the Rev. John Flamsteed. 147 



sued (March 29), he asked the Doctor in direct terms, " whe- 

 ther the catalogue was printed or not P'' to which the Doctor re- 

 plied, '* that not a sheet of it was printed.'' Flamsteed doubted 

 the assertion at the time, and which, indeed, turned out to be 

 Jhlse ; for a friend sent him, within four days after, the constel- 

 lation of Aries and Taurus fairly printed ; and, in a day or two 

 after, that of Virgo, He learned also that Halley had the su- 

 perintendence of the press ; that he pretended that he had found 

 many faults in the catalogue ; that he had, moreover, shewed 

 some sheets of it publicly at Child's Coffee-house, and that he 

 boasted of the pains he had taken in correcting the errors. 

 Flamsteed was of too high a spirit to be thus treated, without 

 remonstrance: he found that he had been made the dupe of 

 some intrigue, and he resented it accordingly. In one of his 

 letters to Dr Arbuthnott (April 19, 1711), complaining, amongst 

 other things, of the alteration in his catalogue, he says, " I have 

 now spent thirty-five years in the composing and work of my 

 catalogue, which may in time be published for the use of her 

 Majesty's subjects, and ingenious men all the world over. I 

 have endured long and painful distempers by my night watches 

 and day labours. I have spent a large sum of money, above my 

 appointment, out of my own estate, to complete my catalogue, 

 and finish my astronomical works under my hands. Do not 

 tease me with banter, by telling me that these alterations are 

 made to plecise me, when you are sensible nothing can be more 

 displeasing nor injurious than to be told so. Make my case 

 your own, and tell me, ingenuously and sincerely, were you in 

 my circumstances, and had been at all my labour, charge, and 

 trouble, would you like to have your labours surreptitiously 

 forced out of your hands, conveyed into the hands of your de- 

 clared, profligate enemies, printed without your consent, and 

 spoiled, as mine are, in the impression ? Would you suffer your 

 enemies to make themselves judges of what they really under- 

 stand not ? Would you not withdraw your copy out of their 

 hands, trust no more in theirs, and publish your own works 

 rather at your own expense, than see them spoiled, and yourself 

 laughed at for suffering it ? 



" I see no way to prevent the evil consequences of Dr 

 Halley's conduct but this. I have caused my servant to take 



