It appears by Flamsteed's Historia Coelestis, that the Czar paid his first visit on the 6th Feb. 1697-8, opposite to which date Flamsteed has written, Serenissimo PETRUS MOSCOVIE CZARUS, Observatorium primum visum venit, lustratisque instrumentis habitu privato abiit. Aderant secum Bruceus, parentibus Scotis Moscovia natus, legatus militaris; J. Wolfias et Stileus, mercatores Angli. His second visit took place on the 8th March following, on which occasion his Imperial Majesty made a complete observation of Venus; thus recorded, Observante Serenissimo PETRO MOSCOVIE CZARO; proving that he not only saw the planet through the telescope, but made the observation.

It would be ungracious to pass from this subject, without remarking that the Observatory of Greenwich, although left so long unassisted by Government, has, from 1676 (when Flamsteed began his official labours) to the present time, continued to give the astronomical world a series of observations, unequalled for their extent, and unsurpassed by any in accuracy. L'Observatoire de Greenwich, says M. Struve, a doté la science de cette série non interrompue d'observations, qui embrassent actuellement 167 ans, et qui, par rapport aux mouvements du soleil, de la lune et des planètes, et aux positions des étoiles fixés, doivent etre regardées comme la base des nos connaissances astronomiques. Il y a, dans l'histoire de l'observatoire de Greenwich, un point très remarquable, savoir que les astronomes ont travaillé sur un même plan, depuis l'origine de l'établissement jusqu'à l'époque actuelle. This is high praise from a high

54

Déscription de l'Observatoire de Poulkova, 4to. Pétersbourg,

1845, p. 5.

VOL. I.

S

authority, and is honourable to the various Astronomers-Royal, of whom a list is subjoined. The Observatory will be frequently brought under our notice in the course of this history.

In 1676 the Society received several communications from travellers, giving accounts of "the notables" observed in the countries they had visited. These communications were the results of the queries issued by the Society, and formed valuable additions to the very limited geographical knowledge of that period.

The Society were not satisfied with this mode alone of obtaining information: when a traveller arrived in London from remote countries, some Fellow was deputed to call on him, and invite him to the Meetings. Thus, Evelyn tells us, that he was "desired by the Royal Society to call upon, and salute a Mons. Jardine, who had been thrice in the East Indies and Persia, in their name; and to invite him to honour them with his company 56." Evelyn adds, that he was accompanied by Sir C. Wren and Sir J. Hoskyns, and that they found Mons. Jardine "a very handsome person, extremely affable, and not inclined to talke wonders."

In the Minutes of the Oxford Philosophical Society it is recorded that Dr. Plot greatly entertained the

66

company by giving an account of what he had seen at a Meeting of the Royal Society in 1676. He stated that a merchant, lately come from China, exhibited to the Society a handkerchief made of Salamander's wool, or Linum Asbesti, which, to try whether it were genuine or no, was put into a strong charcoal fire, in which not being injur'd, it was taken out, oil'd, and put in again; the oil being burnt off the handkerchief, was taken out again, and was altered only in two respects, it lost 2dr. 5gr. of its weight, and was more brittle than ordinary; for which reason it was not handled until it was grown cold, by which means it had recovered its former tenacity, and in a great measure its weight. The merchant who obliged the Society with the sight of so great a rarity, acquainted them that he received it from a Tartar, who told him that the Tartars, among whom this sort of cloth is, sold it at 807. sterling the China ell, which is less than our ell; and that they greatly use this cloth in burning the bodyes (to preserve the ashes) of great persons, and that in Tartary it is affirmed to be made of the root of a tree 57."

The year 1677 was attended by a melancholy event for the Society, the loss of Oldenburg, who died suddenly in September, at Charlton in Kent. Oldenburg, who sometimes wrote himself Grubbendol, was born at Bremen, and for several years acted as agent in England with the Protectorate, for the republic of Lower Saxony. In 1656 he entered as a student in the University of Oxford, under the

67 MS. Minutes, Vol. 1. p. 72.

58 In the letters to him from Milton, printed in the Epist. Familiares of the latter, he is styled Orator Bremensium.

name and title of Henricus Oldenburg, Bremensis nobilis Saxo". On leaving Oxford, he went to France with Mr. Richard Jones, son of Lord Ranalagh", with whom he travelled until 1661, in which year they returned to England. From 1662, when he became Secretary to the Society, to the period of his decease, he was indefatigable in the performance of all his secretarial duties, which, as we have seen, were unrewarded until 1669, when a salary of 407. a year was allowed him". This act of justice was most necessary to Oldenburg, as the Philosophical Transactions never yielded him a greater profit than 40%. a year, and generally fell considerably below this sum. In 1666, Boyle manifested great zeal in his favour, and joined Lord Brouncker in applying for the appointment of Latin Secretary to the King, which, however, they were unsuccessful in obtaining for him. He married a daughter of Mr. John Drury, a divine of considerable celebrity, by whom he had two children. His son, named Rupert, from his god-father Prince Rupert, received a present

59 Wood, Fasti. Oxon., Vol. I. p. 60 Milton, Epist. Famil. 24-25.

114.

Dr. Derham, in his Life of Ray, says, that "Oldenburg was in the habit of corresponding every month with that naturalist. He was a very diligent Secretary, and laboured very heartily to keep up the Society's correspondence, and get all the information he could about curious matters, from all persons that he knew or heard were able to furnish him with any: and the better to accomplish his ends, he would send his ingenious correspondents an account of matters that came to his knowledge, as well as expect a plentiful return from them." p. 44.

62 An Ode in praise of Oldenburg, a copy of which exists in the British Museum, styles him the illustrious, laborious, and precise Oldenburg.

in 1717 from the Council of the Society, in consideration of his father's eminent services. These, indeed, it would be almost impossible to over-rate, and it may be mentioned that when attacked by Hooke on account of the Philosophical Transactions, he was at once justified by a declaration of the Council.

At the anniversary in 1677, Hooke and Dr. Grew were elected Secretaries, and Lord Brouncker retired from the Presidency, which he had held with great advantage to the Society for fifteen years. He was succeeded by Sir Joseph Williamson, a Memoir of whom commences the next Chapter.

THE FIRST REFLECTING TELLESCOPE INVENTED BI SR ISAAC NEWTON, AND MADE WITH HIS OWN HANDS IN THE YEAR 1671.