( ^ 
Pof.tion of the Meridian of Uram^urg. And as to the picfent 
Pofuion of the Pyramid^ he (uppoles it was at firft fo pla^d. 
But becaufe, notwithfianding his Obfeivaiions, he lound that 
many were of a contrary Sentiment, and that it had partly 
been occafioned by a Meridian forn.erly fix'd in this Church, 
he in the next Sedion gives an Account of tha^ old Meridian 
Line: and the occafton of the firft making oi ihis (he lays) 
was lor the rec^tiFying the time of Ea/Ier, and the Feaftsof the 
Church wliich depend upon the true time of the Ftrval Eejui- 
nox. For<he Prelates of Alexandria (who when deputed by the 
Council of Nice to flate that time) found it then to be cn the 
2ithof March. But Pope Gregory being informed that in his 
time it fell on the iith of that Month, he altered the Julian 
Account^ and made the nth to be the 21th of the fame 
Month. This was the occafion that Ignatio Dante (Publick Lc- 
durerof Mathematicks at Bcaonia) firlt made a Meridian Line 
in the Pavement of the Church of St. Fetromo^ in the Year 
1575. Seven Years before the Alteration made of the Julian 
Account, and theeflablilhrnent of (ho Oregon an, in the Year 
1^82, But this Line of Dante s having been found to vary from 
the true Meridian of the Place, andfo to be ferviceable only 
for the obferving of 'the Solftices (it varying 8 or 9 Degrees 
from the North towards the Eaft) and it being fuppofed to be 
lb mifphced at firft by realbn of the Obftrudion of the Pil- 
lars of that Church, was the occafion of Signior Cafmts find- 
ing a fitter Place in the fame Church, and of fixing there his 
new Meridian Line, in the Year, 16$$, the Place where, and 
the manner how, he has more particularly and fully expreffed 
in this Difcourfe. And becaufe it was of fo confiderable, and 
as it were, of Sacred ufe to the Church (theFeafts thereof de- 
pending on the Redification of the time made by it) he names 
all the eminent Aftronomers, who were his Concomitants and 
Afliftants in the Operations, as Witne^^es of the Exadnefs 
of them. Afcer this (he relates feveral Variations that have hap- 
pened to the Fabiick/ince he firft fixed this his Meridian Line, 
and thereby fbews the Neceffity and Ufe of the Reftauration 
and adjuftingof it for the time to come, by which any far- 
ther Alteration that m.ay happen to that Building, or other- 
wife for the Future, may be fo far difcovered and remedied, 
and the eflential parts of this Linefo farreftored and redified, 
that they fhall be as effedual, as if no Alteration had happen* 
