106 AUBREY'S NATURAL HISTORY OP WILTSHIRE. 



but they have no more skill there than elsewhere. It is the water there is the chiefest cause of its 

 goodnesse : perhaps the nitrousnesse of the maulting floores may something help. 



[Aubrey devotes several pages to these subjects. He particularly commends " The History of 

 Malting, or the method of making Malt, practised at Derby, described for R. T. Esq. by J. F. (John 

 Flamsteed), January 1682-3," which was printed in "A Collection of Letters for y 6 Improvement 

 of Husbandry and Trade," No. 7, Thursday, June 15, 1682. Tliis paper by Flamsteed, which is of 

 considerable length, is inserted by Aubrey in both his manuscripts : a printed copy in the original at 

 Oxford, and a transcript in the Royal Society's fair copy. J. B.] 



It may be objected how came that great astronomer, Mr. John Flamsteed, to know so much the 

 mystery of malsters. Why, his father is a maulster at Derby ; and he himself was a maulster, and 

 did drive a trade in it till he was about twenty yeares of age, at what tune Sir Jonas Moore invited 

 him to London. [The best memoir of Flamsteed will be found in " An Account of the Rev. John 

 Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal, compiled from his own manuscripts and other authentic 

 documents never before published. To which is added his British Catalogue of Stars, corrected and 

 enlarged. By Francis Baily, Esq. &c. &c. Printed by order of the Lords Commissioners of the 

 Admiralty. London, 1835." Such is the title of a large quarto volume which my late esteemed 

 friend and neighbour Mr. Baily edited and wrote, con amore ; and which contains not only a curious 

 autobiography of the first Astronomer Royal of Great Britain, but numerous letters, documents, 

 and miscellaneous information on the science of astronomy as it was known in Flamsteed's tune, and 

 up to the time of the publication of the volume. This work was printed at the expense of the 

 government, and presented to public colleges and societies, to royal and public libraries, and to many 

 persons distinguished in science and literature. Hence it may be regarded as a choice and 

 remarkable literary production. Some curious particulars of Flamsteed's quarrel with Sir Isaac 

 Newton, respecting the printing of his " Historia Coelestis," are given in Mr. Baily's volume, which 

 tend to shew that the latter, in conjunction with Halley and other persons, perseveringly annoyed 

 and injured Flamsteed in various ways, and for a considerable time. Some of the admirers of 

 Newton's moral character having attempted to extenuate his conduct, Mr. Baily published a Supple- 

 ment to his work, in which he shews that such attempts had completely failed. J. B.] 



