"The acceptance of the Lucasian Professorship prevented me from being pressed by Sedgwick (who was Proctor this year) to take the office of moderator: which was a great relief to me. As Lucasian Professor I was ipso facto Member of the Board of Longitude. A stipend of£100a year was attached to this, on condition of attending four meetings: but I had good reason (from intimations by South and other persons in London) for believing that this would not last long. The fortnightly notices of the meetings of the Board were given on Jan. 18th, Mar. 22nd, May 24th and Oct. 18th.
"On Jan. 2nd, 1827, I came from London to Bury. I found my father in a very declining state (the painful rheumatism of some years had changed to ulcerations of the legs, and he was otherwise helpless and had distressing hallucinations). On Jan. 8th I walked to Cambridge. At both places I was occupied in preparations for the Smith's Prize Examination and for lectures (for the latter I obtained at Bury gaol some numerical results about tread-mills).
"Of the Smith's Prize I was officially an Examiner: and I determined to begin with—-what had never been done before—making the examination public, by printing the papers of questions. The Prize is the highest Mathematical honour in the University: the competitors are incepting Bachelors of Arts after the examination for that Degree. My day of examination (apparently) was Jan. 21st. The candidates were Turner, Cankrein, Cleasby, and Mr Gordon. The first three had been my private pupils: Mr Gordon was a Fellow-commoner of St Peter's College, and had just passed the B.A. examination as Senior Wrangler, Turner being second. My situation as Examiner was rather a delicate one, and the more so as, when I came to examine the papers of answers, Turner appeared distinctly the first. Late at night I carried the papers to Whewell's rooms, and he on inspection agreed with me. The other examiners (Professors Lax and Woodhouse, Lowndean and Plumian Professors) generally supported me: and Turner had the honour of First Smith's Prize.
"On Jan. 30th my mother wrote, asking if I could see Cropley in London, where he was imprisoned for contempt of Chancery. I attended the meeting of the Board of Longitude on Feb. 1st, and afterwards visited Cropley in the Fleet Prison. He died there, some time later. It was by the sale of his effects under execution that my father's debt was paid.
"On Feb. 15th I communicated to the Royal Society a Paper on the correction of the Solar Tables from South's observations. I believe that I had alluded to this at the February meeting of the Board of Longitude, and that in consequence Mr Pond, the Astronomer Royal, had been requested to prepare the errors of the Sun's place from the Greenwich observations: which were supplied some months later. With the exception of South's Solar Errors, and some investigations about dipping-needles, I do not find anything going on but matters connected with my approaching lectures. There are bridges, trusses, and other mechanical matters, theoretical and practical, without end. Several tradesmen in Cambridge and London were well employed. On Feb. 13th I have a letter from Cubitt about groins: I remember studying those of the Custom-house and other places. On Feb. 20th my Syllabus of Lectures was finished: this in subsequent years was greatly improved. I applied to the Royal Society for the loan of Huyghens's object-glass, but they declined to lend it. About this time I find observations of the spectrum of Sirius.
"There had been no lectures on Experimental Philosophy (Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Optics) for many years. The University in general, I believe, looked with great satisfaction to my vigorous beginning: still there was considerable difficulty about it. There was no understood term for the Lectures: no understood hour of the day: no understood lecture room. I began this year in the Lent Term, but in all subsequent years I took the Easter Term, mainly for the chance of sunlight for the optical experiments, which I soon made important. I could get no room but a private or retiring room (not a regular lecture room) in the buildings at the old Botanic Garden: in following years I had the room under the University Library. The Lectures commenced on some day in February 1827: I think that the number who attended them was about 64. I remember very well that the matter which I had prepared as an Introductory Lecture did not last above half the time that I had expected, but I managed very well to fill up the hour. On another occasion I was so ill-prepared that I had contemplated giving notice that I was unable to complete the hour's lecture, but I saw in the front row some strangers, introduced by some of my regular attendants, very busy in taking notes, and as it was evident that a break-down now would not do, I silently exerted myself to think of something, and made a very good lecture.
"On Mar. 1st, as official examiner, I received notices from 14 candidates for Bell's Scholarships, and prepared my Paper of questions. I do not remember my day of examination; but I had all the answers to all the examiners' questions in my hands, when on Mar. 27th I received notice that my father had died the preceding evening. This stopped my Lectures: they were concluded in the next term. I think that I had only Mechanics and imperfect Optics this term, no Hydrostatics; and that the resumed Lectures were principally Optical. They terminated about May 14th.
"With my brother I at once went to Bury to attend my father's funeral. He was buried on Mar. 31st, 1827, in the churchyard of Little Whelnetham, on the north side of the church. Shortly afterwards I went to London, and on Apr. 5th I attended a meeting of the Board of Longitude, at which Herschel produced a Paper regarding improvements of the Nautical Almanac. Herschel and I were in fact the leaders of the reforming party in the Board of Longitude: Dr Young the Secretary resisted change as much as possible. After the meeting I went to Cambridge. I find then calculations of achromatic eye-pieces for a very nice model with silk threads of various colours which I made with my own hands for my optical lectures.
"On Apr. 7th Herschel wrote to me that the Professorship held by Dr Brinkley (then appointed Bishop of Cloyne) at Dublin would be vacant, and recommended it to my notice, and sent me some introductions. I reached Dublin on Apr. 15th, where I was received with great kindness by Dr Brinkley and Dr MacDonnell (afterwards Provost). I there met the then Provost Dr Bartholomew Lloyd, Dr Lardner, Mr Hamilton (afterwards Sir W. R. Hamilton) and others. In a few days I found that they greatly desired to appoint Hamilton if possible (they did in fact overcome some difficulties and appoint him in a few months), and that they would not make such an augmentation as would induce me to offer myself as a candidate, and I withdrew. I have always remembered with gratitude Dr MacDonnell's conduct, in carefully putting me on a fair footing in this matter. I returned by Holyhead, and arrived at Birmingham on Apr. 23rd. While waiting there and looking over some papers relating to the spherical aberration of eye-pieces, in which I had been stopped some time by a geometrical difficulty, I did in the coffee-room of a hotel overcome the difficulty; and this was the foundation of a capital paper on the Spherical Aberration of Eye-pieces. This paper was afterwards presented to the Cambridge Philosophical Society.
"About this time a circumstance occurred of a disagreeable nature, which however did not much disconcert me. Mr Ivory, who had a good many years before made himself favourably known as a mathematician, especially by his acquaintance with Laplace's peculiar analysis, had adopted (as not unfrequently happens) some singular hydrostatical theories. In my last Paper on the Figure of the Earth, I had said that I could not receive one of his equations. In the Philosophical Magazine of May he attacked me for this with great heat. On May 8th I wrote an answer, and I think it soon became known that I was not to be attacked with impunity.
"Long before this time there had been some proposal about an excursion to the Lake District with my sister, and I now arranged to carry it out. On May 23rd I went to Bury and on to Playford: while there I sketched the Cumberland excursion. On June 5th I went to London, I believe to the Visitation of the Greenwich Observatory to which I was invited. I also attended the meeting of the Board of Longitude. I think it was here that Pond's Errors of the Sun's place in the Nautical Almanac from Greenwich Observations were produced. On June 7th I went by coach to Rugby, where I met my sister, and we travelled to Edensor. We made a number of excursions in Derbyshire, and then passed on by Penrith to Keswick, where we arrived on June 22nd. From Keswick we made many excursions in the Lake District, visited Mr Southey and Mr Wordsworth, descended a coal mine at Whitehaven, and returned to Edensor by the way of Ambleside, Kendal, and Manchester. With sundry excursions in Derbyshire our trip ended, and we returned to Cambridge on the 21st July.
"During this Long Vacation I had one private pupil, Crawford, the only pupil this year, and the last that I ever had. At this time there is on my papers an infinity of optical investigations: also a plan of an eye-piece with a concave lens to destroy certain aberrations. On Aug. 20th I went to Woodford to see Messrs Gilbert's optical works. From Aug. 13th I had been preparing for the discussion of the Greenwich Solar Errors, and I had a man at work in my rooms, engaged on the calculation of the Errors. I wrote to Bouvard at Paris for observations of the sun, but he recommended me to wait for the Tables which Bessel was preparing. I was busy too about my Lectures: on Sept. 29th I have a set of plans of printing presses from Hansard the printer (who in a visit to Cambridge had found me making enquiries about them), and I corresponded with Messrs Gilbert about optical constructions, and with W. and S. Jones, Eastons, and others about pumps, hydraulic rams, &c. On Sept. 25th occurred a very magnificent Aurora Borealis.
"I do not find when the investigation of Corrections of Solar Elements was finished, or when my Extracts from Burckhardt, Connaissance des Temps 1816, were made. But these led me to suspect an unknown inequality in the Sun's motion. On Sept. 27th and 28th I find the first suspicions of an inequality depending on 8 × mean longitude of Venus—13 × mean longitude of Earth. The thing appeared so promising that I commenced the investigation of the perturbation related to this term, and continued it (a very laborious work) as fast as I was able, though with various interruptions, which in fact were necessary to keep up my spirits. On Oct. 30th I went to London for the Board of Longitude meeting. Here I exhibited the results of my Sun investigations, and urged the correction of the elements used in the Nautical Almanac. Dr Young objected, and proposed that Bouvard should be consulted. Professor Woodhouse, the Plumian Professor, was present, and behaved so captiously that some members met afterwards to consider how order could be maintained. I believe it was during this visit to London that I took measures of Hammersmith Suspension Bridge for an intended Lecture-model. Frequently, but not always, when in London, I resided at the house of Mr Sheepshanks and his sister Miss Sheepshanks, 30 Woburn Place. My quires, at this time, abound with suggestions for lectures and examinations.
"On some day about the end of November or beginning of December 1827, when I was walking with Mr Peacock near the outside gate of the Trinity Walks, on some mention of Woodhouse, the Plumian Professor, Mr Peacock said that he was never likely to rise into activity again (or using some expression importing mortal illness). Instantly there had passed through my mind the certainty of my succeeding him, the good position in which I stood towards the University, the probability of that position being improved by improved lectures, &c., &c., and by increased reputation from the matters in which I was now engaged, the power of thus commanding an increase of income. I should then have, independent of my Fellowship, some competent income, and a house over my head. I was quite aware that some time might elapse, but now for the first time I saw my way clearly. The care of the Observatory had been for two or three years attached to the Plumian Professorship. A Grace was immediately prepared, entrusting the temporary care of the Observatory to Dr French, to me, Mr Catton, Mr Sheepshanks, and Mr King (afterwards Master of Queens' College). On Dec. 6th I have a note from Mr King about going to the Observatory.
"On Dec. 6th my Paper on corrections of the elements of the Solar Tables was presented to the Royal Society. On Dec. 9th, at 1 h. 4 m. a.m. (Sunday morning), I arrived at the result of my calculations of the new inequality. I had gone through some fluctuations of feeling. Usually the important part of an inequality of this kind depends entirely on the eccentricities of the orbits, but it so happened that from the positions of the axes of the orbits, &c., these terms very nearly destroyed each other. After this came the consideration of inclinations of orbits; and here were sensible terms which were not destroyed. Finally I arrived at the result that the inequality would be about 3"; just such a magnitude as was required. I slipped this into Whewell's door. This is, to the time of writing (1853), the last improvement of any importance in the Solar Theory. Some little remaining work went on to Dec. 14th, and then, being thoroughly tired, I laid by the work for revision at some future time. I however added a Postscript to my Royal Society Paper on Solar Errors, notifying this result.
"On Dec. 19th I went to Bury. While there I heard from Whewell that Woodhouse was dead. I returned to Cambridge and immediately made known that I was a candidate for the now vacant Plumian Professorship. Of miscellaneous scientific business, I find that on Oct. 13th Professor Barlow of Woolwich prepared a memorial to the Board of Longitude concerning his fluid telescope (which I had seen at Woodford), which was considered on Nov. 1st, and I had some correspondence with him in December. In June and August my Trigonometry was printing.
"On Jan. 5th, 1828, I came from London. It seems that I had been speculating truly 'without book' on perturbations of planetary elements, for on Jan. 17th and 18th I wrote a Paper on a supposed error of Laplace, and just at the end I discovered that he was quite right: I folded up the Paper and marked it 'A Lesson.' I set two papers of questions for Smith's Prizes (there being a deficiency of one Examiner, viz. the Plumian Professor).
"Before the beginning of 1828 Whewell and I had determined on repeating the Dolcoath experiments. On Jan. 8th I have a letter from Davies Gilbert (then President of the Royal Society) congratulating me upon the Solar Theory, and alluding to our intended summer's visit to Cornwall. We had somehow applied to the Board of Longitude for pendulums, but Dr Young wished to delay them, having with Capt. Basil Hall concocted a scheme for making Lieut. Foster do all the work: Whewell and I were indignant at this, and no more was said about it. On Jan. 24th Dr Young, in giving notice of the Board of Longitude meeting, informs me that the clocks and pendulums are ready.
"I had made known that I was a candidate for the Plumian Professorship, and nobody thought it worth while to oppose me. One person at least (Earnshaw) had intended to compete, but he called on me to make certain that I was a candidate, and immediately withdrew. I went on in quality of Syndic for the care of the Observatory, ingrafting myself into it. But meantime I told everybody that the salary (about£300) was not sufficient for me; and on Jan. 20th I drafted a manifesto or application to the University for an increase of salary. The day of election to the Professorship was Feb. 6th. As I was officially (as Lucasian Professor) an elector, I was present, and I explained to the electors that I could not undertake the responsibility of the Observatory without augmentation of income, and that I requested their express sanction to my application to the University for that purpose. They agreed to this generally, and I was elected. I went to London immediately to attend a meeting of the Board of Longitude and returned on Feb. 8th. On Feb. 15th I began my Lectures (which, this year, included Mechanics, Optics, Pneumatics, and Hydrostatics) in the room below the University Library. The number of names was 26. The Lectures terminated on Mar. 22nd.
"On Feb. 25th I received from Mr Pond information on the emoluments at Greenwich Observatory. I drew up a second manifesto, and on Feb. 26th I wrote and signed a formal copy for the Plumian electors. On Feb. 27th I met them at Caius Lodge (the Master, Dr Davy, being Vice-Chancellor). I read my Paper, which was approved, and their sanction was given in the form of a request to the Vice-Chancellor to permit the paper to be printed and circulated. My paper, with this request at the head, was immediately printed, and a copy was sent to every resident M.A. (more than 200 went out in one day). The statement and composition of the paper were generally approved, but the University had never before been taken by storm in such a manner, and there was some commotion about it. I believe that very few persons would have taken the same step. Mr Sheepshanks wrote to me on Mar. 7th, intimating that it was desperate. I had no doubt of success. Whewell told me that some people accused me of bad faith, in omitting allusion to the£100a year received as Member of the Board of Longitude, and to the profits of Lectures. I wrote him a note, telling him that I had most certain information of the intention to dissolve the Board of Longitude (which was done in less than six months), and that by two years' Lectures I had gained£45(the expenses being£200, receipts£245). This letter was sent to the complaining people, and no more was said. By the activity of Sheepshanks and the kindness of Dr Davy the business gradually grew into shape, and on Mar. 21st a Grace passed the Senate for appointing a Syndicate to consider of augmentation. Sheepshanks was one of the Syndicate, and was understood to represent, in some measure, my interests. The progress of the Syndicate however was by no means a straightforward one. Members of the Senate soon began to remark that before giving anything they ought to know the amount of the University revenue, and another Syndicate was then appointed to enquire and report upon it. It was more than a year before my Syndicate could make their recommendation: however, in fact, I lost nothing by that delay, as I was rising in the estimation of the University. The Observatory house was furnished, partly from Woodhouse's sale, and partly from new furniture. My mother and sister came to live with me there. On Mar. 15th 1828 I began the Observatory Journal; on Mar. 27th I slept at the Observatory for the first time, and on Apr. 15th I came to reside there permanently, and gave up my college rooms."
1828
"I attended a meeting of the Board of Longitude on Apr. 3rd. And again on June 4th; this was the last meeting: Sheepshanks had previously given me private information of the certainty of its dissolution.—On Apr. 4th I visited Mr Herschel at Slough, where one evening I saw Saturn with his 20-foot telescope, the best view of it that I have ever had.—In June I attended the Greenwich Observatory Visitation.—Before my election (as Plumian Professor) there are various schemes on my quires for computation of transit corrections, &c. After Apr. 15th there are corrections for deficient wires, inequality of pivots, &c. And I began a book of proposed regulations for observations. In this are plans for groups of stars for R.A. (the Transit Instrument being the only one finished): order of preference of classes of observations: no reductions to be made after dinner, or on Sunday: no loose papers: observations to be stopped if reductions are two months in arrear: stars selected for parallax.—The reduction of transits begins on Apr. 15th. On May 15th Mr Pond sent me some moon-transits to aid in determining my longitude.—Dr Young, in a letter to me of May 7th, enquires whether I will accept a free admission to the Royal Society, which I declined. On May 9th I was elected to the Astronomical Society.—Towards the end of the year I observed Encke's Comet: and determined the latitude of the Observatory with Sheepshanks's repeating circle.—On my papers I find a sketch of an Article on the Figure of the Earth for the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana.
"As early as Feb. 23rd I had been in correspondence with T. Jones, the instrument-maker, about pendulums for a repetition of the Dolcoath Experiments. Invitations had been received, and everything was arranged with Whewell. Sheepshanks, my brother, and Mr Jackson of Ipswich (Caius Coll.) were to go, and we were subsequently joined by Sedgwick, and Lodge (Magdalene Coll.). On July 3rd Sheepshanks and I started by Salisbury, taking Sherborne on our way to look at the church, which had alarmed the people by signs of a crack, and arrived at Camborne on July 8th. On the 14th we set up the pendulums, and at once commenced observations, our plan being, to have no intermission in the pendulum observations, so that as soon as the arc became too small a fresh series was started. On July 29th we raised the instruments, and Sheepshanks, who managed much of the upper operations, both astronomical and of pendulums, mounted the pendulums together in his observatory. We went on with our calculations, and on August 8th, on returning from a visit to John Williams at Barncoose, we heard that there was a 'run' in Dolcoath, that is a sinking of the whole mass of rock where it had been set free by the mine excavations: probably only a few inches, but enough to break the rock much and to stop the pumps. On Aug. 10th the calculations of our observations shewed that there was something wrong, and on the 13th I perceived an anomaly in the form of the knife edge of one pendulum, and of its agate planes, and suggested cautions for repeating the observations. We determined at once to repeat them: and as the water was rising in the mine there was no time to be lost. We again sent the instruments down, and made observations on the 16th, 17th and 18th. On the 19th I sent the instruments up, for the water was near our station, and Sedgwick, Whewell, and I went on a geological expedition to the Lizard. On our return we met Sheepshanks and the others, and found the results of the last observations unsatisfactory. The results of comparing the pendulums were discordant, and the knife edge of the faulty pendulum had very sensibly altered. We now gave up observations, with the feeling that our time had been totally lost, mainly through the fault of the maker of the pendulum (T. Jones). On the 28th we made an expedition to Penzance and other places, and arrived at Cambridge on the 17th of September.
"In the course of the work at Dolcoath we made various expeditions as opportunity offered. Thus we walked to Carn Brea and witnessed the wrestling, the common game of the country. On another occasion Sedgwick, Whewell, and I had a capital geological expedition to Trewavas Head to examine granite veins. We visited at Pendarves and Trevince, and made the expedition to the Lizard already referred to, and saw many of the sights in the neighbourhood. After visiting Penzance on the conclusion of our work we saw Cape Cornwall (where Whewell overturned me in a gig), and returned homewards by way of Truro, Plymouth (where we saw the watering-place and breakwater: also the Dockyard, and descended in one of the working diving-bells), Exeter, Salisbury, and Portsmouth. In returning from Camborne in 1826 I lost the principal of our papers. It was an odd thing that, in going through Exeter on our way to Camborne in 1828, I found them complete at Exeter, identified to the custodian by the dropping out of a letter with my address.
"On my return to Cambridge I was immediately immersed in the work of the Observatory. The only instrument then mounted at the Observatory was the Transit. I had no Assistant whatever.—A Mr Galbraith of Edinburgh had questioned something in one of my Papers about the Figure of the Earth. I drew up a rather formal answer to it: Whewell saw my draft and drew up a much more pithy one, which I adopted and sent to the Philosophical Magazine.—For comparing our clocks at the upper and lower stations of Dolcoath we had borrowed from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, six good pocket chronometers: they were still in the care of Mr Sheepshanks. I arranged with him that they should be sent backwards and forwards a few times for determining the longitude of Cambridge Observatory. This was done on Oct. 21st, 22nd, 23rd: the result was 23°54, and this has been used to the present time (1853). It evinced an error in the Trigonometrical Survey, the origin of which was found, I think, afterwards (Dr Pearson in a letter of Dec. 17th spoke of the mistake of a may-pole for a signal-staff). I drew up a Paper on this, and gave it to the Cambridge Philosophical Society on Nov. 24th. (My only academical Paper this year.)—I had several letters from Dr Young, partly supplying me with calculations that I wanted, partly on reform or extension of the Nautical Almanac (which Dr Young resisted as much as possible). He considered me very unfairly treated in the dissolution of the Board of Longitude: Professor Lax wished me to join in some effort for its restoration, but I declined.
"As my reduction of observations was kept quite close, I now began to think of printing. In regard to the form I determined to adopt a plan totally different from that of any other observations which I had seen. The results were to be the important things: I was desirous of suppressing the separate wires of transits. But upon consulting Herschel and other persons they would not agree to it, and I assented to keeping them. I applied to the Press Syndicate to print the work, and on Nov. 10th at the request of T. Musgrave (afterwards Archbishop of York) I sent a specimen of my MS.: on Nov. 11th they granted 250 copies, and the printing soon commenced."
1829
"During a winter holiday at Playford I wrote out some investigations about the orbits of comets, and on Jan. 23rd 1829 I returned to Cambridge. The Smith's Prize Examination soon followed, in which I set a Paper of questions as usual. On Feb. 18th I made notes on Liesganig's geodetic work at the British Museum.
"I was naturally anxious now about the settlement of my salary and of the Observatory establishment. I do not know when the Syndicate made their Report, but it must have been in the last term of 1828. It recommended that the salary should be annually made up (by Grace) to£500: that an Assistant should be appointed with the assent of the Vice-Chancellor and dismissable by the Plumian Professor: and that a Visiting Syndicate should be appointed, partly official and partly of persons to be named every year by Grace. The Grace for adopting this Report was to be offered to the Senate on Feb. 27th. The passing of the Grace was exposed to two considerable perils. First, I found out (just in time) that a Senior Fellow of Trinity (G.A. Browne) was determined to oppose the whole, on account of the insignificant clause regarding dismissal of Assistants, which he regarded as tyrannical. I at once undertook that that clause should be rejected. Secondly, by the absurd constitution of the 'Caput' at Cambridge, a single M.A. had the power of stopping any business whatever, and an M.A. actually came to the Senate House with the intention of throwing out all the Graces on various business that day presented to the Senate. Luckily he mistook the hour, and came at 11 instead of 10, and found that all were dispatched. The important parts of the Grace passed without any opposition: but I mustered some friends who negatived that part which had alarmed G.A. Browne, and it was corrected to his satisfaction by a new Grace on Mar. 18th. I was now almost set at rest on one of the great objects of my life: but not quite. I did not regard, and I determined not to regard, the addition to my salary as absolutely certain until a payment had been actually made to me: and I carefully abstained, for the present, from taking any steps based upon it. I found for Assistant at the Observatory an old Lieutenant of the Royal Navy, Mr Baldrey, who came on Mar. 16.
"On May 4th I began lectures: there were 32 names. The Lectures were improving, especially in the optical part. I do not find note of the day of termination.—I do not know the actual day of publication of my first small volume of Cambridge Observations, 1828, and of circulation. The date of the preface is Apr. 27th 1829. I have letters of approval of it from Davies Gilbert, Rigaud, and Lax. The system which I endeavoured to introduce into printed astronomical observations was partially introduced into this volume, and was steadily improved in subsequent volumes. I think that I am justified, by letters and other remarks, in believing that this introduction of an orderly system of exhibition, not merely of observations but of the steps for bringing them to a practical result—quite a novelty in astronomical publications—had a markedly good effect on European astronomy in general.—In Feb. and March I have letters from Young about the Nautical Almanac: he was unwilling to make any great change, but glad to receive any small assistance. South, who had been keeping up a series of attacks on Young, wrote to me to enquire how I stood in engagements of assistance to Young: I replied that I should assist Young whenever he asked me, and that I disapproved of South's course.—The date of the first visitation of the (Cambridge) Observatory must have been near May 11th: I invited South and Baily to my house; South and I were very near quarrelling about the treatment of Young.—In a few days after Dr Young died: I applied to Lord Melville for the superintendence of the Nautical Almanac: Mr Croker replied that it devolved legally upon the Astronomer Royal, and on May 30th Pond wrote to ask my assistance when I could give any. On June 6th I was invited to the Greenwich Visitation, to which I believe I went on the 10th.
"I had long desired to see Switzerland, and I wished now to see some of the Continental Observatories. I was therefore glad to arrange with Mr Lodge, of Magdalene College (perhaps 10 years senior to myself), to make a little tour. Capt. W.H. Smyth and others gave me introductions. I met Lodge in London, and we started for Calais on July 27th 1829. We visited a number of towns in Belgium (at Brussels I saw the beginning of the Observatory with Quetelet), and passed by Cologne, Frankfort, Fribourg, and Basle to Zurich. Thus far we had travelled by diligence or posting: we now procured a guide, and travelled generally on foot. From the 13th to the 31st August we travelled diligently through the well-known mountainous parts of Switzerland and arrived at Geneva on the 31st August. Here I saw M. Gautier, M. Gambard, and the beginning of the Observatory. Mr Lodge was now compelled to return to Cambridge, and I proceeded alone by Chambéry to Turin, where I made the acquaintance of M. Plana and saw the Observatory. I then made a tour through north Italy, looking over the Observatories at Milan, Padua, Bologna, and Florence. At Leghorn I took a passage for Marseille in a xebeque, but after sailing for three days the weather proved very unfavourable, and I landed at Spezia and proceeded by Genoa and the Cornici Road to Marseille. At Marseille I saw M. Gambart and the Observatory, and passed by Avignon, Lyons, and Nevers to Orléans, where I visited my old host M. Legarde. Thence by Paris, Beauvais, and Calais to London and Cambridge, where I arrived on the 30th October. I had started with more than£140and returned with2s. 6d. The expedition was in many ways invaluable to me.
"On my return I found various letters from scientific men: some approving of my method for the mass of the Moon: some approving highly of my printed observations, especially D. Gilbert, who informed me that they had produced good effect (I believe at Greenwich), and Herschel.—On Nov. 13th I gave the Royal Astronomical Society a Paper about deducing the mass of the Moon from observations of Venus: on Nov. 16th a Paper to the Cambridge Philosophical Society on a correction to the length of a ball-pendulum: and on Dec. 14th a Paper on certain conditions under which perpetual motion is possible.—The engravings for my Figure of the Earth in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana were dispatched at the end of the year. Some of the Paper (perhaps much) was written after my return from the Continent.—I began, but never finished, a Paper on the form of the Earth supposed to be projecting at middle latitudes. In this I refer to the printed Paper which Nicollet gave me at Paris. I believe that the investigations for my Paper in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana led me to think the supposition unnecessary.—On Nov. 6th I was elected member of the Geological Society.
"On Nov. 16th 1829 notice was given of a Grace to authorize payment to me of£157. 9s. 1d., in conformity with the regulations adopted on Feb. 27th, and on Nov. 18th the Grace passed the Senate. On Nov. 19th the Vice-Chancellor wrote me a note enclosing the cheque. On Nov. 23rd (practically the first day on which I could go) I went to London and travelled to Edensor, where I arrived on the 26th. Here I found Richarda Smith, proposed to her, and was accepted. I stayed there a few days, and returned to Cambridge."
1830
"On Jan. 25th 1830 the Smith's Prize Paper was prepared. I was (with my Assistant, Mr Baldrey) vigorously working the Transit Instrument and its reductions, and gradually forming a course of proceeding which has had a good effect on European Astronomy. And I was preparing for my marriage.
"On Mar. 11th I started with my sister to London, and arrived atEdensor on the afternoon of the 14th. On the 17th I started alone forManchester and Liverpool. Through Mr Mason, a cotton-spinner atCalver, near Edensor, I had become acquainted with Mr John Kennedy ofManchester, and I had since 1824 been acquainted with Dr Traill ofLiverpool. Amongst other things, I saw the works of the Manchester andLiverpool Railway, then advancing and exciting great interest, and sawGeorge Stephenson and his son. On Mar. 24th I was married to RichardaSmith by her father in Edensor. We stopped at Edensor till Apr. 1st,and then started in chaises by way of Newark and Kettering (where wewere in danger of being stopped by the snow), and arrived at Cambridgeon Apr. 3rd.
"I was now busy in preparing for lectures, especially the part of the optical lectures which related to the theory of interferences and polarization. I think it was now that my wife drew some of my lecture pictures, exhibiting interference phenomena. My lectures began on Apr. 26th and finished on May 24th. The number of names was 50. They were considered an excellent course of lectures.
"May 9th is the date of my Preface to the 1829 Observations: all was then printed. Apparently I did not go to the Visitation of the Greenwich Observatory this year.—I was at this time pressing Tulley, the optician, about an object-glass for the Mural Circle.—A new edition of my 'Tracts' was wanted, and I prepared to add a Tract on the Undulatory Theory of Light in its utmost extent. The Syndicate of the University Press intimated through Dr Turton that they could not assist me (regarding the book as a second edition). On July 10th I have some negociation about it with Deighton the bookseller.—On May 18th I have a note from Whewell about a number of crystals of plagiedral quartz, in which he was to observe the crystalline indication, and I the optical phenomena.—The Report of the Syndicate for visiting the Observatory is dated June 18th: it is highly laudatory.—The Proctor (Barnard of King's College) requested me to name the Moderator for the next B.A. Examination: I named Mr Challis.
"On June 14th my wife and I went, in company with Professor and Mrs Henslow, to London and Oxford; at Oxford we were received in Christchurch College by Dr and Mrs Buckland. My wife and I then went to Bedford to visit Capt. and Mrs Smyth, and returned to Cambridge on the 23rd. On July 5th we went on a visit to my mother and uncle at Playford. While there I took a drive with my uncle into some parts near the valley of the Gipping, in which I thought that the extent of the chalk was inadequately exhibited on Greenough's map, and communicated my remarks to Buckland.
"I find letters from Dr Robinson and Col. Colby about determining longitudes of certain observatories by fire signals: I proposed chronometers as preferable. Also from Herschel, approving of my second volume of observations: and from F. Baily, disclaiming the origination of the attack on the old Nautical Almanac (with which I suppose I had reproached him). On July 30th I received a summons from South to a committee for improving the Nautical Almanac; and subsequently a letter from Baily about Schumacher's taking offence at a passage of mine in the Cambridge Observations, on the comparative merits of Ephemerides, which I afterwards explained to his satisfaction.
"On Aug. 24th my wife and I started for Edensor, and after a short stay there proceeded by Manchester to Cumberland, where we made many excursions. We returned by Edensor, and reached Cambridge on Oct. 6th, bringing my wife's sister Susanna on a visit. My mother had determined, as soon as my intention of marriage was known to her, to quit the house, although always (even to her death) entertaining the most friendly feelings and fondness for my wife. It was also judged best by us all that my sister should not reside with us as a settled inhabitant of the house. They fixed themselves therefore at Playford in the farm-house of the Luck's Farm, then in the occupation of my uncle Arthur Biddell. On Oct. 21st I have a letter from my sister saying that they were comfortably settled there.
"In this month of October (principally, I believe) I made some capital Experiments on Quartz, which were treated mathematically in a Paper communicated in the next year to the Cambridge Philosophical Society. In some of these my wife assisted me, and also drew pictures.—On Nov. 15th the Grace for paying me£198. 13s. 8d.to make my income up to£500passed the Senate.—I made three journeys to London to attend committees, one a committee on the Nautical Almanac, and one a Royal Society Committee about two southern observatories.—On Dec. 31st I have a letter from Maclear (medical practitioner and astronomer at Biggleswade) about occultations.—In this December I had a quartz object-glass by Cauchaix mounted by Dollond, and presented it to the Observatory.—In this December occurred the alarm from agrarian fires. There was a very large fire at Coton, about a mile from the Observatory. This created the most extraordinary panic that I ever saw. I do not think it is possible, without having witnessed it, to conceive the state of men's minds. The gownsmen were all armed with bludgeons, and put under a rude discipline for a few days."
1831
"On Jan. 4th I went with my wife, first to Miss Sheepshanks in London, at 30, Woburn Place, and next to the house of my wife's old friend, the Rev. John Courtney, at Sanderstead, near Croydon. I came to London on one day to attend a meeting of the new Board of Visitors of the Greenwich Observatory. Formerly the Board of Visitors consisted of the Council of the Royal Society with persons invited by them (in which capacity I had often attended). But a reforming party, of which South, Babbage, Baily and Beaufort were prominent members, had induced the Admiralty to constitute a new Board, of which the Plumian Professor was a member. Mr Pond, the Astronomer Royal, was in a rather feeble state, and South seemed determined to bear him down: Sheepshanks and I did our best to support him. (I have various letters from Sheepshanks to this purpose.)—On Jan. 22nd we returned to Cambridge, and I set an Examination Paper for Smith's Prizes as usual.—On Jan. 30th I have a letter from Herschel about improving the arrangement of Pond's Observations. I believe that much of this zeal arose from the example of the Cambridge Observations.
"On Feb. 21st my Paper 'On the nature of the light in the two rays of Quartz' was communicated to the Philosophical Society: a capital piece of deductive optics. On Mar. 2nd I went to London, I suppose to attend the Board of Visitors (which met frequently, for the proposed reform of Pond's Observations, &c.). As I returned on the outside of the coach there occurred to me a very remarkable deduction from my ideas about the rays of Quartz, which I soon tried with success, and it is printed as an Appendix to the Paper above mentioned. On Mar. 6th my son George Richard was born."
Miscellaneous matters in the first half of this year are as follows:
"Faraday sends me a piece of glass for Amici (he had sent me a piece before).—On Apr. 9th I dispatched the Preface of my 1830 Observations: this implies that all was printed.—On Apr. 18th I began my Lectures and finished on May 24th. There were 49 names. A very good series of lectures.—I think it was immediately after this, at the Visitation of the Cambridge Observatory, that F. Baily and Lieut. Stratford were present, and that Sheepshanks went to Tharfield on the Royston Downs to fire powder signals to be seen at Biggleswade (by Maclear) and at Bedford (by Capt. Smyth) as well as by us at Cambridge.—On May 14th I received£100for my article on the Figure of the Earth from Baldwin the publisher of the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana.—I attended the Greenwich Visitation on June 3rd.—On June 30th the Observatory Syndicate made their report: satisfactory.
"On July 6th 1831 I started with my wife and infant son for Edensor, and went on alone to Liverpool. I left for Dublin on the day on which the loss of the 'Rothsay Castle' was telegraphed, and had a bad voyage, which made me ill during my whole absence. After a little stay in Dublin I went to Armagh to visit Dr Robinson, and thence to Coleraine and the Giant's Causeway, returning by Belfast and Dublin to Edensor. We returned to Cambridge on Sept. 9th.
"Up to this time the Observatory was furnished with only one large instrument, namely the 10-foot Transit. On Feb. 24th of this year I had received from Thomas Jones (62, Charing Cross) a sketch of the stone pier for mounting the Equatoreal which he was commissioned to make: and the pier was prepared in the spring or summer. On Sept. 20th part of the instrument was sent to the Observatory; other parts followed, and Jones himself came to mount it. On Sept. 16th I received Simms's assurance that he was hastening the Mural Circle.—In this autumn I seriously took up the recalculation of my Long Inequality of Venus and the Earth, and worked through it independently; thus correcting two errors. On Nov. 10th I went to Slough, to put my Paper in the hands of Mr Herschel for communication to the Royal Society. The Paper was read on Nov. 24th.—This was the year of the first Meeting of the British Association at York. The next year's meeting was to be at Oxford, and on Oct. 17th I received from the Rev. W. Vernon Harcourt an invitation to supply a Report on Astronomy, which I undertook: it employed me much of the winter, and the succeeding spring and summer.—The second edition of my Tracts was ready in October. It contained, besides what was in the first edition, the Planetary Theory, and the Undulatory Theory of Light. The Profit was£80.—On Nov. 14th I presented to the Cambridge Philosophical Society a Paper 'On a remarkable modification of Newton's Rings': a pretty good Paper.—In November the Copley Medal was awarded to me by the Royal Society for my advances in Optics.—Amongst miscellaneous matters I was engaged in correspondence with Col. Colby and Capt. Portlock about the Irish Triangulation and its calculation. Also with the Admiralty on the form of publication of the Greenwich and Cape Observations."
1832
"In January my Examination Paper for Smith's Prizes was prepared as usual.—Two matters (in addition to the daily routine of Observatory work) occupied me at the beginning of this year. One was the translation of Encke's Paper in successive numbers of the Astronomische Nachrichten concerning Encke's Comet; the University Press printed this gratuitously, and I distributed copies, partly by the aid of Capt. Beaufort.—The other was the Report on Astronomy for the British Association, which required much labour. My reading for it was principally in the University Library (possibly some in London), but I borrowed some books from F. Baily, and I wrote to Capt. Beaufort about the possible repetition of Lacaille's Meridian Arc at the Cape of Good Hope. The Report appears to have been finished on May 2nd.—At this time the Reform Bill was under discussion, and one letter written by me (probably at Sheepshanks's request) addressed I think to Mr Drummond, Lord Althorp's secretary, was read in the House of Commons.
"Optics were not neglected. I have some correspondence with Brewster and Faraday. On Mar. 5th I gave the Cambridge Philosophical Society a Paper 'On a new Analyzer,' and on Mar. 19th one 'On Newton's Rings between two substances of different refractive powers,' both Papers satisfactory to myself.—On the death of Mr F. Fallows, astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope Observatory, the Admiralty appointed Mr Henderson, an Edinburgh lawyer, who had done some little things in astronomical calculation. On Jan. 10th I discussed with him observations to be made, and drew up his Official Instructions which were sent on Jan. 10th.—On Feb. 16th Sir James South writes that Encke's Comet is seen: also that with his 12-inch achromatic, purchased at Paris, and which he was preparing to mount equatoreally, he had seen the disk of Aldebaran apparently bisected by the Moon's limb.—Capt. Beaufort and D. Gilbert write in March about instructions to Dunlop, the astronomer at Paramatta. I sent a draft to Capt. Beaufort on Apr. 27th.
"The Preface to my 1831 Observations is dated Mar. 20th. The distribution of the book would be a few weeks later.—On May 7th I began my Lectures: 51 names: I finished on May 29th.—The mounting of the Equatoreal was finished some time before the Syndicate Visitation at the end of May, but Jones's charge appeared to be exorbitant: I believe it was paid at last, but it was considered unfair.—On June 2nd I went to London: I presume to the Greenwich Visitation.—I went to Oxford to the meeting of the British Association (lodging I think with Prof. Rigaud at the Observatory) on June 16th, and read part of my Report on Astronomy in the Theatre.
"On June 26th I started with my wife for the Highlands of Scotland. After a short stay at Edensor, we went by Carlisle to Glasgow, and through the Lake District to Inverness. Thence by Auchnanault to Balmacarra, where we were received by Mr Lillingstone. After an expedition in Skye, we returned to Balmacarra, and passed on to Invermoriston, where we were received by Grant of Glenmoriston. We then went to Fort William and Oban, and crossed over to Mull, where we were received by Maclean of Loch Buy. We returned to Oban and on to Edinburgh, where we made a short stay. Then to Melrose, where we were received by Sir D. Brewster, and by Edensor to Cambridge, where we arrived on Sept. 17th.
"I received (at Edinburgh I believe) a letter from Arago, writing for the plans of our observing-room shutters.—Mr Vernon Harcourt wrote deprecating the tone of my Report on Astronomy as related to English Astronomers, but I refused to alter a word.—Sheepshanks wrote in September in great anxiety about the Cambridge Circle, for which he thought the pier ought to be raised: I would have no such thing, and arranged it much more conveniently by means of a pit. On Oct. 9th Simms says that he will come with the circle immediately, and Jones on Sept. 29th says that he will make some alteration in the equatoreal: thus there was at last a prospect of furnishing the Observatory properly.—On Oct. 9th, I have Encke's thanks for the translation of the Comet Paper.—One of the desiderata which I had pointed out in my Report on Astronomy was the determination of the mass of Jupiter by elongations of the 4th satellite: and as the Equatoreal of the Cambridge Observatory was on the point of coming into use, I determined to employ it for this purpose. It was necessary for the reduction of the observations that I should prepare Tables of the motion of Jupiter's 4th Satellite in a form applicable to computations of differences of right-ascension. The date of my Tables is Oct. 3rd, 1832.—In October the Observatory Syndicate made their Report: quite satisfactory.
"On Oct. 20th Sheepshanks wrote asking my assistance in the Penny Cyclopaedia: I did afterwards write 'Gravitation' and 'Greenwich.' —Capt. Beaufort wrote in November to ask my opinion on the Preface to an edition of Groombridge's Catalogue which had been prepared by H. Taylor: Sheepshanks also wrote; he had objected to it. This was the beginning of an affair which afterwards gave me great labour.—Vernon Harcourt writes, much offended at some terms which I had used in reference to an office in the British Association.
"The Equatoreal mounting which Troughton and Simms had been preparing for Sir James South's large telescope had not entirely succeeded. I have various letters at this time from Sheepshanks and Simms, relating to the disposition which Sir James South shewed to resist every claim till compelled by law to pay it.—A general election of Members of Parliament was now coming on: Mr Lubbock was candidate for the University. On Nov. 27th I had a letter from Sedgwick requesting me to write a letter in the newspapers in favour of Lubbock; which I did. On Dec. 7th I have notice of the County voting at Newmarket on Dec. 18th and 19th: I walked there to vote for Townley; he lost the election by two or three votes in several thousands.
"The Mural Circle was now nearly ready in all respects, and it was known that another Assistant would be required. Mr Richardson (one of the Assistants of Greenwich Observatory) and Mr Simms recommended to me Mr Glaisher, who was soon after appointed, and subsequently became an Assistant at Greenwich.—On Dec. 24th I have a letter from Bessel (the first I believe). I think that I had written to him about a general reduction of the Greenwich Planetary Observations, using his Tabulae Regiomontanae as basis, and that this was his reply approving of it."
1833
"On Jan. 4th 1833 my daughter Elizabeth was born.—I prepared an examination paper for Smith's Prizes as usual.—On Jan. 5th I received notice from Simms that he had received payment (£1050) for the Mural Circle from the Vice-Chancellor. About this time the Circle was completely made serviceable, and I (with Mr Glaisher as Assistant) immediately began its use. A puzzling apparent defect in the circle (exhibiting itself by the discordance of zenith points obtained by reflection observations on opposite sides of the zenith) shewed itself very early. On Feb. 4th I have letters about it from Sheepshanks and Simms.—On Jan. 17th I received notice from F. Baily that the Astronomical Society had awarded me their Medal for my long inequality of Venus and the Earth: on Feb. 7th I went to London, I suppose to receive the Medal.—I also inspected Sir J. South's telescope, then becoming a matter of litigation, and visited Mr Herschel at Slough: on Feb. 12th I wrote to Sir J. South about the support of the instrument, hoping to remove one of the difficulties in the litigation; but it produced no effect.—Herschel wrote to me, from Poisson, that Pontécoulant had verified my Long Inequality.
"Mar. 12th is the date of the Preface to my 1832 volume of Observations: it was of course distributed a few weeks later.—In my Report on Astronomy I had indicated the Mass of Jupiter as a subject requiring fresh investigation. During the last winter I had well employed the Equatoreal in observing elongations in R.A. of the 4th Satellite. To make these available it was necessary to work up the theory carefully, in which I discovered some remarkable errors of Laplace. Some of these, for verification, I submitted to Mr Lubbock, who entirely agreed with me. The date of my first calculations of the Mass of Jupiter is Mar. 1st: and shortly after that I gave an oral account of them to the Cambridge Philosophical Society. The date of my Paper for the Astronomical Society is April 12th. The result of my investigations (which was subsequently confirmed by Bessel) entirely removed the difficulty among Astronomers; and the mass which I obtained has ever since been received as the true one.
"On Apr. 9th my wife's two sisters, Elizabeth and Georgiana Smith, came to stay with me.—On Apr. 22nd I began lectures, and finished on May 21st: there were 54 names. During the course of the lectures I communicated a Paper to the Philosophical Society 'On the calculation of Newton's experiments on Diffraction.'—I went to London on the Visitation of the Greenwich Observatory: the dinner had been much restricted, but was now made more open.—It had been arranged that the meeting of the British Association was to be held this year at Cambridge. I invited Sir David Brewster and Mr Herschel to lodge at the Observatory. The meeting lasted from June 24th to 30th. We gave one dinner, but had a breakfast party every day. I did not enter much into the scientific business of the meeting, except that I brought before the Committee the expediency of reducing the Greenwich Planetary Observations from 1750. They agreed to represent it to the Government, and a deputation was appointed (I among them) who were received by Lord Althorp on July 25th. On Aug. 3rd Herschel announced to me that£500was granted.
"On Aug. 7th I started with my wife for Edensor. At Leicester we met Sedgwick and Whewell: my wife went on to Edensor, and I joined Sedgwick and Whewell in a geological expedition to Mount Sorrel and various parts of Charnwood Forest. We were received by Mr Allsop of Woodlands, who proved an estimable acquaintance. This lasted four or five days, and we then went on to Edensor.—On Aug. 15th Herschel wrote to me, communicating an offer of the Duke of Northumberland to present to the Cambridge Observatory an object-glass of about 12 inches aperture by Cauchaix. I wrote therefore to the Duke, accepting generally. The Duke wrote to me from Buxton on Aug. 23rd (his letter, such was the wretched arrangement of postage, reaching Bakewell and Edensor on the 25th) and on the 26th I drove before breakfast to Buxton and had an interview with him. On Sept. 1st the Duke wrote, authorizing me to mount the telescope entirely, and he subsequently approved of Cauchaix's terms: there was much correspondence, but on Dec. 28th I instructed Cauchaix how to send the telescope.—On our return we paid a visit to Dr Davy, Master of Caius College, at Heacham, and reached Cambridge on Oct. 8th.
"Groombridge's Catalogue, of which the editing was formally entrusted to Mr Henry Taylor (son of Taylor the first-assistant of the Greenwich Observatory), had been in some measure referred to Sheepshanks: and he, in investigating the work, found reason for thinking the whole discreditable. About May he first wrote to me on his rising quarrel with H. Taylor, but on Sept. 7th he found things coming to a crisis, and denounced the whole. Capt. Beaufort the Hydrographer (in whose office this matter rested) begged me with Baily to decide upon it. We did not at first quite agree upon the terms of investigation &c., but after a time all was settled, and on Oct. 4th the Admiralty formally applied, and I formally accepted. Little or nothing had been done by Mr Baily and myself, when my work was interrupted by illness.
"Sheepshanks had thought that something might be done to advance the interests of myself or the Observatory by the favour of Lord Brougham (then Lord Chancellor), and had urged me to write an article in the Penny Cyclopaedia, in which Lord Brougham took great interest. I chose the subject 'Gravitation,' and as I think wrote a good deal of it in this Autumn: when it was interrupted by my illness.
"On Dec. 9th 1833, having at first intended to attend the meeting of the Philosophical Society and then having changed my mind, I was engaged in the evening on the formulae for effects of small errors on the computation of the Solar Eclipse of 1833. A dizziness in my head came on. I left off work, became worse, and went to bed, and in the night was in high fever with a fierce attack of scarlet fever. My wife was also attacked but very slightly. The first day of quitting my bedroom was Dec. 31st. Somewhere about the time of my illness my wife's sister, Susanna Smith, who was much reduced in the summer, died of consumption.
"Miscellaneous notes in 1833 are as follows: Henderson (at the Cape) could not endure it much longer, and on Oct. 14th Stratford writes that Maclear had just sailed to take his place: Henderson is candidate for the Edinburgh Observatory.—Stratford writes on Dec. 2nd that the Madras observations have come to England, the first whose arrangement imitates mine.—On Nov. 3rd Herschel, just going to the Cape, entrusted to me the revisal of some proof sheets, if necessary: however it was never needed.—In November I sat for my portrait to a painter named Purdon (I think): he came to the house and made a good likeness. A pencil portrait was taken for a print-seller (Mason) in Cambridge: it was begun before my illness and finished after it.—I applied through Sheepshanks for a copy of Maskelyne's Observations, to be used in the Reduction of the Planetary Observations: and on Dec. 24th (from my bedroom) I applied through Prof. Rigaud to the Delegates of the Clarendon Press for a copy of Bradley's Observations for the same. The latter request was refused. In October I applied to the Syndics of the University Press for printed forms for these Reductions: the Syndics agreed to grant me 12,000 copies."
1834
"On Jan. 11th 1834 I went with my wife to London for the recruiting of my strength. We stayed at the house of our friend Miss Sheepshanks, and returned on Feb. 13th.—I drew up a Paper of Questions for Smith's Prizes, but left the whole trouble of examination and adjudication to Professor Miller, who at my request acted for me.—While I was in London I began to look at the papers relating to Groombridge's Catalogue: and I believe that it was while in London that I agreed with Mr Baily on a Report condemnatory of H. Taylor's edition, and sent the Report to the Admiralty. The Admiralty asked for further advice, and on Feb. 28th I replied, undertaking to put the Catalogue in order. On Mar. 17th Capt. Beaufort sent me all the papers. Some time however elapsed before I could proceed with it.
"There was in this spring a furious discussion about the admission of Dissenters into the University: I took the Liberal side. On Apr. 30th there was a letter of mine in the Cambridge newspaper.—On Apr. 14th I began lectures, and finished on May 20th: there were 87 names.—My 'Gravitation' was either finished or so nearly finished that on Jan. 24th I had some conversation with Knight the publisher about printing it. It was printed in the spring, and on Apr. 27th Sheepshanks sent a copy of it to Lord Brougham. I received from Knight£83. 17s. 1d.for this Paper.—On May 10th I went to London, I believe to attend one of the Soirées which the Duke of Sussex gave as President of the Royal Society. The Duke invited me to breakfast privately with him the next morning. He then spoke to me, on the part of the Government, about my taking the office of Astronomer Royal. On May 19th I wrote him a semi-official letter, to which reference was made in subsequent correspondence on that subject.
"On May 12th my son Arthur was born.—In June the Observatory Syndicate made a satisfied Report.—On June 7th I went to the Greenwich Visitation, and again on June 14th I went to London, I believe for the purpose of trying the mounting of South's telescope, as it had been strengthened by Mr Simms by Sheepshanks's suggestions. I was subsequently in correspondence with Sheepshanks on the subject of the Arbitration on South's telescope, and my giving evidence on it. On July 29th, as I was shortly going away, I wrote him a Report on the Telescope, to be used in case of my absence. The award, which was given in December, was entirely in favour of Simms.—On July 23rd I went out, I think to my brother's marriage at Ixworth in Suffolk.—On Aug. 1st I started for Edensor and Cumberland, with my wife, sister, and three children: Georgiana Smith joined us at Edensor. We went by Otley, Harrogate, Ripon, and Stanmoor to Keswick, from whence we made many excursions. On Aug. 11th I went with Whewell to the clouds on Skiddaw, to try hygrometers. Mr Baily called on his way to the British Association at Edinburgh. On Sept. 10th we transferred our quarters to Ambleside, and after various excursions we returned to Edensor by Skipton and Bolton. On Sept. 19th I went to Doncaster and Finningley Park to see Mr Beaumont's Observatory. On Sept. 25th we posted in one day from Edensor to Cambridge.
"On Aug. 25th Mr Spring Rice (Lord Monteagle) wrote to me to enquire whether I would accept the office of Astronomer Royal if it were vacant. I replied (from Keswick) on Aug. 30th, expressing my general willingness, stipulating for my freedom of vote, &c., and referring to my letter to the Duke of Sussex. On Oct. 8th Lord Auckland, First Lord of the Admiralty, wrote: and on Oct. 10th I provisionally accepted the office. On Oct. 30th I wrote to ask for leave to give a course of lectures at Cambridge in case that my successor at Cambridge should find difficulty in doing it in the first year: and to this Lord Auckland assented on Oct. 31st. All this arrangement was for a time upset by the change of Ministry which shortly followed.
"Amongst miscellaneous matters, in March I had some correspondence with the Duke of Northumberland about the Cauchaix Telescope. In August I had to announce to him that the flint-lens had been a little shattered in Cauchaix's shop and required regrinding: finally on Dec. 17th I announced its arrival at Cambridge.—In the Planetary Reductions, I find that I employed one computer (Glaisher) for 34 weeks.—In November the Lalande Medal was awarded to me by the French Institut, and Mr Pentland conveyed it to me in December.—On March 14th I gave the Cambridge Philosophical Society a Paper, 'Continuation of researches into the value of Jupiter's Mass.' On Apr. 14th, 'On the Latitude of Cambridge Observatory.' On June 13th, 'On the position of the Ecliptic,' and 'On the Solar Eclipse of 1833,' to the Royal Astronomical Society. On Nov. 24th, 'On Computing the Diffraction of an Object Glass,' to the Cambridge Society. And on Dec. 3rd, 'On the Calculation of Perturbations,' to the Nautical Almanac: this Paper was written at Keswick between Aug. 22nd and 29th.—I also furnished Mr Sheepshanks with investigations regarding the form of the pivots of the Cape Circle."
1835
"On Jan. 9th 1835 I was elected correspondent of the French Academy; and on Jan. 26th Mr Pentland sent me£12. 6s., the balance of the proceeds of the Lalande Medal Fund.—I prepared my Paper for Smith's Prizes, and joined in the Examination as usual.
"There had been a very sudden change of Administration, and Sir R. Peel was now Prime Minister as First Lord of the Treasury, and Lord Lyndhurst was Lord Chancellor. On Jan. 19th I wrote to Lord Lyndhurst, asking him for a Suffolk living for my brother William, which he declined to give, though he remembered my application some years later. Whether my application led to the favour which I shortly received from the Government, I do not know. But, in dining with the Duke of Sussex in the last year, I had been introduced to Sir R. Peel, and he had conversed with me a long time, and appeared to have heard favourably of me. On Feb. 17th he wrote to me an autograph letter offering a pension of£300per annum, with no terms of any kind, and allowing it to be settled if I should think fit on my wife. I wrote on Feb. 18th accepting it for my wife. In a few days the matter went through the formal steps, and Mr Whewell and Mr Sheepshanks were nominated trustees for my wife. The subject came before Parliament, by the Whig Party vindicating their own propriety in having offered me the office of Astronomer Royal in the preceding year; and Spring Rice's letter then written to me was published in the Times, &c."
* * * * *
The correspondence relating to the pension above-mentioned is given below, and appears to be of interest, both as conveying in very felicitous terms the opinion of a very eminent statesman on the general subject of such pensions, and as a most convincing proof of the lofty position in Science which the subject of this Memoir had then attained.
WHITEHALL GARDENS,Feb. 17 1835.
You probably are aware that in a Resolution voted by the House of Commons in the last Session of Parliament, an opinion was expressed, that Pensions on the Civil List, ought not thereafter to be granted by the Crown excepting for the satisfaction of certain public claims, among which those resting on Scientific or Literary Eminence were especially mentioned.
I trust that no such Resolution would have been necessary to induce me as Minister of the Crown fully to recognize the justice of such claims, but I refer to the Resolution, as removing every impediment to a Communication of the nature of that which I am about to make to you.
In acting upon the Principle of the Resolution in so far as the Claims of Science are concerned, myfirstaddress is made to you, and made directly, and without previous communication with any other person, because it is dictated exclusively by public considerations, and because there can be no advantage in or any motive for indirect communication.
I consider you to have the first claim on the Royal Favour which Eminence in those high Pursuits to which your life is devoted, can give, and I fear that the Emoluments attached to your appointment in the University of Cambridge are hardly sufficient to relieve you from anxiety as to the Future on account of those in whose welfare you are deeply interested.
The state of the Civil List would enable me to advise the King to grant a pension of three hundred pounds per annum, and if the offer be acceptable to you the Pension shall be granted either to Mrs Airy or yourself as you may prefer.
I beg you distinctly to understand that your acquiescence in this Proposal, will impose upon you no obligation personal or political in the slightest degree. I make it solely upon public grounds, and I ask you, by the acceptance of it, to permit the King to give some slight encouragement to Science, by proving to those who may be disposed to follow your bright Example, that Devotion to the highest Branches of Mathematical and Astronomical Knowledge shall not necessarily involve them in constant solicitude as to the future condition of those, for whom the application of the same Talents to more lucrative Pursuits would have ensured an ample Provision.
I have the honor to be, Sir,With true Respect and Esteem,Your faithful Servant,ROBERT PEEL.
Mr Professor Airy,&c., &c.,Cambridge.
OBSERVATORY, CAMBRIDGE,1835, Feb. 18.
I have the honor to acknowledge your letter of the 17th acquainting me with your intention of advising the King to grant a pension of£300per annum from the Civil List to me or Mrs Airy.
I trust you will believe that I am sensible of the flattering terms in which this offer is made, and deeply grateful for the considerate manner in which the principal arrangement is left to my choice, as well as for the freedom from engagement in which your offer leaves me. I beg to state that I most willingly accept the offer. I should prefer that the pension be settled on Mrs Airy (by which I understand that in case of her surviving me the pension would be continued to her during her life, or in the contrary event would cease with her life).
I wish that I may have the good fortune to prove to the world that I do not accept this offer without an implied engagement on my part. I beg leave again to thank you for your attention, and to assure you that the form in which it is conveyed makes it doubly acceptable.
With sincere respect I have the honor to be, Sir,Your very faithful Servant,G.B. AIRY.
The Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, Bart.,First Lord of the Treasury, &c., &c.
WHITEHALL,Feb. 19th 1835.
I will give immediate directions for the preparation of the Warrant settling the Pension on Mrs Airy—the effect of which will be, as you suppose, to grant the Pension to her for her life. I assure you I never gave an official order, which was accompanied with more satisfaction to myself than this.
I have the honor to be, Sir.Your faithful Servant,ROBERT PEEL.
Mr Professor Airy,&c., &c.,Cambridge.
* * * * *
"On March 18th 1835 I started (meeting Sheepshanks at Kingstown) for Ireland. We visited Dublin Observatory, and then went direct to Markree near Sligo, to see Mr Cooper's telescope (our principal object). We passed on our return by Enniskillen and Ballyjamesduff, where my former pupil P. Morton was living, and returned on Apr. 3rd.—On Apr. 20th I was elected to the Royal Society, Edinburgh.—Apr. 22nd my wife wrote me from Edensor that her sister Florence was very ill: she died shortly after.—On May 4th I began lectures and finished on May 29th: there were 58 names.—My former pupil Guest asks my interest for the Recordership of Birmingham.—In June was circulated the Syndicate Report on the Observatory.—The date of the Preface to the 1834 Observations is June 16th.
"The Ministry had been again changed in the spring, and the Whigs were again in power. On June 11th Lord Auckland, who was again First Lord of the Admiralty (as last year), again wrote to me to offer me the office of Astronomer Royal, or to request my suggestions on the filling up of the office. On June 15th I wrote my first reply, and on June 17th wrote to accept it. On June 18th Lord Auckland acknowledges, and on June 22nd the King approved. Lord Auckland appointed to see me on Friday, June 23rd, but I was unwell. I had various correspondence with Lord Auckland, principally about buildings, and had an appointment with him for August 13th. As Lord Auckland was just quitting office, to go to India, I was introduced to Mr Charles Wood, the Secretary of the Admiralty, with whom principally the subsequent business was transacted. At this meeting Lord Auckland and Mr Wood expressed their feeling, that the Observatory had fallen into such a state of disrepute that the whole establishment ought to be cleared out. I represented that I could make it efficient with a good First Assistant; and the other Assistants were kept. But the establishment was in a queer state. The Royal Warrant under the Sign Manual was sent on August 11th. It was understood that my occupation of office would commence on October 1st, but repairs and alterations of buildings would make it impossible for me to reside at Greenwich before the end of the year. On Oct. 1st I went to the Observatory, and entered formally upon the office (though not residing for some time). Oct 7th is the date of my Official Instructions.
"I had made it a condition of accepting the office that the then First Assistant should be removed, and accordingly I had the charge of seeking another. I determined to have a man who had taken a respectable Cambridge degree. I made enquiry first of Mr Bowstead (brother to the bishop) and Mr Steventon: at length, consulting Mr Hopkins (a well-known private tutor at Cambridge), he recommended to me Mr Robert Main, of Queens' College, with whom I corresponded in the month (principally) of August, and whom on August 30th I nominated to the Admiralty. On Oct. 21st F.W. Simms, one of the Assistants (who apparently had hoped for the office of First Assistant, for which he was quite incompetent) resigned; and on Dec. 4th I appointed in his place Mr James Glaisher, who had been at Cambridge from the beginning of 1833, and on Dec. 10th the Admiralty approved.
"During this quarter of a year I was residing at Cambridge Observatory, visiting Greenwich once a week (at least for some time), the immediate superintendence of the Observatory being placed with Mr Main. I was however engaged in reforming the system of the Greenwich Observatory, and prepared and printed 30 skeleton forms for reductions of observations and other business. On Dec. 14th I resigned my Professorship to the Vice-Chancellor. But I continued the reduction of the observations, so that not a single figure was left to my successor: the last observations were those of Halley's Comet. The Preface to my 1835 Cambridge Observations is dated Aug. 22nd, 1836.