him as was
then finished; together with the maps of the constellations,
both those drawn by T. Weston and P. Van Somer, as also his
collation of the observed places of Saturn and Jupiter, with
the Rudolphine numbers. Having viewed them well, he told Mr.
Flamsteed he would (_i.e._ he was desirous to) recommend them
to the Prince _privately_. Mr. Flamsteed (who had long been
sensible of his partiality, and heard how his two flatterers
cried Sir Isaac's performances up, was sensible of the snare in
the word _privately_) answered that would not do; and (upon Sir
Isaac's demanding "why not?") that then the Prince's attendants
would tell him these were but curiosities of no great use, and
persuade him to save that expense, that there might be the
more for them to beg of him: and that the recommendation must
be made _publicly_, to prevent any such suggestions. Sir Isaac
apprehended right, that he was understood, and his designs
defeated: and so took his leave not well satisfied with the
refusal.
'It was November following ere Mr. Flamsteed heard from him any
more: when, considering with himself that what he had done was
not well understood, he set himself to examine how many folio
pages his work when printed would fill; and found upon an easy
computation that they would at least take up 1400. Being amazed
at this, he set himself to consider them more seriously; drew
up an estimate of them; and, to obviate the misrepresentations
of Dr. S[loane] and some others, who had given out that what he
had was inconsiderable, he delivered a copy of the estimate to
Mr. Hodgson, then lately chosen a member of the Royal Society,
with directions to deliver it to a friend, who he knew would do
him justice; and, on this fair account, obviate those unjust
reports which had been studiously spread to his prejudice. It
happened soon after, Mr. Hodgson being at a meeting, spied this
person there, at the other side of the room; and therefore gave
the paper to one that stood in some company betwixt them, to be
handed to him. But the gentleman, mistaking his request, handed
to the Secretary [Dr. Sloane], who, being a Physician, and not
acquainted with astronomical terms, did not read it readily.
Whereupon another in the company took it out of his hands;
and, having read it distinctly, desired that the works therein
mentioned might be recommended to the Prince; the charge of
printing them being too great either for the author or the Royal
Society. Sir Isaac closed in with this.'
[Illustration: THE 'CAMERA STELLATA' IN FLAMSTEED'S TIME.
(_From an engraving in the 'Historia Coelestis.'_)]
The work was in consequence recommended to Prince George of Denmark,
the Queen's Consort; but it was not till November 10, 1705, that
the contract for the printing was signed. Two years later, the
observations which he had made with his sextant in his first
thirteen years of office were printed. Then came the difficulty of
the catalogue. It was not complete to Flamsteed's satisfaction, and
he was most unwilling to let it pass out of his hands. However,
two manuscripts, comprising some three-quarters of the whole, were
deposited with referees, the first of these being sealed up. The
seal was broken with Flamsteed's concurrence; but the fact that it
had been so broken was made by him the subject of bitter complaint
later. At this critical juncture Prince George died, and a stop
was put to the progress of the printing. Two years more elapsed
without any advance being made, and then, in order to check any
further obstruction, a committee of the Royal Society was appointed
as a Board of Visitors to visit and inspect the Observatory, and so
maintain a control over the Astronomer Royal. This was naturally
felt by so sensitive a man as Flamsteed as a most intolerable wrong,
and when he found that the printing of his catalogue had been placed
in the hands of Halley as editor, a man for whom he had conceived
the most violent distrust, he absolutely refused to furnish the
Visitors with any further material. This led to, perhaps, the most
painful scene in the lives either of Newton or Flamsteed. Flamsteed
was summoned to meet the Council of the Royal Society at their rooms
in Crane Court. A quorum was not present, and so the interview was
not official, and no record of it is preserved in the archives.
Flamsteed has himself described it with great particularity in more
than one document, and it is only too easy to understand the scene
that took place. Newton was a man who had an absolutely morbid dread
of anything like controversy, and over and over again would have
preferred to have buried his choicest researches, rather than to
have encountered the smallest conflict of the kind. He was perhaps,
therefore, the worst man to deal with a high-principled, sensitive,
and obstinate man who was in the wrong, and yet who had been so
hardly dealt with that it was most natural for him to think himself
wholly in the right. Flamsteed adhered absolutely to his position,
from which it is clear it would have been extremely difficult for
the greatest tact and consideration to have dislodged him. Newton,
on his part, simply exerted his authority, and, that failing, was
reduced to the miserable extremity of calling names. The scene is
described by Flamsteed himself, in a letter to Abraham Sharp, as
follows:--
'I have had another contest with the President[2] of the
Royal Society, who had formed a plot to make my instruments
theirs; and sent for me to a Committee, where only himself and
two physicians (Dr. Sloane, and another as little skilful as
himself) were present. The President ran himself into a great
heat, and very indecent passion. I had resolved aforehand
his kn--sh talk should not move me; showed him that all the
instruments in the Observatory were my own; the mural arch and
voluble quadrant having been made at my own charge, the rest
purchased with my own money, except the sextant and two clocks,
which were given me by Sir Jonas Moore, with Mr. Towneley's
micrometer, his gift, some years before I came to Greenwich.
This nettled him; for he has got a letter from the Secretary of
State for the Royal Society to be Visitors of the Observatory,
and he said, "_as good have no observatory as no instruments_."
I complained then of my catalogue being printed by Raymer,
without my knowledge, and that I was _robbed of the fruit of my
labours_. At this he fired, and called me all the ill names,
puppy, etc., that he could think of. All I returned was, I put
him in mind of his passion, desired him to govern it, and keep
his temper: this made him rage worse, and he told me how much
I had received from the Government in thirty-six years I had
served. I asked what he had done for the £500 per annum that he
had received ever since he had settled in London. This made him
calmer; but finding him going to burst out again, I only told
him my catalogue, half finished, was delivered into his hands,
on his own request, sealed up. He could not deny it, but said
Dr. Arbuthnott had procured the Queen's order for opening it.
This, I am persuaded, was false; or it was got after it had been
opened. I said nothing to him in return; but, with a little
more spirit than I had hitherto showed, told them that God (who
was seldom spoken of with due reverence in that meeting) had
hitherto prospered all my labours, and I doubted not would do so
to a happy conclusion; took my leave and left them. Dr. Sloane
had said nothing all this while; the other Doctor told me I was
proud, and insulted the President, and ran into the same passion
with the President. At my going out, I called to Dr. Sloane,
told him he had behaved himself civilly, and thanked him for it.
I saw Raymer after, drank a dish of coffee with him, and told
him, still calmly, of the villany of his conduct, and called it
_blockish_. Since then they let me be quiet; but how long they
will do so I know not, nor am I solicitous.'
[2] Sir Isaac Newton.
The Visitors continued the printing, Halley being the editor, and
the work appeared in 1712 under the title of _Historia Coelestis_.
This seemed to Flamsteed the greatest wrong of all. The work as it
appeared seemed to him so full of errors, wilfully or accidentally
inserted, as to be the greatest blot upon his fair fame, and he
set himself, though now an old man, to work it out _de novo_ and
at his own expense. To that purpose he devoted the remaining seven
years of his life. Few things can be more pathetic than the letters
which he wrote in that period referring to it. He was subject to
the attacks of one of the cruelest of all diseases--the stone; he
was at all times liable to distracting headaches. He had been, from
his boyhood, a great sufferer from rheumatism, and yet, in spite of
all, he resolutely pushed on his self-appointed task. The following
extract from one of his letters will give a more vivid idea of the
brave old man than much description:--
'I can still, I praise God for it, walk from my door to the
Blackheath gate and back, with a little resting at some benches
I have caused to be set up betwixt them. But I found myself so
tired with getting up the hill when I return from church, that
at last I have bought a sedan, and am carried thither in state
on Sunday mornings and back; I hope I may employ it in the
afternoons, though I have not hitherto, by reason of the weather
is too cold for me.'
After the death of Queen Anne, a change in the ministry enabled
him to secure that three hundred copies of the total impression of
four hundred of the _Historia Coelestis_ were handed over to him.
These, except the first volume, containing his sextant observations
(which had received his own approval), he burned, 'as a sacrifice
to heavenly truth.' His own great work had advanced so far that the
first volume was printed, and much of the second, when he himself
died, on the last day of 1719. He was buried in the chancel of
Burstow Church.
The completion of his work took ten years more; a work of piety and
regard on the part of his assistant, Joseph Crosthwait.
When compared with the catalogues that have gone before, it was
a work of wonderful accuracy. Nevertheless, as Caroline Herschel
showed, nearly a century later, not a few errors had crept into it.
Some of the stars are non-existent, others have been catalogued in
more than one constellation; important stars have been altogether
omitted. Perhaps the most serious fault arises from the neglect of
Flamsteed to accept from Newton a practical hint, namely, to read
the barometer and thermometer at the time of his observations.
Nevertheless, the work accomplished was not only wonderful under the
untoward conditions in which Flamsteed was placed; it was wonderful
in itself, winning from Airy the following high encomium:--
'In regard not only to accuracy of observation, and to detail in
publication of the methods of observing, but also to steadiness
of system followed through many years, and to completeness of
calculation of the useful results deduced from the observations,
this work may shame any other collection of observations in this
or any other country.'
This catalogue was not Flamsteed's only achievement. He had
determined the latitude of the Observatory, the obliquity of the
ecliptic, and the position of the equinoctial points. He thought out
an original method of obtaining the absolute right ascensions of
stars by differential observations of the places of the stars and
the sun near to both equinoxes. He had revised and improved Horrox's
theory of the lunar motions, which was by far the best existing in
Flamsteed's day. He showed the existence of the long inequality of
Jupiter and Saturn; that is to say, the periodic influence which
they exercise upon each other. He determined the time in which the
sun rotates on its axis, and the position of that axis. He observed
an apparent movement of the stars in the course of a year, which he
ascribed, though erroneously, to the stellar parallax, and which was
explained by the third Astronomer Royal, Bradley.
Flamsteed not only met with harsh treatment during his lifetime; he
has not yet received, except from a few, anything like the meed of
appreciation which is his just due; but, at least, his successors in
the office have not forgotten him. They have been proud that their
official residence should be known as Flamsteed House, and his name
is inscribed over the main entrance of the latest and finest of
the Observatory buildings, and his bust looks forth from its front
towards the home where he laboured so devotedly for nearly fifty
years. But he has received little honour, save at Greenwich, and--in
spite of the proverb--in his other home, the village of Burstow, in
Surrey, of which he was for many years the rector. Here a stained
glass window representing, appropriately, the Adoration of the Magi,
has been recently set up to his memory, largely through the interest
taken in his history by an amateur astronomer of the neighbourhood,
Mr. W. Tebb, F.R.A.S.
No instrument of Flamsteed's remains in the Observatory, his wife
removing them after his death. But we may consider his principal
instrument, the mural quadrant made for him by Abraham Sharp, as
represented by the remains of a quadrant by the same artist, which
was presented to the Observatory by the Rev. N. S. Heineken, in
1865, and now hangs over the door of the transit room.