418 Life of the Rev. John Flamsteed, [Dec. 



stars were calculated; and, besides, 1000 places of the 

 moon, and 1000 places of the planets. " 1689. Began obser- 

 vations of the stars' distances from our vertex with it, — got 

 the clock removed."] 



1694, Saturday September 1st. Mr Newton came to visit 

 me. Esteeming him an obliged friend, I showed him about 

 150 places of the moon, derived from my observations and 

 tables by myself, and servants hired at my own expense ; 

 with the differences or errors, in three synopses written on 

 large sheets of paper, in order to correct the theory of her 

 motions. On his earnest request I lent them to him, and 

 allowed him to take copies of them (as I did not doubt but 

 that by their help he would be able to correct the lunar 

 theory), upon these two conditions however : 1°. That he 

 should not impart or communicate them to anybody with- 

 out my consent : for the places of the moon deduced from 

 the observations (I told him) were got with the help of a 

 small catalogue of fixed stars made from observations taken 

 with the sextant only, and rectified to the beginning of the 

 year 1686 ; whereby I found their places were not so correct 

 as they ought to be ; and that when the stars were rectified 

 by the new instrument, I would calculate the moon's places 

 anew, and then should be ready to impart them both to him 

 and to the public. 2°. That he should not in the first 

 instance impart the result of what he derived from them 

 to anybody but myself: for, since I saved him all the labor 

 of calculating the moon's place both from the observations 

 and tables, it was not just that he should give the result of 

 my pains (the correction of the theory I had furnished with 

 numbers) to any other but myself. All this he approved ; 

 and by a letter of his dated confessed. Nevertheless 



he imparted what he derived from them, both to Dr. 

 Gregory and Mr. Halley, contra datam Jidem. The first of 

 these conditions I was not much concerned whether he 

 kept or not : but he has, I believe, kept it. The latter 

 (which was the most material) he has forgot or broke ; 

 through the insinuation, I fear, of some persons that were 

 little his friends, till they saw what friends he had in the 

 Government ; and I presume will be less so, when they see 

 them laid aside. 



I had thus hoped to have gained leisure to begin my 



