Chapter I: FRY (6)

The weeping willow, _salix Babylonica_, a native of the Levant, was not cultivated in this country till 1730. This tree, with its long, slender, pendulous branches, is one of the most elegant ornaments of English scenery. The situation which it affects, also, on the margins of brooks or rivers, increases its beauty; like Narcissus, it often seems to bend over the water for the purpose of admiring the reflection:--

------“Shadowy trees, that lean
So elegantly o’er the water’s brim.”

There is a fine weeping willow in a garden near the Paddington end of the New Road, and a most magnificent one, also, in a garden on the banks of the Thames, just before Richmond-bridge, on the Richmond side of the river. Several of the arms of this tree are so large, that one of them would in itself form a fine tree. They are propped by a number of stout poles; and the tree appears in a flourishing condition. If that tree be, as it is said, no more than ninety-five years old, the quickness of its growth is indeed astonishing.

Martyn relates an interesting anecdote, which he gives on the authority of the _St. James’s Chronicle_, for August, 1801:

“The famous and admired weeping willow planted by Pope, which has lately been felled to the ground, came from Spain, enclosing a present for lady Suffolk. Mr. Pope was in company when the covering was taken off; he observed that the pieces of stick appeared as if they had some vegetation; and added, ‘Perhaps they may produce something we have not in England.’ Under this idea, he planted it in his garden, and it produced the willow-tree that has given birth to so many others.” It is said, that the destruction of this tree was caused by the eager curiosity of the admirers of the poet, who, by their numbers, so disturbed the quiet and fatigued the patience of the possessor, with applications to be permitted to see this precious relic, that to put an end to the trouble at once and for ever, she gave orders that it should be felled to the ground.

The weeping willow, in addition to the pensive, drooping appearance of its branches, weeps little drops of water, which stand like fallen tears upon the leaves. It will grow in any but a dry soil, but most delights, and best thrives, in the immediate neighbourhood of water. The willow, in poetical language, commonly introduces a stream, or a forsaken lover:--

“We pass a gulph, in which the willows dip
Their pendent boughs, stooping as if to drink.”

_Cowper._

Chatterton describes

“The willow, shadowing the bubbling brook.”

Churchill mentions, among other trees

“The willow weeping o’er the fatal wave,
Where many a lover finds a watery grave;
The cypress, sacred held when lovers mourn
Their true love snatched away.”

Besides Shakspeare’s beautiful mention of the willow on the death of Ophelia, and notices of it by various other poets, there are several songs in which despairing lovers call upon the willow-tree:--

“Ah, willow! willow
The willow shall be
A garland for me,
Ah, willow! willow!”

Chatterton has one, of which the burthen runs--

“Mie love ys dedde,
Gon to hys deathe-bedde,
Al under the wyllowe tree.”

In the “Two Noble Kinsmen,” said to have been written by Shakspeare and Fletcher, a young girl, who loses her wit with hopeless love for Palamon--

------“Sung
Nothing but ‘Willow! willow! willow!’ and between
Ever was ‘Palamon, fair Palamon!’”

Herrick thus addresses the willow-tree:

“Thou art to all lost love the best,
The only true plant found;
Wherewith young men and maids distrest,
And left of love, are crowned.

“When once the lover’s rose is dead,
Or laid aside forlorn,
Then willow garlands ’bout the head,
Bedewed with tears, are worn.

“When with neglect, the lover’s bane,
Poor maids rewarded be
For their love lost, their only gain
Is but a wreath from thee.

“And underneath thy cooling shade,
When weary of the light,
The love-spent youth and love-sick maid
Come to weep out the night.”

This poet has some lines addressed to a willow garland also:--

“A willow garland thou didst send
Perfumed, last day, to me;
Which did but only this portend,
I was forsook by thee.

“Since it is so, I’ll tell thee what;
To-morrow thou shalt see
Me wear the willow, after that
To die upon the tree.

“As beasts unto the altars go
With garlands dressed, so I
Will with my willow-wreath also
Come forth, and sweetly die.”

The willow seems, from the oldest times, to have been dedicated to grief; under them the children of Israel lamented their captivity:--“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion: we hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.”[239]

The wicker-baskets made by our forefathers are the subject of an epigram by Martial:--

“From Britain’s painted sons I came,
And basket is my barbarous name;
Yet now I am so modish grown,
That Rome would claim me for her own.”

It is worthy to be recollected, that some of the _smallest_ trees known are willows; nay, the smallest tree known, without any exception. The herbaceous willow, _salix herbacea_, is seldom higher than three inches, sometimes not more than two; and yet it is in every respect a tree, notwithstanding the name herbaceous, which, as it has been observed, is inappropriate. Dr. Clarke says, in his “Travels in Norway,” “We soon recognised some of our old Lapland acquaintances, such as _Betula nana_, with its minute leaves, like silver pennies; mountain-birch; and the dwarf alpine species of willow: of which half a dozen trees, with all their branches, leaves, flowers, and roots, might be compressed within two of the pages of a lady’s pocket-book, without coming into contact with each other. After our return to England, specimens of the _salix herbacea_ were given to our friends, which, when framed and glazed, had the appearance of miniature drawings. The author, in collecting them for his herbiary, has frequently compressed twenty of these trees between two of the pages of a duodecimo volume.” Yet in the great northern forests, Dr. Clarke found a species of willow “that would make a splendid ornament in our English shrubberies, owing to its quick growth, and beautiful appearance. It had much more the appearance of an orange than of a willow-tree, its large luxuriant leaves being of the most vivid green colour, splendidly shining. We believed it to be a variety of _salix amygdalina_, but it may be a distinct species: it principally flourishes in Westro Bothnia, and we never saw it elsewhere.”

So much, and more than is here quoted, respecting the willow, has been gathered by the fair authoress of _Sylvan Sketches_.

In conclusion, be it observed, that the common willow is in common language sometimes called the sallow, and under that name it is mentioned by Chaucer:--

“Whoso buildeth his hous all of salowes,
And pricketh his blind hors over the falowes,
And suffreth his wife for to seche hallowes,
He is worthy to be honged on the gallowes.”

_Chaucer._

[239] The Psalms.

~August 10.~

_St. Lawrence_, A. D. 258. _St Deusdedit._ _St. Blaan_, Bp. of
Kinngaradha, A. D. 446.

~St. Lawrence.~

His name stands in the church of England calendar. He suffered martyrdom at Rome, under Valerian. Mr. Audley relates of St. Lawrence, “that being peculiarly obnoxious, the order for his punishment was, ‘Bring out the grate of iron; and when it is _red hot_, _on_ with him, _roast him, broil him, turn him: upon pain of our high displeasure, do every man his office, O ye tormentors_.’ These orders were obeyed, and after _Lawrence_ had been pressed down with fire-forks for a long time, he said to the tyrant, ‘This side is now roasted enough; O tyrant, do you think roasted meat or raw the best?’ Soon after he had said this he expired. The church of _St. Lawrence Jewry_, in London, is dedicated to him, and has a gridiron on the steeple for a vane, that being generally supposed the instrument of his torture. The ingenious Mr. Robinson, in his ‘Ecclesiastical Researches,’ speaking about this saint, says, ‘Philip II. of _Spain_, having won a battle on the 10th of August, the festival of _St. Lawrence_, vowed to consecrate a PALACE, a CHURCH, and a MONASTERY to his honour. He did erect the ESCURIAL, which is the _largest Palace_ in EUROPE. This immense quarry consists of several courts and quadrangles, all disposed in the shape of a GRIDIRON. The _bars_ form _several_ courts; and the _Royal Family_ occupy the HANDLE.’ ‘_Gridirons_,’ says one, who examined it, ‘are met with in every part of the building. There are _sculptured_ gridirons, _iron_ gridirons, _painted_ gridirons, _marble_ gridirons, &c. &c. There are gridirons _over_ the doors, gridirons in the _yards_, gridirons in the _windows_, gridirons in the _galleries_. Never was an instrument of martyrdom so multiplied, so honoured, so celebrated: and thus much for gridirons.’”[240]

CHRONOLOGY.

On the 10th of August, 1575, Peter Bales, one of our earliest and most eminent writing-masters, finished a performance which contained the Lord’s prayer, the creed, the decalogue, with two short prayers in Latin, his own name, motto, the day of the month, year of our Lord, and reign of the queen, (Elizabeth,) to whom he afterwards presented it at Hampton-court, all within the circle of a single penny, enchased in a ring with borders of gold, and covered with a crystal, so accurately wrought, as to be plainly legible, to the great admiration of her majesty, her ministers, and several ambassadors at court.

In 1590, Bales kept a school at the upper end of the Old Bailey, and the same year published his “Writing School-Master.” In 1595, he had a trial of skill in writing with a Mr. Daniel (David) Johnson, for a “golden pen” of £20 value, and won it. Upon this victory, his contemporary and rival in penmanship, John Davies, made a satirical, ill-natured epigram, intimating that penury continually compelled Bales to remove himself and his “golden pen,” to elude the pursuit of his creditors. The particulars of the contest for the pen, supposed to be written by Bales himself, are in the British Museum, dated January 1, 1596.

So much concerning Peter Bales is derived from the late Mr. Butler’s “Chronological Exercises,” an excellent arrangement of biographical, historical, and miscellaneous facts for the daily use of young ladies.

Peter Bales according to Mr. D’Israeli, “astonished the eyes of beholders by showing them what they could not see.” He cites a narrative, among the Harleian MSS., of “a rare piece of work brought to pass by Peter Bales, an Englishman, and a clerk of the chancery.” Mr. D’Israeli presumes this to have been the whole Bible, “in an English walnut no bigger than a hen’s egg. The nut holdeth the book: there are as many leaves in his little book as the great Bible, and he hath written as much in one of his little leaves, as a great leaf of the Bible.” This wonderfully unreadable copy of the Bible was “seen by many thousands.”

Peter Huet, the celebrated bishop of Avranches, long doubted the story of an eminent writing-master having comprised “the Iliad in a nut-shell,” but, after trifling half an hour in examining the matter, he thought it possible. One day, in company at the dauphin’s, with a piece of paper and a common pen, he demonstrated, that a piece of vellum, about ten inches in length, and eight in width, pliant and firm, can be folded up and enclosed in the shell of a large walnut; that in breadth it can contain one line of thirty verses, perfectly written with a crow-quill, and in length two hundred and fifty lines; that one side will then contain seven thousand five hundred verses, the other side as much, and that therefore the piece of vellum will hold the whole fifteen thousand verses of the Iliad.

The writing match between Peter Bales and David Johnson, mentioned by Mr. Butler, “was only traditionally known, till, with my own eyes,” says Mr. D’Israeli, “I pondered on this whole trial of skill in the precious manuscript of the champion himself; who, like Cæsar, not only knew how to win victories, but also to record them.” Johnson for a whole year gave a public challenge, “To any one who should take exceptions to this my writing and teaching.” Bales was magnanimously silent, till he discovered that since this challenge was proclaimed, he “was doing much less in writing and teaching.” Bales then sent forth a challenge, “To all Englishmen and strangers,” to write for a gold pen of twenty pounds value, in all kinds of hands, “best, straightest, and fastest,” and most kind of ways; “a full, a mean, a small, with line and without line; in a slow-set hand, a mean facile hand, and a fast running hand;” and further, “to write truest and speediest, most secretary and clerk-like, from a man’s mouth, reading or pronouncing, either English or Latin.” Within an hour, Johnson, though a young friend of Bales, accepted the challenge, and accused the veteran of arrogance. “Such an absolute challenge,” says he, “was never witnessed by man, without exception of any in the world!” Johnson, a few days after, met Bales, and showed him a piece of “secretary’s hand,” which he had written on fine parchment, and said, “Mr. Bales, give me one shilling out of your purse, and, if within six months you better or equal this piece of writing, I will give you forty pounds for it.” Bales accepted the shilling, and the parties were thereby bound over to the trial of skill. The day before it took place, a printed paper posted through the city taunted Bales’s “proud poverty,” and his pecuniary motives as “ungentle, base, and mercenary, not answerable to the dignity of the golden pen!” Johnson declared that he would maintain his challenge for a thousand pounds more, but that Bales was unable to make good a thousand groats. Bales retorted by affirming the paper a sign of his rival’s weakness, “yet who so bold,” says Bales, “as blind Bayard, that hath not a word of Latin to cast at a dog, or say ‘Bo!’ to a goose!” The goose was mentioned perhaps, in allusion to Michaelmas-day 1595, when the trial commenced before five judges; an “ancient gentleman” was intrusted with “the golden pen.” The first trial was for the manner of teaching scholars; this terminated in favour of Bales. The second, for secretary and clerk-like writing, dictated in English and in Latin, was also awarded to Bales; Johnson confessing that he wanted the Latin tongue, and was no clerk. On the third and last trial, for fair writing in sundry kinds of hands, Johnson prevailed in beauty and most “authentic proportion,” and for superior variety of the Roman hand; but in court-hand, and set-text, Bales exceeded, and in bastard secretary was somewhat perfecter than Johnson. For a finishing blow, Bales drew forth his “master-piece,” and, offering to forego his previous advantages if Johnson could better this specimen, his antagonist was struck dumb. In compassion to the youth of Johnson, some of the judges urged the others not to give judgment in public. Bales remonstrated against a private decision in vain, but he obtained the verdict and secured the prize. Johnson, however, reported that _he_ had won the golden pen, and issued an “Appeal to all impartial Penmen,” wherein he affirmed, that the judges, though his own friends, and honest gentlemen, were unskilled in judging of most hands, and again offered forty pounds to be allowed six months to equal Bales’s “master-piece.” Finally, he alleged, that the judges did not deny that Bales possessed himself of the golden pen by a trick: he relates, that Bales having pretended that his wife was in extreme sickness, he desired that she might have a sight of the golden pen, to comfort her, that the “ancient gentleman,” relying upon the kind husband’s word, allowed the golden pen to be carried to her, and that thereupon Bales immediately pawned it, and afterwards, to make sure work, sold it at a great loss, so that the judges, ashamed of their own conduct, were compelled to give such a verdict as suited the occasion. Bales rejoined, by publishing to the universe the day and hour when the judges brought the golden pen to his house, and painted it with a hand over his door for a sign.[241] This is shortly the history of a long contest, which, if it has not been paralleled in our own time, we have been reminded of by the open challenges of living calligraphers.

~John Flamsteed.~

On the 10th of August, 1675, the foundation stone of the Royal Observatory, for watching and noting the motions of the celestial bodies, was laid on the hill where it now stands, in Greenwich Park. The edifice was erected by order of king Charles II., at the instance of sir Jonas Moor, under the direction of sir Christopher Wren; and it is worthy of record here, that the celebrated Flamsteed, constructed a “Scheme of the Heavens,” at the very minute when the foundation stone was laid. It has never appeared in any work, and as the public are wholly unacquainted with its existence, it is subjoined exactly as Flamsteed drew it with his own hand.

P. M. lat. 51°. 28´. 10´´.

Observatorii fund. posita. ab

J. F.

Risum tene atigamite.]

“Few men rightly temper with the stars.”--_Shakspeare._

Flamsteed was the first astronomer-royal, and from him the Observatory at Greenwich derives its popular name, “Flamsteed-house.” His “Scheme of the Heavens,” may be found there in a folio vellum-bound manuscript on the second page. Opposite to it, also drawn by himself, with great exactness, and signed by his own name within it, is a ground plan of the Observatory. On the following, being the fourth page, is a list of “Angles, betwixt eminent places observed with the sextant in the months of February and March, 1679--80.” The remainder of the book consists of about one hundred and seventy pages of “Observations,” also in Flamsteed’s hand-writing. Whatever astrological judgement he may have exercised upon the positions of the stars in his horoscope, he has not left his opinion in writing; but the circumstance of his having been at some pains to ascertain and set them down among his other “Observations,” may be taken as presumptive that this great astronomer practised astrology.

In another folio manuscript in calf binding, containing also one hundred and thirty-two pages of his “Observations,” there is a document of more general importance; namely, a series of notices or memoranda also in his own hand-writing of circumstances in his life which he deemed most worthy of committing to paper. The most curious portion of this labour relates to a difference which is well known to have existed between himself, and sir Isaac Newton. The whole of these memoirs, with the astrological scheme, a scientific gentleman was permitted by Dr. Maskelyne, the late astronomer-royal, to transcribe from the MSS. at the Observatory. Until now, they have been unprinted, and having been obligingly communicated to the Editor of the _Every-Day Book_, the latter conceives that the public will be gratified by their perusal, and therefore preserves them in the pages of this work without comment. Without any view of detracting sir Isaac Newton, or Mr. Flamsteed, by their publication, he offers the singular statements as Flamsteed wrote them. His birth is stated at their commencement; he died at Greenwich, on the 31st of December 1719.

~Memoirs of Mr. John Flamsteed, by himself.~

I was borne At Denby, 5 miles from Derby, August 19, 1646--my father having removed his family thither because the Sickness was then in Derby.

Educated in the free school at Derby till 16 years old.

At 14 years of Age 1660, Got a great cold--was followed by 5 years sickness--a Consumption.

Recovered, by God’s blessing, on a journey into Ireland 1665, in the months of August and Sept.

Began to study Mathematics in 1662. The first book I read was Sacrobusco de Sphæra, which I turned into English.

In 1665 Calculated Eclipses and the planets, places from Street’s Caroline tables, and wrote my Treatise of the æquation of Days.

In 1666 observed the Eclipse of y^{e} Sun.

In 1669 observed a Solar Eclipse and some appulses, and presented the prædictions of more for the year 1670 to the R. S.[242] this brought on a Correspondence with Mr. Oldenburg--Collins.

Mr. Oldenburg’s first letter to me is dated Jan. 14. 1669-70.

Mr. Collins 2^{o} Feb. 3. 1669-70.

My Predn. of Appulses 1670, printed in y^{e} Ph. Tr. No. 55 for Jan. 1669-70.

Mr. N’s.[243] The. of light and Colors, 80. Feb. 19. 1671-2.

I was in London after Whitsuntide 1670; came acquainted with Sir. Jo. Moor; bought telescope glasses, and had Mr. Townly’s Micrometer presented to me by Sir Jonas Moor.

Set a Pole up to raise my glasses, March 21, 1671, at Derby.

Began to measure distances in the heavens, Octo. 17, 1672.

Continued them there till Jan. 1673/4.

1672. Sept. Observed ♂--deduced his parellax from the Observations ═ to his diameter.

1674. May the 2d. came to London.

29, went to Cambridge.

June the 5th. My degree.

July 13, returned to London.

Aug. 13, left London.

29, Got to Derby.

1674. First acquaintance with Sir I. N. at Cambridge, occasioned by my fixing there the Microscope, which he could not; the object glass being forgot by him.

1675. feb. 2. Came to London Again.

Mar. 4. Warrant for my Sallary.

Sieur de St. Piex proposes to find the Longitude by Observations of the D^{s}. * * * Letters hereon.[244]

1675. June 22. Warrant dated for building the Royl. Observatory.

♀ August 10. foundation layd.

1676. July 10. entred into it to inhabit w^{th} T. Smith, and Cutler Denton Servant.

Sept. 19. began to measure distances in the heavens w^{th} the sextant.

76. Sir Jonas Moor gave me the sextant, some books, and glasses, with charge to dispose of them by my Will: all the other instruments and tubes provided at my own charge.

1679. Aug. 17. Sir Jonas Moor died. His Sonn Sir J. M. thrown from his horse, died.

1680. Made the _Voluble_ [?] Quadrant at my own Charge.

1680. Dec. 12. ☉ first saw and observed y^{e} great Comet; observed it till Feb. 5, (80-81.)

1680. Mr. Newton’s first Letter to me about the Comet.

81. Imparted my observations of the Comet with y^{e} may [be] derived from them.

85 or 86. gave him[245] the diameters of the planets in all Positions of the earth, and them in their orbits: got it back with much difficulty after 2 years detention.

He disputed against the comets of Nov. and Dec. being the same, in 2 long letters in Feb. and March 81^{o}; now, in 85, he owned they might be so as I had asserted, and slightly mentioned me as _disputing_ for their being the same as in y^{e} 4th book of his principles; whereas I affirmed it, and himself disputed against it.

1687. his principles published: little notice taken of her Ma^{ties.} Observatory.

1688 & 9. made the New large Arch and Staff * * * Sharp.

89. Began my observations of the * *s distances from our vertex with it.

Sept. 12. ☿ & 13 ♃^{s} got the Clock removed by Nov. 15 ♀:

89. Dec. 10. first observation of the ☽’s place compared with my lunar Tables in y^{e} 4th book of calculations, pag. 5.

After this I observed the ☾ and planets frequently w^{th} the New Arch; examined the lunar observations, commonly the morning after they were got, and compared them with my Tables, till April, 1692, whereby I saw the faults of the Tables sometimes were near one-third of a degree.

1694. Sept. 1 ♄ Mr. Newton come to visit me; I shewed him these Collations drawn up in 3 large Synopses, and on his request gave him copys of them, he promising me not to impart or communicate them to any body; this promise I required of him because, as I then told him, I made use of some places of the fixed Stars which I had derived from observations made with the Sextant, which were not so exact as those taken with the Murall Arch; that I had now gotten a good stock of observations of the fixed * *s, should make a larger and much exacter Catalogue, that the ☾’s observed places should be derived from the places of the stars in my New Catalogue, and then I would impart them to him, which he approved, and by a Letter of his dated confest.

Nevertheless he imparted what he derived from them both to Dr. Gregory and Mr. H:[246] _contra datam fidem_.

After he had got the 3 Synopses of ☽’s observations to him he desired more of them, and this caused an Intercourse of letters betwixt us, wherein I imparted to him about 100 more of y^{e} ☽ places, but finding this took up much time, and being now entered in my Rectification of the places of the fixed stars, and very busy in it, I was forced to leave off my correspondence w^{th} him at that time, having found that his corrections of my numbers still gave y^{e} Moon’s places 8 or 9 minutes erroneous, tho’ Dr. G. and Dr. Halley had boasted they would agree w^{th} in 2´ or 3´--I was ill of the stone very oft and had [_illegible_] y^{e} head ach till Sept. _when_ freed of it by a violent fit of y^{e} stone and my usuall medicine--_Deo Laus_.

1695 or 1696. Sir I. N.[247] being made an Officer in the Mint came to London. I sometimes visited him there or at his own house in Jermin Street: we continued civil, but he was not so friendly as formerly, because I could

Mr. H. and Dr. G. assertions concerning his corrections of y^{e} Horroccian lunar theorys.

1696. A Correspondence begun w^{th} Mr. Bosseley an Apothecary of Bakewell in Derbyshire and Mr. Luke Leigh a poor Kinsman of Mr. Halleys of the same clan, and myself. Mr. Bosseley wanted observation for correcting the planets places I furnished him, and set him on ♄ and ♃.

Mr. Leigh I hired to calculate the places of the fixed Stars from their Right Ascentions and distances from the Northern Pole determined by myself.

1696. Dec. 11 I received from him the places of the Stars in the Constellations of ♊ ♋ and ♌, which whilst he had been doing the same, were done by my then servant Mr. Hodgson in y^{e} Observatory, so that I easily found the errors of either and corrected them.

♍ ♎ ♏ ♐ I rec^{d} Jan. 22. 1696

♑ ♒ ♓ -------- Mar. 27. 1697

♈ & ♉ -------- Jan. 16. 1697

Cetus }
Eridanus }
Lupus } Jan. 10 1698-9
Canis Maj. }
Canis Min. }
Navis }

Orion }
Hydra } Aug. 19. 1699
Cratera }
Corvus }

Serpens }
Serpentarius }
Aquila cum Antinoo }
Sagitta } July 25. 1700
Delphinos }
Equuleus }
Pegasus }
Triangulum }

Andromeda }
Perseus }
Auriga }
Coma Beren. } Jan. 5. ♃ 1701
Bootes }
Corona Borea }
Hercules }
Lyra & Cygnus }

Cassiopeia and Cepheus Apr. 26. 1701

The Stars in Hevelius his Sextant and Monsceros. y^{e} Linx, Camelopardalus, Canes, Vanatici, were calculated afterwards in 1705. 6. 7. 8 by my servants, J. Woolferman and J. Crosthwaite, and the Constellations of Hercules and Cassiopeia enlarged with y^{e} addition of many Stars observed in the years 1705. 6. 7. 8. by them and Mr. Ab. Ryley.

In the mean time as often as I met with Sir I. N. he was very inquisitive how the Catalogues went on, I answered as it stood; and when he came here commonly shewed him how it stood in my books, not suspecting any design, but hoping he might serve me as kindly as I had assisted him freely with my pains when he desired me.

1698. At Michælmas was at Derby and Bakewell.

1697-8. Feb. 6, y^{e} CZAR first came to Greenwich.

1704. April 11. ♂ Mr. Newton came to the Observat^{y} dined with me, saw the Volumes of Observations, so much of the Catalogue as was then finished, with the Charts of the Constellations both J. W’s[248] and those copied by Vansomer: desired to have the recommending of them to y^{e} Prince: I knew his temper, that he would be my fr. no further than to serve his own ends, and that he was spitefull and swayed by those that were worse than himself; this made me refuse him: however, when he went away he promised me he would recommend them, tho he never intended me any good by it, but to get me under him, that I might be obliged to boy him up as E H[249] has done hitherto.

1704. Nov. 8. Wrote the Estimate, which was read without my knowledge at the R. S. The Members thought it ought to be recommended to the Prince; the President joynd with them, a Committee was appointed to attend his R. H. even without acquainting me with it, an estimate of the charges drawn up without my knowledge: the Prince allows it--Mr. N. says [_illegible_.]

He concludes me now in his power, does all he can to hinder the work, or spoyls it by encouraging the printers to commit faults.

We must print the Observations, tho I had shewed in my printed Æstimate, that for very good reasons the Charts of the Constellations ought first to be set upon.

Mr. N. told me he hoped I would give a Note under my hand of security for the Prince’s Money; this I knew was to oblige me to be his slave: I answered that I had, God be thanked, some estate of my own which I hoped to leave for my wife’s support, to her during her life, to my own Relations after; that therefore I would not cumber my own estate with imprests or securitys, but if they would please to take his R^{l.} H^{s.} moneys into their hands I would sign the workmen’s bill to them, whereby they would see if they were reasonable at the same time.

I was told I should have all the printed copys save what his R. H. should have to present to the Universitys.

And Mr. N. granted that since I refused to handle any of his R. H. money there was _no need of securitys_ or Articles--Nevertheless----

* * *

The preceding are all the memoranda by Mr. Flamsteed respecting himself: he breaks off with the word “Nevertheless.”

* * * * *

To conclude this article a fac-simile is added of Mr. Flamsteed’s autograph from his copy of “Streete’s Caroline Tables,” mentioned in the preceding memoir, and now in the possession of the Editor of the _Every-Day Book_. It is to a memorandum made in that book by Mr. Flamsteed, in these words:--

“The greatest declination of y^{e} sun is not more y^{n} 23°. 29′. 00 his horizontall parallax but 10 seconds; the semidiameters of y^{e} Sunn in the Caroline tables less y^{n} they ought to be by 12 seconds.”

* * * * *

FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Common Balsam. _Impatiens balsama._
Dedicated to _St. Lawrence_.

[240] Companion to the Almanac.

[241] Mr. D’Israeli’s Curiosities of Literature.

[242] [Royal Society.]

[243] [Newton’s Theory.]

[244] [Distances of the stars?]

[245] [Sir Isaac Newton.]

[246] [Halley]

[247] [Sir Isaac Newton]

[248] [J. Woolferman, _Aut._]

[249] [Dr. Edmund Halley.]

~August 11.~

_Sts. Tiburtius_ and _Chromatius_, A. D. 286. _St. Susanna_, 3rd
Cent. _St. Gery_, or _Gaugericus_, Bp. A. D. 619. _St. Equitius_, A.
D. 540.

The dog-days end on this day. This period in the year 1825, was remarkable for longer absence of rain and greater heat than usual. It was further remarkable for numerous conflagrations, especially in the metropolis and its environs.

THE SEASON.

Dr. Forster in his _Perennial Calendar_, observes, that the gentle refreshing breezes by day, and the delicious calms by night, at this time of year, draw a vast concourse of persons of leisure to the shores of Great Britain and France in the months of August and September. There is perhaps no period of the year when the seaside is more agreeable. Bathing, sailing, and other marine recreations, are at no time better suited to beguile the hours of the warm summer day than at present; and the peculiar stillness of a seaside evening scene, by moonlight, is now to be enjoyed in perfection, as Cynthia begins to ascend higher in her car after the termination of the nightless summer solstice, and when the unremitted heat of the dog-days at length gives place to the more refreshing dews of a longer period of nocturnal coolness. The peculiar beauties of a sea-scene by night are thus described by a cotemporary poet:--

The sky was clear and the breeze was still,
The air was soft and the night was fine,
And all was hush save the tinkling rill,
While the moonbeams played on the sparkling brine;
Scylla had pulled off her glacous vest,
No longer responsive to whirlwinds’ roar,
But in white flowing silvery mantle drest,
With silken shoons danced along the shore.

But the imagery of a calm sea is more poetically described by Milton, perhaps, than by any other author when he tells us:--

That not a blast was from his dungeon strayed,
The air was calm, and on the level brine
Sleek Panope with all her sisters played.

* * * * *

The swift, _hirundo apus_, is missed, says Dr. Forster, in its usual haunts about this time. The great body of these birds migrate at once, so that we are struck with their absence about the old steeples of churches and other edifices which they usually inhabit, and from whence they sally forth on rapid wings each morning and evening in search of food, wheeling round and round, and uttering a very loud piercing and peculiar cry, wherefore they are called squeakers. For the last month past, these birds may have been seen flying in lofty gyrations in the air, and seemingly exercising their wings and preparing for their aërial voyage. It is not precisely ascertained to what countries they go when they leave Europe.

* * * * *

Insects, says Dr. Forster, still continue to swarm and to sport in the sun from flower to flower. It is very amusing to observe, in the bright sun of an August morning, the animation and delight of some of the lepidopterous insects. That beautiful little blue butterfly, _papilio argus_, is then all life and activity, flitting from flower to flower in the grass with remarkable vivacity: there seems to be a constant rivalship and contention between this beauty, and the not less elegant little beau, _papilio phlœas_. Frequenting the same station, attached to the same head of clover, or of harebell, whenever they approach, mutual animosity seems to possess them; and darting on each other with courageous rapidity, they buffet and contend until one is driven from the field, or to a considerable distance from his station, perhaps many hundred yards, when the victor returns to his post in triumph; and this contention is renewed, as long as the brilliancy of the sun animates their courage. When the beautiful evening of this season arrives, we again see the bat:--

The bat begins with giddy wing
His circuit round the shed and tree;
And clouds of dancing gnats to sing
A summer night’s serenity.

* * * * *

FLORAL DIRECTORY.

China Aster. _Aster Chinensis._
Dedicated to _St. Susanna_.

~August 12.~

_St. Clare_, Abbess, A. D. 1253. _St. Euplius_, A. D. 304. _St.
Muredach_, First Bp. of Killala, A. D. 440.

CHRONOLOGY.

King George IV. was born on the 12th of August, 1762; but the anniversary is kept on St. George’s-day, the 23d of April.

~Twelfth of August.~

_To the Editor of the Every-Day Book._

THE HUMBLE PETITION OF AN UNFORTUNATE DAY.

Sir,

I am a poor wronged _Day_. I appeal to you as the general patron of the family of the _Days_. The candour with which you attended to the expostulations of a poor relative of ours--a sort of cousin thrice removed[250]--encourages me to hope that you will listen to the complaint of a _Day_ of rather more consequence. I am the _Day_, Sir, upon which it pleased the course of nature that your gracious Sovereign should be born. As such, before his Accession, I was always observed and honoured. But since that happy event, in which naturally none had a greater interest than myself, a flaw has been discovered in my title. My lustre has been eclipsed, and--to use the words of one of your own poets,--

“I fade into the light of common _day_.”

It seems, that about that time, an Impostor crept into Court, who has the effrontery to usurp my honours, and to style herself the _King’s-birth-Day_, upon some shallow pretence that, being _St. George’s-Day_, she must needs be _King-George’s-Day_ also. _All-Saints-Day_ we have heard of, and _All-Souls-Day_ we are willing to admit; but does it follow that this foolish _Twenty-third of April_ must be _All-George’s-Day_, and enjoy a monopoly of the whole name from George of Cappadocia to George of Leyden, and from George-a-Green down to George Dyer?

It looks a little oddly that I was discarded not long after the dismission of a set of men and measures, with whom I have nothing in common. I hope no whisperer has insinuated into the ears of Royalty, as if I were any thing Whiggishly inclined, when, in my heart, I abhor all these kind of Revolutions, by which I am sure to be the greatest sufferer.

I wonder my shameless Rival can have the face to let the Tower and Park Guns proclaim so many big thundering fibs as they do, upon her Anniversary--making your Sovereign too to be older than he is, by an hundred and odd _days_, which is no great compliment one would think. Consider if this precedent for ante-dating of Births should become general, what confusion it must make in Parish Registers; what crowds of young heirs we should have coming of age before they are one-and-twenty, with numberless similar grievances. If these chops and changes are suffered, we shall have _Lord-Mayor’s-Day_ eating her custard unauthentically in May, and _Guy Faux_ preposterously blazing twice over in the Dog-_days_.

I humbly submit, that it is not within the prerogatives of Royalty itself, to be born twice over. We have read of the supposititious births of Princes, but where are the evidences of this first Birth? why are not the nurses in attendance, the midwife, &c. produced?--the silly story has not so much as a Warming Pan to support it.

My legal advisers, to comfort me, tell me that I have the right on my side; that I am the true Birth-_Day_, and the other _Day_ is only kept. But what consolation is this to me, as long as this naughty-_kept creature_ keeps me out of my dues and privileges?

Pray take my unfortunate case into your consideration, and see that I am restored to my lawful Rejoicings, Firings, Bon-Firings, Illuminations, &c.

And your Petitioner shall ever pray,

_Twelfth Day of August_

* * * * *

THE EDITOR’S ANSWER.

Madam,

You mistake my situation: I am not the “patron,” but a poor servant of the _Days_--engaged to attend their goings out and comings in, and to teach people to pay proper respect to them. Mine is no trifling post, Madam; for without disrespect to you, many of your ancient family were spoiled long ago, by silly persons having taken undue notice of them; and in virtue of my office, I am a sort of judge in their court of claims, without authority to enforce obedience to my opinions. However, I shall continue to do my duty to the _Days_, and to their friends, many of whom are mere hangers-on, and, in spite of their pretended regard, grossly abuse them:--but this only verifies the old saying, “Too much familiarity breeds contempt:” such liberties must not be allowed, nor must the antiquity of the _Days_ be too much insisted on. It is said, “there’s reason in every thing,” but there’s very little in some of the OLD _Days_--excuse me, Madam, _you_ are a _young_ one; and I have something to excuse in you, which I readily do, on account of your inexperience, and of your bringing up.

That you are “the _King’s-birth-Day_” is undisputed: you are stated so to be in the almanac; as witness this line in _August_, 1825:--

“12. F. ~K. Geo.~ IV. ~b.~”

Can any thing be plainer than the ~b.~ or more certain than that it stands for ~born~? So much then for your rank in the _Day_ family, and at Court, where you are acknowledged, and received as the birth-_Day_ once a year, and “kept” as well as His Majesty _can_ keep you. A king represents the majesty of the public welfare, and maintains the dignity of the throne whereon he is placed by promoting the interests of the people. His present Majesty regards your, and their, and his own, interest by remembering you, when you are not entitled to especial recollection with another day in the almanac, and this remembrance stands in April 1825, thus--

23. S. ~St. Geo. K. b. d. k.~

St. George’s-Day does not _supersede_ you; it is not called the _King’s-birth-Day_; the almanac by ~K. b. d. k.~ denotes that you, the _King’s-birth-Day_, are kept with all the honours due to your _August_ quality on _St. George’s-Day_. If it had not “pleased the course of nature,” you would only have been distinguished as the first _Day_ after the _Day_ whereon the almanac says “Dog-_Days end_”--a fine distinction!

“It looks a little oddly” you say that you should have been “discarded not long after the dismission of a set of men and measures with whom _you_ have nothing in common;” and you “hope,” that “no whisperer has insinuated” that you are “whiggishly inclined.” Allow me to tell you, Madam, that if the family of the _Days_ had not been “whiggishly inclined” in the year 1688, you might still have been a “common _Day_.” I know not how you incline now, and it is of very little consequence; for all “parties” are busy in promoting the happiness of the commonwealth, and I hope, in my lifetime at least, that no _Day_ will be dishonoured by dissensions about trifles at home, or war upon any pretence abroad. And now, Madam, after this indispensable notice of your little flaunt, let me add, that the prorogation of parliament during that season when “in the course of nature” you arrive, and the king’s attention to the manufacturing and trading of the country, are obvious reasons for keeping the _King’s-birth-Day_, in customary splendour on the 23d _Day_ of April, instead of the 12th _Day_ of August. You are honoured again in your own season at the palace; and your complaint amounts to no more than this, that having received your honours in the presence of a full court circle before you are entitled to them, they are not all repeated to a semicircle:--how childish! Then, you talk about the “ante-dating of births” and “Parish Registers” as if you were the daughter of a parish clerk--remember _yourself_, Madam.

St. George’s-_Day_ has far more cause for vexation than you. The little respect usually paid to _her_ celebration is eclipsed by the uproar of yours. “The Tower and Park guns proclaim so many big thundering fibs upon _her_ anniversary” for _you_; and _you_ call _her_, your elder sister, a “naughty kept creature;” poor thing! How eloquent is her silence compared with your loquacity! how dignified! yet _she_ has _antiquity_ to boast of--the antiquity of many generations, while _you_ at the utmost, are only of sixty-three years standing; indeed, as the KING’S-_birth_-_Day_, you are not halfway to your teens. A quarrel among the _Days_ would be odious; this would be detestable. Happily the _Day_-family is saved from this disgrace by the prudence of your more experienced sister, who will no doubt decline provocation even under your spiteful collocation of George of Leyden with George of Cappadocia--she understands the taunt well enough; and can see through the whimsical association of George-a-Green with George Dyer. The dead George-a-Green no one can harm, and the living George Dyer is as harmless. This is pitiful work, and if you were not the _King’s-birth-Day_ you would be made to suffer for it. “However,” as my friend Dyer would say, “let that pass:” he is a good creature, and maintains his innocence spite of his union--with George-a-Green.

On the presentation of your petition I had some doubt whether I ought to entertain such a petition for a moment; but on reconsideration I doubted whether the justice of the case would not be better answered by dealing with it in another way; and I give you the benefit of that doubt: the petition is dismissed.

THE EDITOR.

* * * * *

FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Great Sowthistle. _Sonchus palustris._
Dedicated to _St. Clare_.

[250] Twenty-ninth _Day_ of February.

~August 13.~

_St. Hippolytas_, A. D. 252. _St. Cassian_. _St. Rudegundes_, queen of
France, A. D. 587. _St. Wigbert_, Abbot, A. D. 747.

~Cats.~

Once upon a time--on or about the 13th of August, 1819; it might have been a few or many days before or after that day, or a month or so before or after that month--the day or month is of less consequence to the reader, than to the editor, who desires to “bring in” an interesting anecdote or two on the 13th day of August. Once upon a time, a cat--it is a fact--for it is in _The Scotsman_ newspaper of the 23d of October, 1819--once upon a time, a cat, belonging to a shipmaster, was left on shore, by accident, when his vessel sailed from the harbour of Aberdour, Fifeshire, which lies about half a mile from the village. The vessel was absent about a month, and, on her return, to the astonishment of the shipmaster, puss came on board with a fine stout kitten in her mouth, apparently about three weeks old, and went directly down to the cabin. Two others of her young were afterwards caught, quite wild, in a neighbouring wood, where she must have remained with them till the return of the vessel. The shipmaster did not allow her again to go on shore, otherwise it is probable she would have brought the whole litter on board. What is more remarkable, vessels were daily entering and leaving the harbour, none of which she ever thought of visiting till the one she had left returned.[251] This extraordinary instance of feline sagacity, on the day before mentioned or imagined, is paralleled by another:--

A lady lately living at Potsdam, when a child of six years, ran a splinter into her foot, sat down upon the floor, and cried most violently. At first her cries were not regarded, as they were considered to be more the effect of a pettish and obstinate temper, than of any great pain which the accident could have occasioned her. At length the elder sister of the child, who had been lying asleep in bed, was roused by her cries, and as she was just about to get out of bed, in order to quiet her sister, she observed a cat, who was a favourite playmate of the children, and otherwise of a very gentle disposition, leave her seat under the stove, go to the crying girl, and having given her with one of her paws so smart a blow upon the cheek as to draw blood, walk back again with the utmost gravity to her place under the stove. As this cat was by no means of a malicious disposition, for she had grown up together with the younger children of the family, and never designedly scratched any of them, it seems that her intention upon this occasion was to chastise the pettish girl, and put an end to her troublesome cries, in order that she might herself be able to finish her morning nap without further interruption.[252]

In the “Orleans Collection” of pictures there was a fine painting of a “_Concert of Cats_,” by F. Breughel, from whence there is a print, among the engravings of that gallery, sufficiently meritorious and whimsical to deserve a place here; and therefore it is represented in the sketch on the present page. In justice, to the justice done to it, Mr. Samuel Williams must be mentioned as the artist who both drew and engraved it. The fixed attention of the feline performers is exceedingly amusing, and by no means unnatural; for it appears by the notes that mice is their theme, and they seem engaged in a _catch_.

Ye rats, in triumph elevate your ears!
Exult, ye mice! for fate’s abhorred shears
Of Dick’s nine lives have slit the cat-guts nine;
Henceforth he mews midst choirs of cats divine!

So sings Mr. Huddesford, in a “Monody on the Death of Dick, an Academical Cat,” with this motto,--

“MI-CAT inter omnes.”

Hor. Carm. Lib. i. Ode 12.

He brings his cat Dick from the Flood, and consequently through Rutterkin, a cat who was “cater-cousin to the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother of Grimalkin, and first cat in the caterie of an old woman, who was tried for bewitching a daughter of the countess of Rutland in the beginning of the sixteenth century.” The monodist connects him with cats of great renown in the annals of witchcraft; a science whereto they have been allied as closely as poor old women, one of whom, it appears, on the authority of an old pamphlet entitled “Newes from Scotland,” &c. printed in the year 1591, “confessed that she took a cat and christened it, &c. and that in the night following, the said cat was conveyed into the middest of the sea by all these witches sayling in their RIDDLES, or CIVES, and so left the said cat right before the towne of Leith in Scotland. This done, there did arise such a tempest at sea as a greater hath not been seen, &c. Againe it is confessed, that the said christened cat was the cause of the kinges majestie’s shippe, at his coming forthe of Denmarke, had a contrarie winde to the rest of the shippes then being in his companie, which thing was most straunge and true, as the kinges majestie acknowledgeth, for when the rest of the shippes had a fair and good winde, then was the winde contrarie, and altogether against his majestie,” &c.

All sorts of cats, according to Huddesford, lamented the death of his favourite, whom he calls “premier cat upon the catalogue,” and who, preferring sprats to all other fish,--

“Had swallow’d down a score without remorse,
And three fat mice slew for a second course,
But, while the third his grinders dyed with gore,
Sudden those grinders clos’d--to grind no more!
And, dire to tell! commissioned by Old Nick,
A catalepsy made an end of DICK.

“Calumnious cats who circulate faux pas,
And reputations maul with murd’rous claws;
Shrill cats whom fierce domestic brawls delight,
Cross cats who nothing want but teeth to bite,
Starch cats of puritanic aspect sad,
And learned cats who talk their husbands mad;
Confounded cats who cough, and croak, and cry,
And maudlin cats who drink eternally;
Fastidious cats who pine for costly cates,
And jealous cats who catechise their mates;
Cat-prudes who, when they’re ask’d the question, squall,
And ne’er give answer categorical;
Uncleanly cats, who never pare their nails,
Cat-gossips full of Canterbury tales,
Cat-grandams vex’d with asthmas and catarrhs,
And superstitious cats who curse their stars;
Cats of each class, craft, calling, and degree
Mourn DICK’S calamitous catastrophe!

“Yet, while I chant the cause of RICHARD’S end,
Ye sympathizing cats, your tears suspend!
Then shed enough to float a dozen whales,
And use, for pocket-handkerchiefs, your tails!--

“Ah! tho’ thy bust adorn no sculptur’d shrine,
No vase thy relics rare to fame consign,
No rev’rend characters thy rank express,
Nor hail thee, DICK! D.D. nor F.R.S.
Tho’ no funereal cypress shade thy tomb
For thee the wreaths of Paradise shall bloom.
There, while GRIMALKIN’S mew her RICHARD greets,
A thousand cats shall purr on purple seats:
E’en now I see, descending from his throne,
Thy venerable cat, O Whittington!
The kindred excellence of RICHARD hail,
And wave with joy his gratulating tail!
There shall the worthies of the whisker’d race
Elysian mice o’er floors of sapphire chase,
Midst beds of aromatic marum stray,
Or raptur’d rove beside the Milky Way.
Kittens, than eastern houris fairer seen,
Whose bright eyes glisten with immortal green,
Shall smooth for tabby swains their yielding fur,
And to their amorous mews assenting purr.--
There, like Alcmena’s, shall GRIMALKIN’S SON
In bliss repose,--his mousing labours done,
Fate, envy, curs, time, tide, and traps defy,
And caterwaul to all eternity.”

_Huddesford._

Cats neither like to be put out of their way, nor to be kept out of their food:--