Reply to Remarks on the Nautical Almanac. 203 



lyne, the theorems of Euler and the tables of Mayer would 

 probably have had no existence, notwithstanding the induce- 

 ment held out by the British government, which so essentially 

 encouraged those mathematicians in their pursuits. 



But even if Great Britain had never produced the first good 

 tables of the moon, or had never produced any tables at all, 

 good, bad, or indifferent, that required much mechanical la- 

 bour, would the fact be a subject for any great lamentation or 

 mortification? Or is it to be regretted, that the talents of the 

 English mathematicians have been otherwise employed than in 

 mere numerical computations? In France and in Germany may 

 be found a number of ingenious and industrious men, whose acti- 

 vity and frugality renders them peculiarly adapted for the more 

 laborious departments of literature and science, and who are 

 satisfied with a moderate remuneration, in the shape of a pro- 

 fessor's salary, or an academical pension ; and although they 

 could seldom very conveniently give up their time gratuitously 

 to the good of the public, they are satisfied with the conscious- 

 ness of being useful, without the ambition to be brilliant. In 

 Great Britain, the whole machinery of politics, of literature, and 

 of science, is carried on by volunteers : their recompense is in 

 the credit that they derive from their pursuits : they have no 

 motive for labouring in the mere mechanical execution of the 

 inventions of others ; their ambition is directed to higher ob- 

 jects : the beginning and ending of all scientific works, as well 

 as of works of art, are the most arduous ; the middle may be 

 left to the hand of the mere labourer : and it is neither a dis- 

 grace to Great Britain to profit by the labours of the foreigner 

 when labour only is wanted, nor a dishonour to the foreigner to 

 fill up the void, which has been accidentally or temporarily 

 left, by the talent and patronage of Great Britain. As 

 soon, however, as the present tables shall have been found 

 inadequate to the purposes required of the Nautical Almanac, 

 it will become the duty of the Board of Longitude to seek for 

 others : but there is no reason why their means should be dis- 

 sipated upon the construction of tables, subservient to mere 

 curiosity, and to the contingent improvement of some of the 

 details of mathematical astronomy. 



In the present embarrassed state of the finances of Great Bri- 

 tain, a certain degree of Machiavelism seems indeed to be at least 

 as essential to a Maecenas as to a Minister; and even if, instead 

 of offering a scanty pittance to a few computers and comparers, 

 who can neither accept it with gratitude nor refuse it with pru- 

 dence, and leaving all those, who accomplish any thing truly 

 great, to be recompensed by the enviable enthusiasm of their 

 own self-devotion, and the delightful dreams of posthumous 

 fame ; even if the situation of the country made it justifiable 

 to expend, in the immediate encouragement of science, one half 



