Say ye who best can tell, ye happy few, Oh, speak the wondrous man! how mild, how calm, How firm established on eternal truth! That so perplex the fond impassioned heart [2d Ed.] [In the first edition of the Principia, published in 1687, Newton showed that the nature of all the then known inequalities of the moon, and in some cases, their quantities, might be deduced from the principles which he laid down: but the determination of the amount and law of most of the inequalities was deferred to a more favorable opportunity, when he might be furnished with better astronomical observations. Such observations as he needed for this purpose had been made by Flamsteed, and for these he applied, representing how much value their use would add to the observations. "If," he says, in 1694, "you publish them without such a theory to recommend them, they will only be thrown into the heap of the observations of former astronomers, till somebody shall arise that by perfecting the theory of the moon shall discover your observations to be exacter than the rest; but when that shall be, God knows I fear, not in your lifetime, if I should die before it is done. For I find this theory so very intricate, and the theory of gravity so necessary to it, that I am satisfied it will never be perfected but by somebody who understands the theory of gravity as well, or better than I do." He obtained from Flamsteed the lunar observations for which he applied, and by using these he framed the Theory of the Moon which is given as his in David Gregory's Astronomia Elementa." He also obtained from Flamsteed the diameters of the planets as observed at various times, and the greatest elongation of Jupiter's Satellites, both of which, Flamsteed says, he made use of in his Principia. Newton, in his letters to Flamsteed in 1694 and 5, acknowledges this service.28 27 In the Preface to a Treatise on Dynamics, Part i., published in 1836, I have endeavored to show that Newton's modes of determining several of the lunar inequalities admitted of an accuracy not very inferior to the modern analytical methods. 28 The quarrel on the subject of the publication of Flamsteed's Observations took CHAPTER III. SEQUEL TO THE EPOCH OF NEWTON.-RECEPTION OF THE THE Sect. 1.-General Remarks. THE doctrine of universal gravitation, like other great steps in science, required a certain time to make its way into men's minds; and had to be confirmed, illustrated, and completed, by the labors of succeeding philosophers. As the discovery itself was great beyond former example, the features of the natural sequel to the discovery were also on a gigantic scale; and many vast and laborious trains of research, each of which might, in itself, be considered as forming a wide science, and several of which have occupied many profound and zealous inquirers from that time to our own day, come before us as parts only of the verification of Newton's Theory. Almost every thing that has been done, and is doing, in astronomy, falls inevitably under this description; and it is only when the astronomer travels to the very limits of his vast field of labor, that he falls in with phenomena which do not acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Newtonian legislation. We must give some account of the events of this part of the history of astronomy; but our narrative must necessarily be extremely brief and imperfect; for the subject is most large and copious, and our limits are fixed and narrow. We have here to do with the history of discoveries, only so far as it illustrates their philosophy. And though the place at a later period. Flamsteed wished to have his Observations printed complete and entire. Halley, who, under the authority of Newton and others, had the management of the printing, made many alterations and omissions, which Flamsteed considered as deforming and spoiling the work. The advantages of publishing a complete series of observations, now generally understood, were not then known to astronomers in general, though well known to Flamsteed, and earnestly insisted upon in his remonstrances. The result was that Flamsteed published his Observations at his own expense, and finally obtained permission to destroy the copies printed by Halley, which he did. In 1726, after Flamsteed's death, his widow applied to the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, requesting that the volume printed by Halley might be removed out of the Bodleian Library, where it exists, as being "nothing more than an erroneous abridgment of Mr. Flamsteed's works," and unfit to see the light. astronomical discoveries of the last century are by no means poor, even in interest of this kind, the generalizations which they involve are far less important for our object, in consequence of being included in a previous generalization. Newton shines out so brightly, that all who follow seem faint and dim. It is not precisely the case which the poet describes As in a theatre the eyes of men, After some well-graced actor leaves the stage, Thinking his prattle to be tedious: but our eyes are at least less intently bent on the astronomers who succeeded, and we attend to their communications with less curiosity, because we know the end, if not the course of their story; we know that their speeches have all closed with Newton's sublime declaration, asserted in some new form. Still, however, the account of the verification and extension of any great discovery is a highly important part of its history. In this instance it is most important; both from the weight and dignity of the theory concerned, and the ingenuity and extent of the methods employed and, of course, so long as the Newtonian theory still required verification, the question of the truth or falsehood of such a grand system of doctrines could not but excite the most intense curiosity. In what I have said, I am very far from wishing to depreciate the value of the achievements of modern astronomers, but it is essential to my purpose to mark the subordination of narrower to wider truths-the different character and import of the labors of those who come before and after the promulgation of a master-truth. With this warning I now proceed to my narrative. Sect. 2.-Reception of the Newtonian Theory in England. THERE appears to be a popular persuasion that great discoveries are usually received with a prejudiced and contentious opposition, and the authors of them neglected or persecuted. The reverse of this was certainly the case in England with regard to the discoveries of Newton. As we have already seen, even before they were published, they were proclaimed by Halley to be something of transcendent value; and from the moment of their appearance, they rapidly made their way from one class of thinkers to another, nearly as fast as the nature of men's intellectual capacity allows. Halley, Wren, and all the leading members of the Royal Society, appear to have embraced the system immediately and zealously. Men whose pursuits had lain rather in literature than in science, and who had not the knowledge and habits of mind which the strict study of the system required, adopted, on the credit of their mathematical friends, the highest estimation of the Principia, and a strong regard for its author, as Evelyn, Locke, and Pepys. Only five years after the publication, the principles of the work were referred to from the pulpit, as so incontestably proved that they might be made the basis of a theological argument. This was done by Dr. Bentley, when he preached the Boyle's Lectures in London, in 1692. Newton himself, from the time when his work appeared, is never mentioned except in terms of profound admiration; as, for instance, when he is called by Dr. Bentley, in his sermon,1 "That very excellent and divine theorist, Mr. Isaac Newton." It appears to have been soon suggested, that the Government ought to provide in some way for a person who was so great an honor to the nation. Some delay took place with regard to this; but, in 1695, his friend Mr. Montague, afterwards Earl of Halifax, at that time Chancellor of the Exchequer, made him Warden of the Mint; and in 1699, he succeeded to the higher office of Master of the Mint, a situation worth £1200 or £1500 a year, which he filled to the end of his life. In 1703, he became President of the Royal Society, and was annually re-elected to this office during the remaining twenty-five years of his life. In 1705, he was knighted in the Master's Lodge, at Trinity College, by Queen Anne, then on a visit to the University of Cambridge. After the accession of George the First, Newton's conversation was frequently sought by the Princess, afterwards Queen Caroline, who had a taste for speculative studies, and was often heard to declare in public, that she thought herself fortunate in living at a time which enabled her to enjoy the society of so great a genius. His fame, and the respect paid him, went on increasing to the end of his life; and when, in 1727, full of years and glory, his earthly career was ended, his death was mourned as a national calamity, with the forms usually confined to royalty. His body lay in state in the Jerusalem chamber; his pall was borne by the first nobles of the land; and his earthly remains were deposited in the centre of Westminster Abbey, in the midst of the memorials of the greatest and wisest men whom England has produced. It cannot be superfluous to say a word or two on the reception of 1 Serm. vii. 221. his philosophy in the universities of England. These are often represented as places where bigotry and ignorance resist, as long as it is possible to resist, the invasion of new truths. We cannot doubt that such opinions have prevailed extensively, when we find an intelligent and generally temperate writer, like the late Professor Playfair of Edinburgh, so far possessed by them, as to be incapable of seeing, or interpreting, in any other way, any facts respecting Oxford and Cambridge. Yet, notwithstanding these opinions, it will be found that, in the English universities, new views, whether in science or in other subjects, have been introduced as soon as they were clearly established; that they have been diffused from the few to the many more rapidly there than elsewhere occurs;—and that from these points, the light of newly-discovered truths has most usually spread over the land. In most instances undoubtedly there has been something of a struggle, on such occasions, between the old and the new opinions. Few men's minds can at once shake off a familiar and consistent system of doetrines, and adopt a novel and strange set of principles as soon as presented; but all can see that one change produces many, and that change, in itself, is a source of inconvenience and danger. In the case of the admission of the Newtonian opinions into Cambridge and Oxford, however, there are no traces even of a struggle. Cartesianism had never struck its roots deep in this country; that is, the peculiar hypotheses of Descartes. The Cartesian books, such, for instance, as that of Rohault, were indeed in use; and with good reason, for they contained by far the best treatises on most of the physical sciences, such as Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Optics, and Formal Astronomy, which could then be found. But I do not conceive that the Vortices were ever dwelt upon as a matter of importance in our academic teaching. At any rate, if they were brought among us, they were soon dissipated. Newton's College, and his University, exulted in his fame, and did their utmost to honor and aid him. He was exempted by the king from the obligation of taking orders, under which the fellows of Trinity College in general are; by his college he was relieved from all offices which might interfere, however slightly, with his studious employments, though he resided within the walls of the society thirty-five years, almost without the interruption of a month. By the University he was elected their representative in parliament in 1688, 2 His name is nowhere found on the college-books, as appointed to any of the offices which usually pass down the list of resident fellows in rotation. This might be owing in part, however, to his being Lucasian Professor. The constancy of his |