When Flamstced had completed his catalogue (having already expended 2000/. more than his salary), he began to think of printing his results. But Prince George of Denmark, having heard of the extent of Flamsteed's labours, offered in 1704 to bear the expense of printing. A committee, consisting of Newton, Sir Christopher Wren, Dr. Arbuthnot, Dr. Gregory, and Mn Robartes, 'was appointed to examine Flamsteed's papers, and reported in favour of printing all of them. The superintendence of the printing, the choice of workmen, &c. was in the hands of the committee, and not in those of Flamsteed. The latter gives the details of various vexations to which ha was sub jected, and which ended (for the time) in a demand that Flamsteed should give up a manuscript copy of the catalogue of stars, which was the result of the observations, and was intended to be published at the end. This was done, with remonstrance, by Flatnatccd; but the catalogue (as much of it as was ready) was sealed up ; and Flamsteed declares that he understood it was to be kept sealed up until the whole of the rest was finished. It was three years before the first volume wss printed ; and during this time many small circumstances occurred which, if Flamsteed's colouring of the more important facts be correct, show a most determined intention ou the part of the com mittee to give annoyance. Prince George died in 1708, before the second volume was begun; and the office of the committee was gone ; but they still retained the papers in their keeping. Flamsteed, think ing nothing further about immediate publication, applied himself again to his observations. In March 1710-11, be was surprised by being told that the seal of his catalogue bad been broken, and that it was going through the press. Flamsteed immediately obtained an interview with Dr. Arbuthnot, who assured him that none of it was printed. This was not the fact ; for in a few days Flamsteed himself received several printed sheets, and learned that Halley had publicly exhibited others in a coffee-house, and boasted of the pains he had taken in correcting their errors. The result was, that iu 1712 appeared the book known by the name of Halley, and entitled Historim Ccelestis libri duo,' &c. FIainsteed, exceedingly irritated by the con duct of Newton and Halley, and being not naturally of a gentle temper, now kept no terms whatsoever with either. Newton had recommended the appointment of a board of visitors for the Observa tory (made np of members of the Royal Society), and Flamsteed was summoned to the Royal Society, October 2G, 1711, to know if his instruments (his own property) were in order, &c. Here a warm quarrel arose. Flamsteed declared to Newton that he had been robbed of his labours, and Newton called Flamsteed various names, of which puppy' was the least. Newton reminded Flamsteed that be had received 100/. a year for thirty-six years, and Flamsteed asked Newton what he had done for 500/. a year which he had received since he came to Londoo. Flamsteed charged Newton with having broken the Beal of his catalogue, and Newton replied that he had the queen's order. After this interview, Flamsteed resolved to print all his observations, &c., at his own expense, and applied to Newton for the manuscript of 175 sheets of observations which were in his hands. The demand was refused, aud Flamstced commenced legal proceedings for their recovery. The result of the suit is not known ; but Flaw steed states that Newton at last delivered all the contested manuscript to Halley. The additional expense caused to Flamsteed by this act of Newton was about 200/.
Queen Anne died in 1714, and the earl of Halifax, Newton's great supporter at court, in 1715. Flamsteed was now stronger with the government than his opponents; aud the lords of the treasury, at his request, surrendered all that remained of Halley's edition (about 300 copies out of 400) to his mercy. These he immediately committed (in part) to the flames—a sacrifice, as he calls it, to heavenly truth— reserving only about ninety-seven sheets of each, which had been printed as he wished, and which afterwards formed part of his first volume. From this time to his death, which took place at the end of December 1719, he was occupied in printing his Historia Ccelestis,' which however be did not live to finish. It was completed by his widow, with the aid of Mr. Crosthwait, his assistant, and his friend the celebrated Abraham Sharp, and was published in 1725. The
maps, known by the name of Flamsteed's Atlas, were superintended by the same persons. The Historia Ccelestis Britannica ' contains a complete account of the instruments and the methods employed, together with a large mass of sidereal, lunar, and planetary observa tions, and the result of the former, namely, the British Catalogue. This work seems to us to occupy the same place in practical astronomy which the Principia of Newton holds in the theoretical part.
This very singular story is, as we have already stated, an ex parte one, resting entirely on Flamsteed's authority, supported by such documents as he considered necessary to adduce. Some further evidence however has been brought forward by Sir D. Brewster, which throws considerable light upon the whole transaction, goes some way to exonerate Newton from tho heavier part of the charge, and shows Flamsteed to have been a not very scrupulous adversary.
It will have been observed above, that Flamstecd is represented, in March 1710.11, as having been surprised at learning "that the seal of his catalogue had been broken, and that it was going through the press." Whereas, in a letter to Sharp (May 15, 1711), he writes that he and Newton had met ou March 20, 1707-8, when the second agree ment respecting the printing was signed, "and then Sir Isaac had opened the catalogue and desired me to insert the magnitude of the stars in their places, for they had not always been inserted in it." Again, Flamsteed,, in his autobiography, has given the articles of agreement for the printing of his papers which he proposed, and not those which he signed. After signing the agreement, he began com plaining of the hardness of the bargain ; he also states it was above two months, and in'another, that "it was some months after (March 20, 1708) ere I could get the 125/., and I am apt to think, had it not been for Dr. Arbuthnot, I should never have received it." By the agreement of March 20, the money was to be paid on the re-delivery of the catalogue of stars to Sir Isaac, which was done on that day, and the order of the referees exists, directing the payment, dated March 26, and an order of Flamstecd himself, dated April 10, to pay the money to • Mr. Hodgson, which was done on April 12. The agreement which was actually signed by the parties has not been discovered, but there are three drafts of it by Newton, differing materially from that propounded by Flamsteed. Halley states that it was agreed that the catalogue of stars ahonld accompany the first volume, which Mr. Bally denies. But Flatnsteed himself says, "I signed the articles, but covenanted that the catalogue of the fixed marl mentioned to make a part of the first volume, should not be printed but with the last" In opposition to this, which however admits that the agreement which ha signed provided for the printing of the catalogue in the first volume, there is in Newton's draft a state ment of tho content* of the two volumes, in which tho catalogue of stars stands as the very first item of the first volume. It is also to be observed, that Flamateed made no objection for a considerable time. On the signing of the second agreement, by which he was to receive a payment of 125L, he writes to Mr. Sharp, on April 19, 1708, of this " change in his affairs which it will not be displeasing to him to hear." The payment no doubt was very small for the immense amount of labour, performed also with instruments of his own, and Flamsteed had very sufficient reasons for being discontented, but he seems to have vented his displeasure to a considerable degree on the wrong parties; on the other hand, he was much harassed by the printing committee in urging haste with his calculations, which seems to have been done with as little consideration as if ho had been a railway con tractor employed on an operation requiring nothing but bodily labour.
We have thus endeavoured to present • view of both sides of the question, so that our readers may form their own conclusions. We may add, that among the matters contained in Mr. Baily's preface is a complete refutation of a story derived from • provincial history, that Flainsteed, when very young, was convicted of highway robbery, and that a pardon was found among ids papers. On searching the records, no such pardon is found entered, and various other circumstances make it physically impossible that Flamsteed could have been thus engaged at the time stated.