322 Biugraphicaf Account of [May, 



notwithstanding these advantages, which seemed to promise 

 him the hkehhood of advancing to still higher dignities in the 

 church, he was induced at length to resign both his livings that 

 he might be at full Uberty to indulge his passion for mathematics 

 and astronomy. The voice of nature is all powerful, and often 

 destroys at once those arrangements in which she had not been 

 sufficiently consulted. 



Mr. Bradley was the nephew of Mr. Pound, well known in the 

 republic of letters for several excellent astronomical observations. 

 Indeed he would probably have published a great deal more had 

 not the journal of his travels been destroyed in the conflagration 

 at Pulo-Condor. This conflagration accompanied the massacre 

 made by the inhabitants of the island of all the English in the 

 place. Indeed Mr. Pound himself veiy narrowly escaped the 

 fate which attended so many of his countrymen. It was with 

 this relation that Mr. Bradley spent all the time which he could 

 spare from his hvings. He seems to have acquired by his own 

 industry, without any other teacher, a sufficient knowledge of 

 the mathematical sciences to relish and profit by the conversa- 

 tion of his uncle. 



It is easy to conceive that the example and the conversation 

 of his uncle did not render the official duties of Mr. Bradley 

 more agreeable. He continued, however, to discharge them 

 with assiduity, though he cast at times a wishful eye upon the 

 heavens, and began at that time to lay the foundation of those 

 discoveries which have raised him to the ranks of the greatest 

 astronomer of his time. 



Though these observations were made in some measure by 

 stealth, the name of Bradley became famous enough to reach 

 the ears of the most illustrious names in England. Lord Mac- 

 clesfield, Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Halley, and various other cele- 

 brated members of the Royal Society, became known to him, 

 and cultivated his friendship. It was the estimation in which he 

 was held by these great men that led to his becoming a Fellow 

 of the Royal Society. 



About this time. Dr. Keil, who filled the place of Savihan 

 Professor of Astronomy at Oxford, died. It would have been 

 difficult to have found so good a successor as Mr. Bradley, 

 whether we consider his abilities or his fondness for astronomy. 

 He was unanimously elected to the chair on October 31, 1721. 

 Thus at the age of 22, he found himself the colleague of the 

 celebrated Dr. Halley, who was at that time Savilian Professor 

 of Geometry in the same university. Dr. Bradley, as soon as he 

 was inducted into this chair, resigned both his livings in the 

 church. He had lono- felt the disa2;reeable situation in which he 

 was placed, his official duties as a clergyman, and his passion 

 for astronomy drawing him contrary ways. And he took the 

 first opportunity that offered to put an end to his constraint. 



He was now at liberty to indulge his passion for astronomy 



