THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY IN FLAMSTEED'S DAY.
(From an engraving in the 'Historia Cœlestis.')
His position was not a bright one. The Government had, indeed, provided him with a building for his observatory, and a small house for his own residence, but he had no instrument and no assistant. The first difficulty was partly overcome for the moment by gifts or loans from Sir Jonas Moore, and by one or two small loans from the Royal Society. The death of this great friend and patron, four years after the founding of the Observatory, and only three years after his entering into residence, deprived him of several of these; it was with difficulty that he maintained against Sir Jonas' heirs his claim to the instruments which Sir Jonas had given him. There was nothing for him to do but to make his instruments himself, and in 1683 he built a mural quadrant of fifty inches radius. His circumstances improved the following year, when Lord North gave him the living of Burstow, near Horley, Surrey, Flamsteed having received ordination almost at the time of his appointment to the Astronomer Royalship. We have little or no account of the way in which he fulfilled his duties as a clergyman. Evidently he considered that his position as Astronomer Royal had the first claim upon him. At the same time, comparatively early in life he had expressed his desire to fill the clerical office, and he was a man too conscientious to neglect any duty that lay upon him. That in spite of his feeble health he often journeyed to and fro between Burstow and Greenwich we know; and we may take it as certain that at a time when the standard of clerical efficiency was extremely low, he was not one of those who
'For their bellies' sake,
Creep and intrude and climb into the fold.'
His chief source of income, however, seems to have been the private pupils whom he took in mathematics and astronomy. These numbered in the years 1676 to 1709 no fewer than 140; and as many of them were of the very first and wealthiest families in the kingdom, the gain to Flamsteed in money and influence must have been considerable. But it was most distasteful work. It was in no sense that which he felt to be his duty, and which he had at heart. It was undertaken from sheer, hard necessity, and he grudged bitterly the time and strength which it diverted from his proper calling.
How faithfully he followed that, one single circumstance will show. In the thirteen years ending 1689, he made 20,000 observations, and had revised single-handed the whole of the theories and tables of the heavenly bodies then in use.
In 1688 the death of his father brought him a considerable accession of means, and, far more important, the assistance of Abraham Sharp,[1] the first and most distinguished of the long list of Greenwich assistants, men who, though far less well known than the Astronomers Royal, have contributed scarcely less in their own field to the high reputation of the Observatory.
Sharp was not only a most careful and indefatigable calculator, he was what was even more essential for Flamsteed—a most skilful instrument-maker; and he divided for him a new mural arc of 140° and seven feet radius, with which he commenced operations on December 12, 1689. Above all, Sharp became his faithful and devoted friend and adherent, and no doubt his sympathy strengthened Flamsteed to endure the trouble which was at hand.
That trouble began in 1694, when Newton visited the Royal Observatory. At that time Flamsteed, though he had done so much, had published nothing, and Newton, who had made his discovery of the laws of gravitation some few years before, was then employed in deducing from them a complete theory of the moon's motion. This work was one of absolutely first importance. In the first place and chiefly, upon the success with which it could be carried out, depended undoubtedly the acceptance of the greatest discovery which has yet been made in physical science. Secondarily—and this should, and no doubt did, appeal to Flamsteed—the perfecting of our knowledge of the movements of the moon was a primary part of the very work which he was commissioned to do as Astronomer Royal. Newton was, therefore, anxious beyond everything to receive the best possible observations of the moon's places, and he came to Flamsteed, as to the man from whom he had a right to expect to receive a supply of them. At first Flamsteed seems to have given these as fully as he was able; but it is evident that Newton chafed at the necessity for these frequent applications to Flamsteed, and to the constant need of putting pressure upon him. Flamsteed, on the other hand, as clearly evidently resented this continual demand. Feeling, as he keenly did, that, though he had been named Astronomer Royal, he had been left practically entirely without support; his instruments were entirely his own, either made or purchased by himself; his nominal salary of £100 was difficult to get, and did not nearly cover the actual current expenses of his position, he not unnaturally regarded his observations as his own exclusive property. He had a most natural dislike for his observations to be published, except after such reduction as he himself had carried through, and in the manner which he himself had chosen. The idea which was ever before him was that of carrying out a single great work that should not only be a monument to his own industry and skill, but should also raise the name of England amongst scientific nations. He complained of it, therefore, both as a personal wrong and an injury to the country when some observations of Cassini's were combined with some observations of his own in order to deduce a better orbit for a comet.
Unknown to himself, therefore, he was called upon to decide a question that has proved fundamental to the policy of Greenwich Observatory, and he decided it wrongly—the question of publication. Newton had urged upon him as early as 1691 that he should not wait until he had formed an exhaustive catalogue of all the brighter stars, but that he should publish at once a catalogue of a few, which might serve as standards; but Flamsteed would not hear of it. He failed to see that his office had been created for a definite practical purpose, not for the execution of some great scheme, however important to science. All his work of thirty years had done nothing to forward navigation so long as he published nothing. But if, year by year, he had published the places of the moon and of a few standard stars, he would have advanced the art immensely and yet have not hindered himself from eventually bringing out a great catalogue. No doubt the little incident of Newton's difficulty with the microscope, of which he had forgotten the object-glass, had given Flamsteed a low opinion of Newton's qualifications as a practical astronomer. If so, he was wrong, for Newton's insight into practical matters was greater than Flamsteed's own, and his practical skill was no less, though his absent-mindedness might occasionally lead him into an absurd mistake.
The following extract from Flamsteed's own 'brief History of the Observatory' gives an account of his view of Newton's action towards him in desiring the publication of his star catalogue, and at the same time it illustrates Flamsteed's touchy and suspicious nature.
'Whilst Mr. Flamsteed was busied in the laborious work of the catalogue of the fixed stars, and forced often to watch and labour by night, to fetch the materials for it from the heavens, that were to be employed by day, he often, on Sir Isaac Newton's instances, furnished him with observations of the moon's places, in order to carry on his correction of the lunar theory. A civil correspondence was carried on between them; only Mr. Flamsteed could not but take notice that as Sir Isaac was advanced in place, so he raised himself in his conversation and became more magisterial. At last, finding that Mr. Flamsteed had advanced far in his designed catalogue by the help of his country calculators, that he had made new lunar tables, and was daily advancing on the other planets, Sir Isaac Newton came to see him (Tuesday, April 11, 1704); and desiring, after dinner, to be shown in what forwardness his work was, had so much of the catalogue of the fixed stars laid before him as was then finished; together with the maps of the constellations, both those drawn by T. Weston and P. Van Somer, as also his collation of the observed places of Saturn and Jupiter, with the Rudolphine numbers. Having viewed them well, he told Mr. Flamsteed he would (i.e. he was desirous to) recommend them to the Prince privately. Mr. Flamsteed (who had long been sensible of his partiality, and heard how his two flatterers cried Sir Isaac's performances up, was sensible of the snare in the word privately) answered that would not do; and (upon Sir Isaac's demanding "why not?") that then the Prince's attendants would tell him these were but curiosities of no great use, and persuade him to save that expense,