BRA 



BRA 



was offered to him : upon his refusing- to 

 accept it, from a conscientious scruple, 

 "that the duty of a pastor was incom- 

 patable with his other studies and neces- 

 sary engagements," the king was pleased 

 to grant him a pension of 2501. over and 

 above the astronomer's original salary 

 from the board of ordnance, " in consi- 

 deration (as the sign manual dated the 

 15th of February, 1752, expresses it)of his 

 great skill and knowledge in the several 

 branches of astronomy and other parts of 

 the mathematics, which have proved so 

 useful to the trade and navigation of this 

 kingdom " A pension which has been 

 regularly continued to the astronomers 

 royal ever since. 



About 1748 our author became entitled 

 to Bishop Crew's benefaction of 301. a 

 year to the lecture reader in experiment- 

 al philosophy at Oxford. He was elected 

 a member of the Academy of Sciences at 

 Berlin in 1747 ; of that at Paris in 1748 ; 

 of that at Petersburg!! in 1754; and of 

 that of Bologna in 1757. He was mar- 

 ried in the year 1744, but never had more 

 than one child, a daughter. 



By too close application to study and 

 observations, Dr. Bradley became afflict- 

 ed for near two years before his death 

 with a grievous oppression on his spirits ; 

 which interrupted his useful labours. 

 This distress arose chiefly from an appre- 

 hension that he should outlive his rational 

 faculties : but this so much dreaded evil 

 never came upon him. In June, 1762, he 

 \vas seized with a suppression of urine, 

 occasioned by an inflammation in the 

 reins, which terminated his existence the 

 13th of July following. His death hap- 

 pened at Chalfont, in Gloucestershire, in 

 the 70th year of his age, and he was in- 

 terred at Minchinhampton, in the same 

 county. 



As to his character, Dr. Bradley was re- 

 markable for a placid and gentle modesty, 

 very uncommon in persons of an active 

 temper and robust constitution. Although 

 he was a good speaker, and possessed the 

 rare but happy art of expressing his ideas 

 with the utmost precision and clearness, 

 yet no man was a greater lover of silence, 

 for he never spoke but when he thought 

 it absolutely necessary. Nor was he more 

 inclined to write than to speak, as he has 

 published very little ; he had a natural 

 diffidence, which made him always afraid 

 that his works might injure his character, 

 so that he suppressed many which might 

 have been worthy of publication. Many 

 of his papers have been inserted in the 

 Philosophical Transactions. 



The public character of Dr. Bradley, 

 as a man of science and observation, is 

 fully established by his various works. 

 His private character was in every re- 

 spect estimable. That he published so 

 little may be ascribed to a large share of 

 diffidence, which prevented him from so- 

 liciting that attention which at all times 

 he could command. His observations 

 made at the Royal Observatory, during 20 

 years, were comprised in 13 vols. folio 

 and two 4to. ; these were transferred in 

 the year 1776 to the University of Oxford, 

 on condition they should be printed and 

 published by that learned body. In 

 June, 1691; the Board of Longitude, see- 

 ing no prospect of their publication, pass- 

 ed some resolutions respecting the pub- 

 lic right to these observations, which be- 

 ing transmitted to the vice chancellor, the 

 Board was in consequence informed, that 

 the delegates of the press in the universi- 

 ty were proceeding with the work. The 

 first volume was published in 1798, in a 

 very splendid form, under the title of 

 " Astronomical observations at Green- 

 wich, from the year 1750 to the year 

 1762." 



BRADS, among artificers, a kind of 

 nails used in building, which have no 

 spreading head, as other nails have. 



BRADYPUS, the sloth, in natural histo- 

 ry, a genus of Mammalia, of the order 

 Bruta. Generic character; cutting teeth, 

 none in either jaw ; canine teeth obtuse, 

 single, longer than the grinders, placed 

 opposite ; grinders five on each side, ob- 

 tuse ; fore legs much longer than the 

 hind; claws very long. See Plate II. 

 Mammalia, fig. 6. There are three spe- 

 cies, of which we shall give a brief ac- 

 count. B.tridactylus, or three-toed sloth: 

 the general appearance of the sloth is 

 extremely uncouth ; the body is of a 

 thick shape ; the fore-legs short, the 

 hinder ones far longer; the feet on all the 

 legs are very small, but are armed each 

 with three most excessively strong and 

 large claws, of a slightly curved form, 

 and sharp -pointed : the head is small; 

 the face short, with a rounded or blunt 

 snout, which is naked, and of a blackish 

 colour; the eyes are small, black and 

 round ; the ears rather small, fiat, round- 

 ed, lying close to the head, and not un- 

 like those of monkeys : the hair on the 

 top of the head is so disposed as to pro- 

 ject somewhat over the forehead andsides 

 of the face, giving a very peculiar and 

 grotesque physiognomy to the animal. 

 The general colour of the hair on all 

 parts is a greyish brown ; and the hair is 



