formerly the property of James Halsey that Joseph had acquired 

 with so much trouble over a period of 40 years.*^ 



The following advertisement relating to instruments sold by 

 Halsy appeared in the issues of The Boston Gazette for the months 

 of September and October 1738: 



Made and sold by Joseph Halsey jun. Hadley's New Invented Quadrant or 

 Octant the best and exacted Instrument for taking the Latitude or Other 

 Altitudes at Sea, as ever yet Invented.*^ 



The last dated record relating to Joseph Halsy which has been 

 found is a letter dated February 3, 1762, that he wrote to Robert 

 Treat Paine concerning legal matters. 



Only one complete instrument produced by Joseph Halsy appears 

 to have survived — an especially fine wooden surveyors compass 

 (fig. 39) in the collection of the New Hampshire Historical Society. 

 It is made of maple. The compass card, probably the most inter- 

 esting of any found in the wooden instruments, is hand-colored in 

 black, blue, red, and gold. A fleur-de-lis marks the North point, 

 and triangular pointers indicate the other compass directions. 

 Inside the pointers are crudely painted female figures representing 

 the seven arts: NW, Grammar; W, Logick; SW, Geometry; S, 

 Arithmetick; SE, Astronomy; E, Rhetorick; and NE, Musick. 

 Within a medallion at the center of the compass card is depicted 

 a sailing vessel at sea; surrounding the medallion is a riband 

 inscribed "Made and Sold by Joseph Halsy Boston — New 

 England." '' 



Another, but much less elaborate, compass card used by Joseph 

 Halsy, is an engraved example (fig. 40) found glued in Thomas 

 Paine's own manuscript copy of Charles Morton's Compendium 

 Physicae, which is preserved in the collection of the Massachusetts 

 Historical Society. 



John Halsy (fl. 1700-1750), also a mathematical instrument 

 maker, had a shop on Green Street, in Boston, according to the 

 Record Commissioner's "Report of the City of Boston." He was 

 married on December 10, 1700, by the Reverend Cotton Mather. 

 He probably was a brother of Joseph Halsy who worked in the 

 same period. 



John Halsy subsequently abandoned his instrument-making 



^*" Joseph Halsy," in Thwing Catalogue, Massachusetts Historical Society. 

 «^ Boston Gazette, September 18-25, October 2-9, and October 16-23, 1738. 

 ^® Description courtesy of Mr. Philip N. Guyol, director. New Hampshire His- 

 torical Society. 



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