528 ADDITIONS. 



had rendered good service to science, Mr. Hunter notices that, in 1558. 

 the Heralds granted to him the right of using, with his arms, the crest 

 or additional device of a red right arm issuing from the clouds, and 

 presenting a golden armillary sphere. 



Recorde's claims depend upon a passage in a Dialogue between 

 Master and Scholar, in which the Master expounds the doctrine of 

 Copernicus, and the authorities against it ; to which the Scholar an- 

 swers, taking the comrnon view : " Nay, sir, in good faith I desire not 

 to hear such vaine phantasies, so far against common reason, and re- 

 pugnant to all the learned multitude of wryters, and therefore let it 

 passe forever and a day longer." The Master, roore sagely, warns 

 him against a hasty judgment, and says, " Another time I will so de- 

 clare his supposition, that you shall not only wonder to hear it, but 

 also peradventure be as earnest then to credit it, as you now are 

 to condemne it." I conceive that this passage proves Mr. De Mor- 

 gan's assertion, that Recorde was a Copernican, and very likely tho 

 first in England. 



In 1555, also, Leonard Digges published his "Prognostication Ev- 

 erlasting ;" but this is, as Mr. De Morgan says (Comp. A., 1837, p. 40), 

 a meteorological work. It was republished in 1592 by his son Thom- 

 as Digges with additions ; and as these have been the occasion of 

 some confusion among those who have written on the history of 

 astronomy, I am glad to be able, through the kindness of Professor 

 Walker, of Oxford, to give a distinct account of the editions of the work. 

 In the Bodleian Library, besides the editions of 1555 and 1592 of 

 the "Prognostication Everlasting," there is an edition of 1504. It is 

 still decidedly Ptolemaic, and contains a diagram representing a num- 

 ber of concentric circles, which are marked, in order, as 

 " The Earth, 



Moone, 



Venus, 



Mercury, 



Sunne, 



Mars, 



Jupiter, 



Saturne, 



The Starrie Firmament, 

 The Crystalline Heavens, 

 The First Mover, 

 The Abode of God and the Elect. Here the Learned do approve." 



