348 SSC. 11. ASTRONOMY. 



shire, who was born about 1651. He was put apprentice to a 

 merchant at Manchester, but his genius led him strongly to the 

 study of mathematics, both theoretical and practical. By the 

 consent, therefore, of his master, he quitted business and removed 

 to Liverpool, where he studied mathematics, astronomy, &c.j and 

 where for a subsistence he opened a school, and taught writing 

 and accounts, &c. He had not been long at Liverpool when he 

 fell in with a merchant from London, in whose house the astronomer, 

 Mr. Flamsteed, then lodged. Mr. Sharp contracted an intimate 

 friendship with Mr. Flamsteed, by whose interest and recommen- 

 dation he obtained a more profitable employment in the dockyard 

 at Chatham, where he continued till his friend and patron, knowing 

 his great merit in astronomy and mechanics, called him to his 

 assistance in contriving, adapting, and ^fitting-up the astronomical 

 apparatus in the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, which had been 

 recently built, about 1676. He was principally employed in the 

 construction of the mural arch, which in 14 months he finished, 

 greatly to the satisfaction of Mr. Flamsteed. According to Mr. 

 Smeaton this was the first good instrument of the kind, and Mr. 

 Sharp the first artist who cut accurate divisions upon astronomical 

 instruments. When it was constructed Mr. Flamsteed was 30, and 

 Mr. Sharp 25 years of age. Mr. Sharp assisted Mr. Flamsteed 

 also in making a catalogue of nearly 3,000 fixed stars, with their 

 longitudes and magnitudes, their right ascensions and polar 

 distances, with the variations of the same while they change their 

 longitude by one degree. Among other indications of great genius, 

 it was stated that Mr. Sharp made most of the tools used by 

 joiners, clockmakers, opticians, and mathematical instrument 

 makers. The telescopes he made use of were all of his own 

 making, and the lenses were ground, figured, and adjusted with 

 his own hands. He died July 18th, 1742, aged 91. 



The Council of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, York. 



1785. Eight and a half inch Reflecting Telescope, with 

 parabolized silvered glass mirror. John Browning. 



Equatorially mounted, with powerful driving clock, battery of improved 

 achromatic eye-pieces, double prism solar eye-piece for observations of the Sun. 

 Position micrometer, and new double image micrometer, with rotating hour 

 circle, to facilitate finding objects without calculations. 



1786. Four and a half inch Reflecting Telescope, with 

 parabolized silvered glass mirror, on parallactic stand, for following 

 the heavenly bodies with a single motion. John Broivning. 



This instrument was contrived for educational purposes ; the mirrors are 

 warranted to be of such quality as to bear well a power of 500 diameters. 



1787. Small Universal Equatorial, formerly belonging to 

 the late Dr. W. H. Wollaston. H. Wollaston Blake, F.R.S. 



