134 Mr Baily's Account of . 



House in Greenwich Park, till July 10, 1676, on which day lie 

 removed to the Observatory ; the only instruments with which 

 he was then furnished, being an iron sextant of seven feet ra- 

 dius, and two clocks, given to him by Sir Jonas Moore, toge- 

 ther with a quadrant of three feet radius, and two telescopes, 

 which he had brought with him from Derby ; consequently none 

 of these articles were provided at the public expense. 



He had not been long in this situation before he was invited, 

 by Dr Bernard of Oxford, to become a candidate for the Savi- 

 lian professorship of astronomy, then about to be vacated by the 

 Doctor. His reply (February 8, 1697-8), shews the state of 

 his religious feeling at that time, and how far he was satisfied 

 .with the situation in which he had been so recently placed ; for, 

 in declining the invitation, he says, " I have resolved for the pre- 

 sent to content myself with a place which I have furnished with 

 instruments of my own contrivance {but full qf trouble and no 

 gains), till I see an opportunity of removing to some one more 

 advantageous ; and where I may have a better air, with lesser or 

 fewer distempers. / am as weary of the place as you erf yours: 

 my inclinations are for an employment that may render me 

 more useful in the world, and promote more glory to my Maker ; 

 which, as you well intimate, is the sole end of our lives, and to 

 which I would direct all my labours.'"'' 



In June 1678 he borrowed a quadrant from the Royal So- 

 ciety, which he employed till October 1679, " when the ill na- 

 ture of Mr Hooke forced it out of his hands," after which 

 Flamsteed made one of fifty inches radius at his own cost. Find- 

 ing, however, that he could not determine the equinoctial points, 

 nor pursue his astronomical investigations successfully, without 

 an instrument Jioced in the meridian, he applied to government 

 from time to time to furnish such a one for the observatory. 

 This was repeatedly promised him, but never carried into effect ; 

 and Flamsteed was for some time obliged to make shift with his 

 sextant, brought into the plane of the meridian, and fixed there 

 as well as he was able.* At length, finding all his applications 



• It was about this period, viz. in November 1680, that the great comet 

 appeared ; which, after having passed its perihelion, was visible again in the 

 following months. Flamsteed, having investigated its path in the heavens, 

 immediately pronounced that the two appearances were one and the same comet ; 



