464? Mr. Halliwell on the History of the Inductive Sciences. 



of Aristarchus Samius, and affirmeth that the earth not only 

 moveth circularly about its own centre, but also may be, yea 

 and is, continually out of the precise centre thirty-eight thou- 

 sand miles : but because the understanding of that controversy 

 depends upon deeper knowledge than in this introduction 

 may be uttered conveniently, 1 will let it pass till some other 

 time. 



" Scholar. Nay, sir, in good faith, I desire not to hear such 

 vain phantasies, so far against common reason, and repugnant 

 to the consent of all the learned multitude of writers, and 

 therefore let it pass for ever and a day longer. 



" Master. You are too young to be a good judge in so 

 great a matter: it passeth far your learning, and theirs also 

 that are much better learned than you, to disprove his sup- 

 position by good arguments, and therefore you were best to 

 condemn nothing that you do not well understand ; but an- 

 other time, as I said, I will so declare his supposition, that 

 you shall not only wonder to hear it, but alsoperadventure be 

 as earnest then to credit it, as you are now to condemn it." 



Who will not regret to learn that such a writer as Robert 

 Recorde died in Newgate ? the Newton of the sixteenth c sn- 

 tury perished in a jail ! 



In a comm'.nication to the Royal Astronomical Society, the 

 Rev. Joseph Hunter was the first who noticed the Ephemeris 

 for 1557, by John Feild, "juxta Copernici et Reinholdi 

 canones," in the preface to which he avows his conviction of 

 the truth of the Copernican theory. Now there is no precise 

 date to Recorde's " Castle of Knowledge," other than the 

 year of its publication ; and Feild's preface is dated on the 

 calends of June 1 556 : there is also prefixed to Feild's work 

 a letter by Dr. John Dee, dated the 3rd of July 1556, in which 

 he also avows his belief in the new system. But neither Feild 

 nor Dee speak of their concurrence with the Copernican 

 theory as anything new, and it is therefore quite impossible 

 to say who of these three properly claims the priority. We 

 may then safely award to John Dee, John Feild, and Ro- 

 bert Recorde, the high distinction of being the first who 

 adopted the Copernican system, or as Mr. Hunter would call 

 them, the Proto-Copernicans of England. 



We do not find, however, many other early supporters of 

 this theory in England. The elder Digges certainly was not, 

 although after his death his son professed his belief in it*. 

 The edition of the " Prognostication Everlasting," published 



* See three papers by me in the Magazine of Popular Science, vol. iii. 

 and iv. 



