i 
Halley, and Flamsteed. 223 
had been published ; but, as Mr. Whewell had observed, it is 
added immediately after, “tot annos non effluxisse otiosos, 
schedasque Grenovicenses in haud modicam crevisse molem.” 
The whole, therefore, together is a plain statement of an un- 
deniable truth. 
The work which is regularly done in the execution of any 
employment belongs of course to the employer, and his hav- 
ing made a hard bargain in no way affects his right. Any 
one, therefore, engaged in a great scientific work, was entitled 
to apply to the Astronomer Royal for assistance from his un- 
published observations, when they had accumulated for years 
and there was no immediate prospect of their publication. A 
discretionary power certainly rested with the observer, but it 
referred to the nature and object of the application, and whe- 
ther, if not immediately sanctioned by the Crown, it was such 
as to imply a fair presumption of the Royal approbation: 
the power did not extend to an arbitrary refusal. Flam- 
steed may be considered as obliging Newton whenever he 
readily communicated his official labours to him, but the 
soni part of what he specifically “worked for Sir Isaac 
ewton” consisted in the reduction of his observations, an 
operation, in which he appears to have persisted contrary to 
the expressed wishes of Newton (No. 30). 
«¢ The sacrifice to heavenly truth” was not a holocaust of 
300 copies of the book, for 388 pages of each were retained 
by Flamsteed, and form a part of the Ist vol. of the Historia 
Celestis. The whole that was burnt was the title and pre- 
face, with the catalogue, and 120 pages extracted from the 
later observations—about one fourth of what had been printed 
by the referees. 
That 100/. per annum was too small a payment to the astro- 
nomer royal does not admit of a doubt; but his office existed 
long before the importance of it was rightly understood, and 
Burstow was a Crownliving, which was given to Flamsteed by 
Lord Keeper North to set him more at his ease. This is not 
the manner in which the astronomer royal ought to be remu- 
nerated for his services; but in those days it was probably 
thought an easy method of saving the public money. This in 
no degree diminishes the injustice of not supplying him with 
what was necessary for the Observatory; and, although he 
certainly looked to some return from the sale of his observa- 
tion, this was a miscalculation of what the market was likely 
to produce. 
Newton, in 1691, (No. 14,) had said to Flamsteed, “ If you 
and I live not long enough, Mr. Gregory and Mr. Halley are 
young men.” The office of astronomer royal was a fair ob- 
