HISTORY OF PHYSICAL ASTRONOMY.

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being ere long threatened with conflagration also, Horrebow was compelledto remove his effects to the Astronomical Tower . His wife, worn outwith fatigue and anxiety, went in quest of her children, while he, withhis eldest son, stationed himself in the Tower , whence he could perceivehis house falling a prey to the fury of the flames. About four o'clock inthe morning of the 21st of October, the wind having again shifted, thefire began to threaten the Astronomical Tower . By this time the avenueto the superior part of the Tower , where Horrebow had stationed himself,was almost completely blocked up with a multitude of effects which had beendeposited for safety by various persons, so as nearly to prevent his descent.The near approach of the fire now suggested the certain conviction thatthe Tower would speedily become a prey to the flames. The occasion fortaking some decisive step was therefore urgent. Some bedding which hehad thrown out at a window, was immediately taken away by thieves. Hehad now to consider only his personal safety. Before leaving his ownhouse he had searched out some manuscripts and a few engravings, whichhe locked up in a desk, and brought along with him to the Tower . Beinganxious to carry away as much of what was really valuable as he possiblycould, he was desirous of leaving the desk behind him, but amid so muchconfusion he lost the key, so that he was unable to obtain access to themanuscripts which he had locked up in it, and he was in consequence re-duced to the necessity of carrying it bodily along with him. This unfor-tunate circumstance prevented him from carrying away other things ofgreater value. The descent to the bottom of the Tower had now becomeextremely hazardous. Abandoning, therefore, everything except the desk,he hastened down with, it at the risk of his life, and escaped at one of thedoors in a state of mind bordering upon complete distraction. Shortlyafterwards the Tower was enveloped in flames, and all that was containedin it irrecoverably perished !

Horrebow states that he was anxious to record these particulars,lest it should be thought by posterity that the astronomical observationsmade by Boemer and himself had perished through any fault on his part.Doubtless no one who reads his sad tale will be disposed to harbour suchan accusation against him, or to cherish towards him any other feelingthan that of deep commiseration for his irreparable misfortune. Notwith-standing the many valuable articles of his own which perished on thatoccasion, he asserts that there was nothing which he regretted at thetime, or which he still continued to regret, except the loss of these obser-vations. He congratulates himself, however, on having rescued from theflames the fragment of Roemer’s on the Annual Parallax of the Terres-trial Orbit.

We now resume the history of the Royal Observatory of Greenwich .Flamsteed, who was appointed Astronomer Royal, was born at Denby,near Derby, on the 19th of August, 1646. His early predilection forastronomy is evinced by an observation of an eclipse of the sun made byhim in the year 1662, the record of which appears among his MSS. pre-served at Greenwich . He continued to make observations of celestialphenomena at his native place, till the year 1674, when he was induced bya circumstance, to which allusion has already been made, to transfer hisresidence to London. When he entered upon his duties at Greenwich ,he found that the Government had made no provision to enable him toprosecute his observations, by furnishing the establishment with a collec-tion of suitable instruments. The only appliances which he possessed for

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