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JOURNAL
TOUR IN UNSETTLED PARTS
NORTH AMERICA
IN 1796 & 1797.
BY THE LATE
FRANCIS BAILY, F.R.S.
PBBSIDE»T OF THE EOYAL ASTEONOMICAI, SOCIETY.
OTit!) a JWemoir of t^e ^utftor.
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LONDON: BAILY BROTHERS, ROYAL EXCHANGE BUILDINGS.
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LONDON:
PRINTED BV M. S. P.TCKKRBY, 73, CANNON STKEET, CITY.
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PREFACE.
I TAKE on myself the responsibility of recommending the publi cation of this Journal, which completes a remarkable biography. So far as our own country is concerned, it is printed for those who remember its author, and for those who take interest in the early life of men of science. That others may be amused or instructed by it as a book of travels is an additional reason for its appearance ; and, as regards the United States, a sufficient reason.
On looking at a posthumous work of the present kind the question naturally arises. What would the author have said to its publication? On this point there is fuU right to infer that he left nothing behind him on which the possibility of publication had not presented itself to his mind. He had been an ardent controversialist, and had lived through many scientific disputes, in correspondence with those who were as warmly engaged as himself. Nevertheless, among the thousands of his letters which I have examined, I remember hut one which so much as alludes to a charge of even scientific misconduct against a scientific man — and that one contains the writer's verdict of acquittal. He must, therefore, systematically have destroyed papers which he wished not to meet other eyes. Farther, it appears that he had materials for a much larger work; nnd these, it must bo presumed, he dc-
a 2
IV PREFAOE.
stroyed, as they do not apjjear among the carefully preserved records of his early life. Under such circumstances exdusio unius est admissio alterius ; especially as he was, of all men I ever knew, the most likely to have made a prohibitory memo- randum on any manuscript which he desired to remain unprinted.
Prancis Baily passed through life in three very distinct suc- cessive characters. At the age of twenty-two, after serving an apprenticeship in London, he was employed as in the following pages; which, had they been published when written, would have made him a name among enterprising travellers, and might have changed his career, by enabling him to realise his project of at- tempting discovery in Africa. Polled in this plan, he went into business as a stockbroker; and, while acquiring a handsome in- dependence, he placed himself in the first rank of writers on an- nuities and assurances. Eetiring from commercial pursuits and commercial arithmetic at the age of fifty, he betook himself en- tirely to astronomy, which he had previously studied, and gained a reputation of which the reader will form his judgment from the account given by Sir John Herschel, and here reprinted.
The narrative now presented to the public is roughly expressed, and wiU in some points need the excuse of having been written by a young man not twenty-five years of age. I have not at- tempted any correction, beyond that of a few very obvious omis- sions of words and grammatical errors. I have not even thought it desirable to make some alteration in the numerous cases in which the verba cle prcesenti of the original notes are intermixed with the words of the writer who is narrating the past. Some moral and political reflections have been abbreviated, and some omitted altogether : this has never been done to avoid ofi'ence, but only in cases in which the matter suppressed would have been wholly uninteresting.
PREFACE. V
1 have allowed various statements and explanations to remain, wliicli may remind the reader that the work is of the last century^ and not of the present one : so that national peculiarities and technical terms which are now well known^ are treated as requir- ing elucidation. Thus it will be learnt, as due information, that the citizen of the United States guesses, and that to come to is a nautical expression.
I doubt if any — but certainly very few — of Mr. Baily's friends were aware of the extent ajad character of his travels. He was more than commonly reserved in matters relating to himself ; and no old soldier was ever more chary of referring to anytliing which would insinuate dangers faced or hardships endured. In the course of fourteen years of intimate acquaintance I never arrived at so much knowledge of his adventures as is contained in the few sentences (pp. 4, 5) which formed the sum total of Sir John HerscheFs recollections. Occasionally, when some thriving city was mentioned, he would say, " When I passed that spot it was all forest," or tlie like ; but I never heard him drop a hint that he had calculated, under those trees, the chances of being scalped or starved. Trom all I knew of the writer, I feel sure that the hardship and risk are both understated.
Travels zested with personal narrative are now of comparatively infrequent appearance; not so much from the absence of auto- biography, as from the individuality of the writer being overlaid by heavy science and by Greek and Latin sesquipedalians. The lion and the rattlesnake, alive in the vernacular, are fearful objects ; but your Felis Leo is of the museum, and not of the forest; and your Crotalus Ilorridus reduces dread and terror to mere means of classification. Some may yet be left to like a book — not to say so, Heaven forbid ! — which is free from geology, zoology, and aU manner of technology. There may even be somu
VI TREFACE.
who are tired of the cultivation of style which goes near to reduce all but great masters of writing to monotony, and who will feel it a relief to read, once in a way, some of that EngHsh which was current, upon writing-paper only, in the day when an educated man, not an author by profession, would have avowed, as a matter of course, that hs could not write a hooJc, with as much sincerity as he would have avowed that he could not play the violin. If now and then the young journalist cease to narrate, and begin to write, it is no more than Eobinson Crusoe himseK may sometimes be caught at : and boys skip it.
The travels consist of a voyage to and account of Antigua, some shght account of New York, &c., a voyage in an open boat from Pittsburg to New Orleans, down the Ohio and Mississippi, a return by land through the forest to Natchez, from thence to Nashville, and from thence to Knoxville.
Had the pubhcation been intended for the EngHsh reader only, I might perhaps have made the tour begin at p. 124 ; but the part which describes the more civilized districts will have some interest for our brethren in the United States, to whose archives the whole work belongs. I should not have attempted, had I been compe- tent, any notes illustrative of the great changes which have taken place on the ground over which Mr. Baily travelled : there are books enough on America as it now is ; or, rather, as it was a few years ago. If an editor should steam down the Mississippi with the manuscript, he would need to steam up again with the proof sheets. I have not interfered with the manner in which some names of places are spelt. Mr. Baily went over his manu- script at some later period, and marked with a cross various English words which he found he had used in either new or obso- lete senses. I presume he thought he had reason to abide by his local orthographies. Nor do I fear having misinterpreted him :
PIIEFACE. Vli
he always wrote very clearly, and among a hundred little points of attention to accuracy, he wrote his proper names more deliberately than his other words.
The geographical works cited are the Topographical Description of the Western Territory of North America, by Captain Gilbert Imlay, of which London editions were published (in octavo) in 1792 and 1795 : the American Gazetteer, by Dr. Jedediah Morse, of which an octavo edition was published at London in 1789 : and Dr. J. E. Porster's translation of the Travels into North America of Peter Kalm of Abo, London, 1773, % vols. 8vo. The modern maps of America give a very erroneous idea of the bare- ness of the country travelled over : but there is one which is fully illustrative on this point, attached (1804) to the EngUsh translation (and for aught 1 know to the original) of Yolney's work on the climate and soil of the United States.
I suppose we may take it for granted, in our day, that we need no more insist upon every book having a moral, than upon every herring having a mission. But if any be left who ask, Cui bono ? and know what they are asking, they may be easily answered. A boy, or — as he would have us say — a young man, who feels that nothing but a stirriug Ufe wiU suit his aspirations, — who places heaven in the Crimea, and hell iu a counting-house, — is very apt to suppose that the prohibition with which well-judging friends have barred his way must condemn him to shelve all his high energies, and to cultivate only the tamest and most household qualities. To such a one I think the story here told, read with the subsequent life of the author, may be for good — certainly will be, if he possess a small portion of the sound sense which shines in the character of the model placed before him. Mr. Baily, after a course of adventure which would have been a fitting apprenticeship, had set his heart, first upon a military
Vlll rUEFACK
life, and then upon following the example, and risking the fate, of Mungo Park. Eailing in these schemes, he became a stock- broker. But the energy of his character was not thrown away : it enabled him, while making his fortune, to place himseK in the first rank of cultivators of one branch of science ; and, after he had made his fortune, to obtain like success in another. The same resolution which, with the ardour of twenty-five, would have led him over African deserts for the promotion of one knowledge, sus- tained him, for the sake of another, through four years — to name only one labour of research — which involved more than twelve hundred hours of watching the oscillations of a pendulum. If any one had told Mr. Baily, at the time when the love of excite- ment and of scenery induced him to pass — not reckoning landings — about fifty days and nights in an open boat on the Ohio and the Mississippi, that the time would come when he would sit for as many hours as put together would make up aU those days and nights, with his eye at a little telescope, watching and recording the slow travelling of an index over some wires, — he would have treated the assertion with laughter, and would have held that his tastes and views would never fall in with such a monotonous drudgery. But it did so happen, nevertheless ; and, what is more, the stimulus was of much the same kind in both cases, and also the force of character which faced the undertaking: half those hours were passed under the prospect of failiu'e, aud the mortification of seeing all go wrong from causes which there seemed no hope of detecting. The Cavendish experiment will not be the task of his age to every young man who has been disappointed of a life of adventure ; but tlien the Cavendish experiment is not the only path of utility in which energy may find the wholesome wear and tear for which it longs. The young possessor of this great moving power is apt to imagine that he has a vocation for one
P.i^EFACE. IX
or another line of active life, — for arms, for the sea, for travel, as may happen, — not because he has any such vocation, but because he has the desire of full and stirring occupation, which natu- rally turns his mind to the pursuits in which it is most ob- vious to his yet limited sight that his desire can be satisfied. In hke manner, when he was younger, it will often have hap- pened, as he must remember, that there was something indis- pensable in the window of the most come-at-able toyshop, the absolute necessity of which might be traced to liis having a little money burning a hole in his pocket. It may be as hard to teach him now, that inspiriting difficulties are found in every worthy walk of life, as it was to teach him then, that if he would but wait till to-morrow he would find sometliing two streets off which he would like much better than anything at the shop round the corner. But it is worth the trying. If the comparison of the youth of Francis Baily with his mature age should persuade some young aspirants to fame, that every element of human power may conduce to utility, to distinction, and to happiness, in any field of human action, — this book will have moral enough. What the writer of it did for others and for his own reputation, the story of his Life may tell. "What his pursuits did for his own real good, must be referred to the memory of those who enjoyed his friendship : among whom there is assuredly not one who will venture to say positively that he ever knew a better or a happier man.
A. DE MORGAN.
University College, London, Febrvari/ Q, 1856.
CONTENTS.
The Nnmhers refer to the Pages.
LIFE OF FKANCIS BAILY, 1.— Birth and Education, 2, 3.— Tour in America, 4, 70. — Attempts at active Life, 7L — Busi- ness of a Stockbroker, Works on Annuities, &c., 5-8. — Astronomy, Paper on Eclipse of Thales, 9, 73. — Eclipse of Agatliocles, 10. — Epitome of History, 11. — De Beranger's Trial, 12. — Nautical Almanac, Astronomical Memoirs, 12, 13. — Foundation of Astronomical Society, 14-16. — VarioiLs Memoirs, 16. — Philosophical Magazine, 17, — Reduction of Stars, 19. — Catalogue of Astronomical Society, 20. — Election to Royal Society, Retirement from Business, 21. — Nautical Almanac, 23. — Pendulum, 25. — Standard of Length, 31, 73. — Density of the Earth, Cavendish Experiment, 35. — Revision of Catalogues of the Stars, 40. — Catalogues of Lacaille and Lalande, 44. — Catalogue of the British Association, 46. — Nomenclature of Constellations, 47. — Proper Motions of Stars and Halley's Manuscripts, 48. — Visitation of the Royal Ob- servatory, 49. — Serious Accident, 50. — 'Annular Eclipse, 50, 51. — Decline and Death, 51, 52. — Chai-acter, 52-60. — List of Publications, 61-69.— Additions, 70-74.
JOURNAL OF A TOUR, 75.— Embarkation and Storm in the Downs, 75. — Voyage to Antigua, 78-85. — Description of Antigua, 87-98. — Departure for Virginia, 99. — Norfolk, 99- 104.— Baltimore, 104-107.— Philadelphia, 110-115.— Route to New York, 115-119.— New York, 119-124.— Departure FOR THE West, 124. — Washington, 125-129. — Route to
Xll CONTENTS.
Journal of a Tour continued —
Pittsburgh, 129-143.— Pittsburgh, 144-153.— Voyage down the Ohio, 153. — Wheeling, 156. — Choice ofWintering Place, 159. — Grave Creek, 160. — Antiquities, 161, 162. — Breaking up of the Ohio, Loss of the Boat, and Winter Settlement on the Bank, 164-186. — Resumption of Voyage, 186. — Route to Columbia, 187-195.— Columbia, 196-202.— Voyage up the Country, 203-206. — Foundation of the Town of Waynesville, 207-216.— Remarks on the Settlers, 217-221.— Return to Columbia, 221-224. — Resumption of Voyage down the Ohio, 225.— Cincinnati, 227— Meeting with Colonel Boon, 233.— Louisville, 239. — Kentucky Titles to Land, 241. — ^Wabash, 246, — Cumberland River, 249. — Tenessee River, 250. — Fort Massac, 251. — Entrance of the Mississippi, 257. — New Madrid, 261.— Prudhomme, 269.— Chickasaw Bluffs, 270.— Grand Gulf, 277. —Natchez, 279-293.— Red and Black Rivers, 293.— Chefalaya, 294. — New Orleans, 298. — Remarks on the Mis- sissippi, 319. — Commencement of Land Journey to Natchez, 331. — Aumete and Commete Rivers, 341-343. — Hona Chito River, 345. — Natchez, 346. — Departure across the Desert, 349. — Forks of the Path, 354. — Indian Settlement, 364. — Indian Town, 376.— Poison Vine, 380.— Tenessee River, 384.— Dan- gers of crossing, 385-393. — Route to Nashville, 395. — Duck River, 402.— Harpath River, 407.— Nashville, 411.— Route to Knoxville, 416. — Caney Fork, 423. — Cumberland Moun- tains, 427.— Crab Orchard, 432.— Clinch River, 435.— Knox- ville, 439.
JOURNAL OF A TOUR. h.
MEMOIR OF FRANCIS BAILY,
BY
SIR JOHN HERSCHEL, BART.
%* Tins Memoir was draivn up at the request of the Council of the Royal
Astronomical Society, and was read at a Special General Meeting of the
Society, held November 8th, 1814.
In the performance of the melancholy duty imposed on me by the wishes of the Council, that I should endeavour on this occasion, to place before the assembled Members of the Society a sketch of the scientific life and character of our late lamented President, I have been careful both to examine my own competency to the task, and to consider well the proper limits within which to confine myself in its execution. In the first of these respects, indeed, though tolerably familiar with some of the leading sub- jects which I shall have to touch upon, there are others on which I have seriously felt the want of a longer interval for preparation. On these, of course, I shall take care to express myself with becoming diffidence ; and in so vast a field of laborious inquiry and of minute yet important research as I shall have to range over, it may easily be supposed I have more than once found occasion to wish that the duty had fallen into abler hands. A duty, however, it is, and a very sacred one, which we owe to departed merit, to society, and to our-
B
2 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
selves, to fix as speedily as possible, while its impress is yet fresli and vivid, its features in our minds witli all attainable distinctness and precision, and to store them up beyond the reach of change and the treachery of passing years.
As respects the limits within which I feel it necessary to confine myself on this occasion, it is to astronomers to whom I have to speak of an astronomer, — to members of a large and, in the simplicity of truth I may add, a highly efficient public body — of an officer to whom more than to any other individual, living or dead, it owes the respect of Europe. To make what I have to say complete as a biography, however interesting to us all, however desirable in itself, is very far either from my intention . or my power. Nor is the time fitting for the attempt. The event is too recent, the particulars which can be collected at the present moment too scanty, the grief of surviving relations too fresh, to admit of that sort of close and pertinacious inquiry into facts, anecdotes, documents, and evidence, which personal biography requires to be satisfactory. In this respect, therefore, a mere sketch is all that I can pretend to give.
Prancis Bailt was born on the 28th of April, 1774, at Newbury, in the county of Berks. His father was Mr. Richard Baily, a native of Thatcham^ in the same county, who became established as a banker at Newbury. He married Miss Sarah Head, by whom he had five sons and two daughters. Francis, who was the third son, received his education at the school of the Rev. Mr. Best, of Newbury, an establishment of considerable local repu- tation, where, although probably little of an abstract or mathematical nature was imparted, the chief elements of
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 3
a liberal and classical education were undoubtedly com- municated. From his early youth, he manifested a pro- pensity to physical inquiry, being fond of chemical and especially of electrical experiments, — a propensity suffi- ciently marked (in conjunction with his generally studious habits) to procure from him, among his young contemporaries, the half-jesting, half-serious sobriquet of " the Philosopher of Newbury."
It does not appear that he received any further instruction beyond the usual routine of an establishment of the kind above mentioned ; so that, in respect of the sciences, and especially of that in which he attained such eminent distinction, he must be regarded as self- educated. This taste for and knowledge of electricity and chemistry were probably acquired from Dr. Priestley, with whom, at the age of seventeen, he became intimately acquainted, and of whom he always continued a warm admirer. But that his acquaintance with the subject was considerable, and his attachment to it permanent, may be concluded from the fact, that Mr. Welsh, the organist of the parish church of Newbury, who had a very pretty electrical apparatus, and at whose house I remember myself to have first witnessed an electrical experiment, is stated to have imbibed his taste for that science, and to have acquired its principles, from Mr. Baily's example and instructions at a somewhat sub- sequent period.
He quitted Mr. Best's school at fourteen years of age ; and, having chosen a mercantile life, which accorded with the views of his parents, he was sent to London, and placed in a house of business in the City, where he remained till his twenty-second year, when, having duly
B 2
4 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR,
served his time, and either not feeling an inclination to the particular line of business in which he had com- menced his life, or being desirous of the general enlarge- ment of mind which travel gives, or from mere youthful love of adventure and enterprise, he embarked for Ame- rica on the 21st of October, 1795, which, however, he was not destined to reach without twice incurring the most imminent danger from shipwreck, both on our own coast, under most awful circumstances, on the Goodwin Sands, and off New York, which he was prevented from reaching, being driven to sea in a gale. After endea- vouring in vain to reach Bermuda, he was driven into Antigua, whence he subsequently embarked for Norfolk, in Virginia.
In America he remained one or two years, travelling over the whole of the United States and through much of the western country ; in which travel he experienced, at various times, much hardship and privation, having, as I remember to have heard him state in conversation, (and which must have referred to this period of his life,) passed eleven months without the shelter of a civilized roof. During his residence in America, he was not unmindful of his intellectual and social improvement, having not only read* much and observed much, as a
* Perhaps the first printed publication of Mr. Baily is a letter to Mr. Noah Webster, jun., signed F. B., and inserted in McLean's "New York Gazette," for December 11th, 1797. It is a criticism on Mr. Webster's English, containing objections, partly just, partly unfounded. Mr. Webster replied in the same journal for Decem- ber 12th, repudiating the ordinary grammars, and referring to his own ; he added, that for a foreigner to throw odium on his efforts to serve the essential interests of his country, was some- thing worse than dishonourable. — Ed.
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 5
copious journal which he transmitted home proves, but formed the acquaintance of some eminent persons, among whom may be mentioned Mr. EUicot, the Surveyor- General of the United States, from whom he obtained some curious information bearing on the periodical dis- plays of meteors on the 12th November, of which that gentleman observed a superb instance in 1799, and from whom it is not impossible he may have acquired a taste for observations of a more distinctly astronomical and geographical nature.
Whatever may have been the more direct object of this journey, if indeed it had any other than to gratify a youthful inclination for travel and adventure, it does not appear to have exercised any material influence on his after-life, since, on his return to England, in place of immediately entering into business, he continued to reside for some time with his parents at Newbury, which, however, at length he quitted for London, to engage in business as a stock-broker, being taken into partnership by Mr. Whitmore of the Stock Exchange. The exact date of this partnership I have not been able to learn. I believe* it to have been 1801 ; but that it must have been prior to 1802, may be concluded from the subject of his first publication, which appeared in that year ; viz., " Tables for the Purchasing and Renewing of Leases for Terms of Years certain and for Lives, with Rules for Determining the Value of the Reversions of Estates after any such Leases," This work (as well as the next) is preceded by a highly practical and useful Introduction, and followed by an Appendix, which shows that at the
* It was about the end of 1799. — Ed.
6 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
age of twenty-eight he had become well versed in the works of the English mathematicians, and had also con- sulted those of foreign ones. It speedily attained a standard reputation on account of its intrinsic utility, and went through several editions. His next work, a pamphlet in defence of the rights of the Stock-Brokers against the attacks of the City of London, printed in 1806, at all events shows him at that time to have become identified in his feelings and interests with that body, of which he lived to be an eminent and successful member. A similar conclusion may be drawn from his next publication, which appeared in 1808, — "^ The Doc- trine of Interest and Annuities Analytically Investigated and Explained/' a work than which no one more com- plete had been previously published, and which is still regarded as the most extensive and standard work on compound interest. It was speedily followed by other works on the same subject; viz., in 1810, by "The Doctrine of Life Annuities and Insurances Analytically Investigated and Explained;" to which, in 1813, he added an Appendix, This is a work in many ways remarkable, and its peculiarities are of a highly cha- racteristic nature ; method, symmetry, and lucid order, being brought in aid of practical utility in a sul)ject which had never before been so treated, and old routine being boldly questioned and confronted with enlarged experience. A friend of great mathematical attainments and extensive practical acquaintance with subjects of this nature, thus characterises it : — " It is not easy to say too much of the value of this work in promoting sound practical knowledge of the subject. It was the first work in which the whole of the subject was
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 7
systematically algebraized ; the first in which inodern symmetry of notation was introduced ; and the first modern work, since Price and Morgan, in which the ' Northampton Tables ' were not exclusively employed, and in which the longer duration of human life was con- tended for ; and the first in which some attempt was made to represent by symbols the various cases of annuities and assurances, afterwards more systematically done by Mr. Milne." In the Appendix to this work, a method originally proposed by Mr. Barrett of forming the tables, by which cases of temporary and deferred an- nuities, formerly requiring tedious calculations, become as easy' as the others, and which, in the improved form subsequently given to it by Mr. Griffith Davies, has come into very general use in this country, was, by the pene- tration of Mr. Baily, given to the public, but for which it would probably have been altogether lost. It may serve to give some idea of the estimation in which this work was held, that, when out of print,""' its copies used to sell for four or five times their original price. A chapter of this work is devoted to the practical working of the several life-assurance companies in London, containing some free remarks on several points of their practice. Mr. Babbage has subsequently followed in the same line (as he has also advocated extending the estimation of the
* It was translated into French by M. Alfred De Courcy, and published at Paris in 1836, in two volumes octavo. A spurious edition of the original, with an attempt to deceive by imitation of tyj3e, was handed about for sale among the assurance offices in I80O, and may now be found on the bookstalls. The means of distinguishing the spuriovis from the genuine edition may be found in " Notes and Queries," vol. iv., No. 89. — Ed,
8 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
duration of life to still more advanced ages). However unpleasing it may be to public bodies, especially com- mercial ones, to see practices of whose injustice they may perhaps have been unaware, convicted of it, and made matter of public animadversion, there can be no doubt that criticisms of this kind, when really well grounded and expressed with temperance and moderation, are both salutary to the parties concerned, and merit, in a high degree, the gratitude of the public. A higher praise is due to the candour and lioldness of openly entering the lists on such occasions, and despising the anonymous shield of which so many avail themselves.
But while devoting his attention thus assiduously to matters of direct commercial interest, he could yet find time for other objects of a more general nature. Astro- nomical pursuits had already begun to assume in his eyes that attraction which was destined ultimately to draw him aside entirely from business, and to constitute at once the main occupation and the chief delight of his life. As everything to which he turned his thoughts presented itself to them, if I may use the expression, in the form of a palpable reality, a thing to be turned and examined on all sides, — to be reduced to number, weight, and measure, — to be contemplated with steadiness and distinctness, till everything shadowy and uncertain had disappeared from it, and it had moulded itself, under his scrutiny, into entire self-consistency, the practical branches of astronomical calculation early became, in his hands, instruments of the readiest and most familiar application, as the touchstones of the truth of its theories, and the means of giving to them that substantial reality which his mind seemed to crave as a condition for their
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 9
distinct conception by it. His first astronomical paper, ou the celebrated solar eclipse, said to have been pre- dicted by Thales, which was written in November, 1810, and read before the Royal Society on the 14th March, 1811, affords a remarkable instance of this. That eclipse had long been a disputed point among chrono- logists. It was easy to perceive, and accordingly all had perceived, that an eclipse of the sun, so nearly central as to produce great darkness, being a rare phenomenon in any part of the globe, and excessively so in any precisely fixed locality, must afford a perfectly certain means of determining the date of a coincident event, if only the geographical locality be well ascertained, and some moderate limits of time within which the event must have happened be assigned, and provided the means were afforded of calculating back the moon's place for any remote epoch. In this case, both the locality and the probable historical limits were sufficiently precise ; and the account of Herodotus, which agrees only with the character of a total and not of an annular eclipse, (as Mr. Baily was the first to remark,) still further limits the problem. But the tables of the moon employed by all prior computists were inadequate* to carry back her place with the requisite exactness, nor was it till the publication of Burg's " Lunar Tables " that the means of doing so were in the hands of astronomers. The course of Mr. Baily 's reading at this period (being then, no doubt, employed in collecting the materials for the Chronological Tables in his " Epitome of Universal His-
* Recent improvements in the "Lunar Tables" have shown that this question must be re-opened. — Ed.
10 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
tory," which appeared not long after) brought him neces- sarily into contact with this subject. He perceived at once both the uncertainty of all former calculations of this eclipse, and the possibility of attacking it with a fresh prospect of success. None, however, but a con- summate astronomical calculator would have ventured on such an inquiry, which involved the computation of all the solar eclipses during a period of seventy years, six centuries before the Christian era. These calculations led him to assign, as the eclipse in question, that of Sep- tember 30th, B.C. 610, which was central and total, according to these tables, at the very point where all historical probability places the scene of action.
Most men would have regarded such a result, obtained by so much labour, with triumphant complacency : not so Mr. Baily. His habit of examining things on all sides, instead of permitting him to rest content witli his con- clusion^ led him on to further inquiry, and induced him to calculate the phenomena of another total eclipse recorded in ancient history, that of Agathocles, which happened August 15th, B.C. 310, an eclipse of which neither the date nor the locality admits of any consider- able uncertainty, and v/hich, therefore, appeared to him well fitted to test the accuracy of the tables themselves. Executing the calculation, he found indeed a total eclipse on the year and day in question, and passing near to the spot, but not over it. An irreconcilable gap of about 3**, or 180 geographical miles, remains between the most northerly limit of the total shadow, and the most south- erly supposable place of Agathocles's fleet. Although this may justly be looked upon as a wonderful approxi- mation between theory and historical fact, (indicating, as
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 11
it does, a correction of only 3 ' in the moon's latitude, for an epoch anterior by more than 21 centuries to that of the tables^,) yet it did not escape Mr. Baily's notice, nor did his love of truth permit him to conceal the fact, that no presumed single correction of the tabular ele- ments will precisely reconcile both eclipses with their strict historical statement. There seems, however, no reason to doubt that the eclipse of 610 B.C. is, in fact, the true eclipse of Thales. It seems extraordinary that neither Professor Oltmanns, who investigated the eclipse of Thales about two years subsequently, and who came to the same conclusion, nor M. Saint Martin, who read an elaborate memoir on the same subject to the French Institute in 1821, should have made any mention of this very remarkable paper of Mr. Baily.
The " Epitome of Universal History," of which men- tion has already been made, was published in 1813, and intended to accompany an " Historical Chart" published the year before, an extension and improvement of Dr. Priestley's, in which the political alterations of territory are represented through the whole of history. It is an easy and useful work of reference, in which the number and accuracy of the dates, and the utility of the appended tables, are especially valuable. There can be little doubt that the object of this work was much less to produce a book than to systematise and concinnate the author's own knowledge. When such a task is undertaken by a mind at once vigorous in its grasp, and simple, practical, and natural, in its points of view, it can hardly fail to result in a picture of the subject where all the parts are truly placed, and easily apprehended by the general reader. The Chart with its explanation, forming a dis-
12 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
tinct work, was in considerable request, and went through three editions in five years.
About the 22nd of January, 1814, occurred the cele- brated fraud of De Beranger, that being the assumed name of an impostor employed to bring important but false intelligence from the scene of war abroad, for the purpose of influencing the price of the British funds. The imposture was so adroitly managed, that many bargains were made on the strength of this intelligence, and much confusion caused. In the detection and exposure of this fraud, Mr.Bailyhad a considerable share, and was appointed by the committee of the Stock Exchange to get up the evi- dence against the perpetrators, — a task which he is said to have performed in so masterly a manner, that no more complete and conclusive chain of evidence was ever pro- duced in a court The result of these inquiries, and the steps taken in consequence, were made the subject of three Reports of the above-mentioned committee, drawn up by him, and printed in that and the subsequent year.
From this time, astronomy appears to have been con- tinually engaging more and more of his attention. The subject of eclipses and occultations with their connected calculations, together with that of the improvement of the " Nautical Almanac," which, whatever might be said on specific points, had certainly at that time begun to fall considerably behind the requisitions of astronomical, and even of nautical science, were those with which he may be said to have commenced his more active astrono- mical career. But I wish to call attention at present to two pamphlets which he published in 1818 and 1819, respectively, which will afford occasion for some remarks
MEMOIR OF TTIE AUTHOR. 13
of moment. The first of these is a notice of the annular eclipse of September 7, 1820, whose path lay along the whole medial line of Europe from north to south. Two points in this tract merit our attention. In it he adopts a practice, which he subsequently on a great many occa- sions adhered to, of introducing in the way of prefatory statement, a brief but very clear sketch of the history of the subject, and the observations of former astronomers, These little historical essays are, for the most part, ex- tremely well drawn up, and highly interesting, and show a perfect knowledge of the subjects treated of, drawn from very extensive reading. The next point, and one of more importance, is the studious consideration shown to observers possessed of slender instrumental means, in pointing out to them modes and forms of observation by which those means might be rendered available and useful. At no period of his life himself possessing any large and elaborate instrument or luxurious appliances, one of his constant aims was to render astronomical ob- servation popular and attractive, by showing that much of a highly useful character might be accomplished with even moderate instruments. There is no question more frequently asked by the young astronomer who has pos- sessed himself of one or two tolerably good instruments which he desires to employ his time upon, than this, " How can I make myself useful 1 " Nor any which can be more readily answered by a reference to the innu- merable notices on almost every point of practical astronomy which Mr. Baily from this time forward for many years continued to scatter profusely to the public, and which have probably done more to create observers and to cherish and foster a taste for practical astronomy
14 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
among Englishmen, than any single cause which can be mentioned.
In 1819 he printed for private distribution a transla- tion of Cagnoli's memoir on a " Method of Deducing the Earth's Ellipticitj from Observations of verj Oblique Occultations," with an appendix recommendatory of the method, which is precisely such as requires for its perfect execution only a sufficient telescope, a moderately good clock, and an observer diligent in watching opportunities. This was, no doubt, Mr. Baily's chief reason for translating and distributing it, and for subsequently following it up by his chart and catalogue of the Pleiades, through which the moon had to pass at each lunation in 1822 and the following years, thereby affording admirable opportunities for applying the principle in question. I should not, however, have thought it necessary, in the midst of so many claims on our notice, to draw especial attention to this work, but fcr one passage in it deeply interesting to all of us. I mean that in which he alludes to the for- mation of an Astronomical Society, as an event earnestly to be desired.
" It is much to be regretted," he observes, " that in this country there is no association of scientific persons formed for the encouragement and improvement of astro- nomy. In almost all the arts and sciences, institutions have been formed for the purpose of promoting and dif- fusing a general knowledge of those particular subjects
the beneficial effects of which are too evident to
be insisted on in this place. But astronomy, the most
interesting and sublime of the sciences cannot
claim the fostering aid of any society The forma- tion of an Astronomical Society would not only afford
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 15
this advantage, but would in other respects be attended with the most beneficial consequences," &c. &c.
It is thus that coming events cast their shadows before them. But looking back from this point, as it were, to the then embryo state of our corporate existence, it would be ungrateful not to associate with the name of Francis Baily that of Dr. Pearson, as having at or about the same time made the same suggestion. It was happily and speedily responded to, and on Wednesday, the 12th of January, 1820, a preliminary meeting of the fourteen founders of our Institution took place, which resulted in its final establishment, and in which, during the first three years of its existence, Mr. Baily filled the office of secretary ; in other words, undertook and executed the more laborious and essential duties. The establishment of this society may, indeed, be considered as a chief and deciding epoch in his life, and to have furnished, though not the motive, yet, at least, the occasion, for the greater part of his subsequent astronomical labours. Looking to it, as every one must do, as a most powerful instrument for the advancement of the science itself, and the propagation of a knowledge of and a taste for it among his countrymen, he yet appeared to regard it as some- thing more than simply as a means to an end. He made it an object of personal attachment and solici- tude, which led him to watch over its infant progress with parental care, and to spare no exertion in its behalf. As years passed on, and as the institution flou- rished, (as every institution must do which is con- stituted on sound principles, whose members are loyal to those principles, and willing to work heartily in its cause), this sentiment, so far from diminishing, seemed
16 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
to grow upon him till he regarded its welfare and interests as identical with his own. I shall reserve a more distinct statement of our obligations to him for a more advanced period of this notice : but, in a nar- rative of his life, it becomes impossible from this epoch to separate the Astronomical Society from astronomical science, in our estimate of his views and motives, or to avoid noticing the large and increasing devotion to its concerns of his time and thoughts. To the Transactions of the new Society he became, as might be expected, a frequent and copious contributor. In the interval be- tween the first establishment of the Society and the year 1825 (the reason for this limit will presently be seen) he contributed five papers, viz. : " On the Meridian Ad- justment of the Transit Instrument ;" " On the Deter- mination of Time by Altitudes near the Prime Vertical ;" " On the Solar Eclipse of September 7th, 1 820 ;" " On the Mercurial Compensation Pendulum ;" and " On the De- termination of Longitudes by Moon-culminating Stars." The two first mentioned of these turn on somewhat ele- mentary points of astronomical observation, and contain tables, and suggest facilities, which he had found useful in his own practice. The eclipse was observed by him at Kentish Town, where not being annular, he must have felt severely the sacrifice, imposed probably by the calls of business, of the opportunity of witnessing by a short continental trip, a phenomenon which had engaged so much of his thoughts. His paper on the Mercurial Pen- dulum, though practical in its object, was of a much more elaborate kind than any thing which had pre- viously emanated from him, with exception of his memoir on the eclipse of Thales. It contains a minute and
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 1/
excellent view of the whole subject of this most useful compensation ; is prefaced {more suo) with a clear synoptic view of the then actual state of the sub- ject, and goes into the whole subject of the expan- sion of the materials, the formulte for determining with more precision than heretofore the proportional length of the mercurial column, and the mode of ad- justment both for rate and compensation. This paper must certainly be regarded as a very valuable one, and an astronomer can hardly be said thoroughly to understand his clock who does not possess it. The object of the paper on moon-culminating stars is to recom- mend, facilitate, and render general, that most useful and widely available method of determining the longitude on land.
About this period, also, Mr. Baily began, and thence- forward continued, to be a frequent contributor to the " Philosophical Magazine," published by Messrs. Tilloch and Taylor, of articles interesting in a great variety of ways to the practical astronomer. These articles are so numerous, and so miscellaneous in their subject-matter, that it would be vain to attempt any detailed account of them, within such limits as I must confine myself to. !Nor, indeed, is it requisite to do so ; as many of them, how- ever useful at the time, have now ceased to present any especial interest, apart from their general object, which was that of difiusing among the British public a know- ledge of the continental improvements in the art of ob- serving, and the practice of astronomical calculation, and placing in the hands of our observers and computers a multitude of useful tables and methods, which, though sure to work their way ultimately into use, were un-
c
18 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
doubtedly accelerated in their introduction into English practice by coming so recommended. ]\Iore special objects were those of recommending to general attention and use certain eminently practical methods, such as those of determining latitudes by the pole-star, and longitudes by moon culminations and occcultations, copious lists of which were, on several occasions, either procured from abroad and reprinted here, or calculated by himself for the pur- pose.
The circulation of notices, also, of other remarkable ex- pected phenomena, with a view to procuring them to be observed, — the description of newly invented foreign in- struments, or of such as had been long known, but little used in England, — the analysis of foreign astronomical publications, — every thing, in short, which could tend to excite curiosity, to cherish emulation, and to render the British astronomical mind more excursive and more awake than heretofore, found a place in these contributions ; of which so constant and copious a fire was kept up, as may well excite our surprise at the industry which sustained, no less than our admiration of the zeal which prompted it.
A volume of astronomical tables and formulae, printed in 1827 for private distribution (as was frequently his custom,) and then largely circulated, but since published with corrections, is of the utmost convenience and value, and will be highly prized by every astronomer who may be fortunate enough to possess a copy, as a work of ready and continual reference for all the data and coefficients o^ our science. A series of zodiacal charts was also com- menced by him, but I am not able to say if more than one plate was engraved.
One of the most practically important and useful
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 19
objects, however, to which Mr. Bailj's attention was about this period turned, was the facilitating, by tables properly contrived for the purpose, the reductions of apparent to mean places of the fixed stars. It seems almost astonishing that these computations, which lie at the root of all astronomy, and without which no result can be arrived at, and no practical observer can advance a single step, should have remained up to so late a period as the twentieth year of the nineteenth century, in the loose, irregular, and troublesome state which was actually the case, and that not from their theory being ill understood, but from their practice not having been sys- tematised. Each of the uranographical corrections had to be separately computed by its own peculiar tables, and with coefficients on whose magnitude no two astronomers agreed. The latter evil, indeed, might be tolerated at a time when the tenth of a second of space was not consi- dered of so much consequence as at present, but the cal- culations were formidable and onerous in the extreme to private astronomers, whatever they might be rendered in public establishments by habit and the use of auxiliary tables. So far as the fundamental stars were concerned, the subject had for some time attracted attention, and had begun to receive its proper remedy by the publica- tion, by Professor Schumacher in Denmark, of their ap- parent places for every tenth day ; and by the laudable exertions of Sir James South in our own country, who, for some years, prepared and circulated similar tables for every day, not without urgent representations of the necessity of taking it up as a public concern, which was at length done. But for stars out of this list, except about 500 somewhat facilitated by Zach, there was no provi-
c 2
20 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
sion of any kind, nor any auxiliary tables to have recourse to ; so that sidereal astronomy, beyond the bounds of this favoured list, might be almost said to be interdicted to the private astronomer, owing to the excessive irksome- ness of these calculations. This was precisely the sort of case for Mr. Baily to take pity on. He perceived a desert where, with a moderate expenditure of capital, a plentiful harvest might be made to grow, and forthwith proceeded to remedy the evil. Accordingly, with the aid of Mr. Gompertz, he investigated the subject generally, and suc- ceeded in devising a method of arranging the terms of the corrections for aberration, and solar and lunar precession, adapted to the purpose, and identical in principle with that adopted by M. Bessel, who, on his part, was at the same time, and actuated by the same motives, engaged on the subject unknown to Mr. Baily. The latter had actually proceeded to the computation of his tables, when the labours of Bessel reached his knowledge, who had, moreover, included the precession under the same general mode of expression. Mr. Baily, with cha- racteristic frankness and candour, immediately acknow- ledged this as an improvement in advance of his own idea, and at once adopted and recommended it for general use. He did more : he carried out the idea into a wide and most useful field ; and in the Catalogue of the Astro- nomical Society he has put the astronomical world in possession of a power which may be said, without exag- geration, to have changed the face of sidereal astronomy, and must claim for him the gratitude of every observer. It detracts nothing from the merit of Mr. Baily, or from his claim to be considered the author of this precious work, that the numerical computations were chiefly exe-
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 21
cuted bj Mr. Stratford, and the expenses borne by the Astronomical Society. The conception was all his own, and the work prefaced, explained, and superintended, in every stage of its progress, by himself alone. The gold medal of this Society was awarded to him for this useful work.
On the 22nd February, 1821, Mr. Baily was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was also a Member of the Linnean and Geological Societies ; but I am unable to state the precise date of his election in either.
In 1825 he retired from the Stock Exchange, after a career in which his consummate habits of business, his uprightness, intelligence, and prudence, had established his fortune, and might, if continued, have led him on to any eminence of worldly wealth. But there was that in his disposition which the mere acquisition of wealth could not satisfy. All that he had before done for his favourite science seemed only preparatory to what he might do ; and with the best years of his intellectual life before him, and with objects worthy of his efforts now opening to his view in that direction, he resolved henceforward to devote himself to their pursuit, though at the sacrifice of prospects whose attractions always prove irresistible to minds of a lower order. In thus calmly measuring the relative worth of intellectual and worldly pursuits, and stopping short in the full career of success, when arrived at a point which his undazzled judgment assured him to be the right one, he afforded an example of self-command as uncommon as it was noble. In the satisfaction which the decision afforded him, and the complete fulfilment of those aspirations which led him to form it, we have one proof (if proofs be wanting) how entirely a well- chosen
22 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
and elevated scientific pursuit is capable of filling that void in the evening of life, which often proves so intol- erably irksome to men who have retired early from busi- ness from mere love of ease or indolence. On no occasion did he ever appear to regret the sacrifice he had made, or even to regard it as a sacrifice.
No desire of listless ease or self-indulgence, however, could by possibility have mixed with Mr. Baily's motives in taking this step ; for immediately on doing so he entered on a course of devoted and laborious exer- tion, which continued without interruption during the remainder of his life, and of which the history of science affords few examples. The mass of work which he got through, when looked at as such, is, in fact, appalling, and such that there seems difficulty in conceiving how it could be crowded into the time ; the key to which is, however, to be found in his admirably conceived metho- dical arrangement of every piece of work which he undertook, and his invaluable habit of finishing one thing before he undertook another.
At this epoch, or very shortly subsequent to it, he purchased and took up his permanent residence in his house in Tavistock Place, excellently adapted in every respect both to his future comfort and convenience as a place of abode, and for those important and delicate researches of which it was destined to become the scene ; standing, as it does, insulated in a considerable garden, well enclosed on all sides, and, from the nature of the neighbourhood, free from any material tremor from pass- ing carriages. A small observatory was constructed in the upper part, for occasional use and determination of time, though he never engaged in any extensive series of
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 23
observation. The building in which the earth was weighed and its bulk and figure calculated, the standard measure of the British nation perpetuated, and the pen- dulum experiments rescued from their chief source of inaccuracy, can never cease to be an object of interest to astronomers of future generations.
In endeavouring, according to the best of my ability, to give some account of the astronomical labours of Mr. Baily subsequent to this period, it will no longer be advisable to adhere, as I have hitherto done, to the chronological order in which they were undertaken and executed. It will rather be preferable (with exception of a few memoirs and publications of a miscellaneous nature) to consider them under distinct heads, according as they refer to one or other of the following subjects, viz. : — ■
1. The Remodelling of the "Nautical Almanac ;"
2. The Determination of the Length of the Second' s-Pendulum ;
3. The Fixation of the Standard of Length ;
4. The Determination of the Density of the Earth ;
5. The Revision of the Catalogues of the Stars ;
G. The Reduction of Lacaille's and Lalande's Catalogues ; and, 7. The Formation of a New Standard Catalogue.
The " Nautical Almanac." — The end of the eighteenth and the commencement of the nineteenth century are remarkable for the small amount of scientific movement going on in this country, especially in its more exact departments. It is not that individuals were not here and there busied in extending the bounds of science even in these, but they met with little sympathy. Their excursions were limited by the general restriction of view which had begun to prevail, and by a sense of loneliness
24 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
and desertion (if I may use such an expression) arising from that want of sympathy. Mathematics were at the last gasp, and astronomy nearly so ; I mean, in those members of its frame which depend upon precise mea- surement and systematic calculation. The chilling tor- por of routine had begun to spread itself largely over all those branches of science which wanted the excitement of experimental research. I know that I have been blamed on a former occasion for expressing this opinion ; but it is not the less true, though we may now happily congratulate ourselves that this inanimate period has been succeeded by one of unexampled activity. To break the dangerous repose of such a state, and to enforce that exertion which is necessary to healthy life, there is always need of some degree of friendly violence, which, if administered without rudeness, and in a kindly spirit, leads at length the revived patient to bless the disturbing hand, however the urgency of its application might for a moment irritate. It is in this light that we are to regard the earnest and somewhat warm remon- strances of Mr. Baily on the deficiencies which had long begun to be perceived and felt in the "Nautical Almanac," in its capacity of an astronomical ephemeris.
The subject once moved gave rise to a great deal of discussion, from more than one quarter, which was from time to time renewed for some years ; but as I have no intention to make this notice an occasion of dilating on any matter of a controversial nature, I shall merely add that, on the dissolution of the late Board of Longitude, followed almost immediately by the death of Dr. Young, on whom the charge of its superintendence rested, (the new Berlin Ephemeris, by Encke, having also recently
MEMOm OF THE AUTHOR. 25
appeared, in which many of the principal improvements contended for were adopted,) it seemed fitting to the Lords Commissioners of tlie Admiralty to place unre- servedly before the Astronomical Society the subject of a complete revision and remodelling of that great national work — a high proof of confidence, which speaks volumes for the good sense, prudence, and activity which had continued to pervade its administration during the ten years which had now elapsed since its first institution.
It is hardly necessary to add that this important business received the most unremitting attention from Mr. Baily, as well as from every other member of the Committee in all its stages. To him also was confided the task of drawing up the final report of the Committee appointed to carry out the wishes of the Admiralty, which will be found in the fourth volume of our " Me- moirs," and which is a model of good sense, clearness, and lucid arrangement. The Report was immediately acted upon by Government, and the result was the pre- sent British " Nautical Almanac ; " a work which, if it continue to be carried on, as I trust it ever will, on the principles which prevailed in its reconstruction, will remain a perpetual monument to the honour of every party concerned in it.
The " Pendulum." — The second's-pendulum having been constituted the legal source from which, in the event of the loss of the national standard of length, the yard might at any time be recovered, it may be easily imagined with what intensity of interest the announce- ment was received among all conversant with these fundamental determinations, that a very material correc- . tion had been entirely overlooked in the reduction of the
26 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
experiments, on which the Act of 5 Geo. IV. c. 74, was founded. This correction is, in fact, no other than the correction due to the resistaJice of the air, and, placed in this light, it would seem somewhat wonderful that such an oversight could have been committed ; but it had been customary to consider the effect of resistance on the time of vibration to be wholly confined to its influence in diminishing the arc ; and this secondary effect being allowed for in the formulae employed to compute what is called the correction for the arc of vibration, the primary or direct effect of resistance dropped altogether out of notice, or rather (owing to an entire misconception of the nature of the mechanical process by which resistance is operated) had been supposed to be altogether inappre- ciable in its amount. The real effect of resistance, though under a somewhat confused statement as to its nature, had, however, been long before noticed, and its amount even ascertained with tolerable correctness, by the Chevalier Buat, in 1786 ; but his experiments and theory had so entirely fallen into oblivion as to have escaped the notice not only of Captain Kater, but of his own countrymen, Borda and Biot, and were unknown even to Bessel himself, who, in 1828, rediscovered the correction in question, and, for the first time, made it an integrant feature in the modern system of pendulum reductions. The light in which this correction was placed by Buat, and even in some respects by Bessel, tended not a little, in my opinion, to obscure the clear perception of its nature, by representing it as due to a certain portion of air adhering to and bodily dragged along by the pendulum in its motion, thus adding to its inertia without adding to its relative weight when corrected for
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 27
buoyancy ; and in this view, also, Mr, Baily regarded it. That this is not a complete and adequate view of the sub- ject, is easily made a matter of ocular inspection, by causing a pendulum to vibrate, or any body to move, near the flame of a candle, when it will be at once evident that the movement of the air consists in the continual transfer of a portion of air from the front to the rear of the body, by performing a circuit half round it. Its hydrodyna- mical investigation, therefore, is of an infinitely higher order of difficulty than the ordinary problems of resist- ance, which turn upon a theory of molecular impulse, simple indeed, but very far from satisfactory. It pro- perly refers itself to the theory of sound, and has, in fact, been so investigated in an admirable memoir by Poisson.'''"
But to return from this digression, (which, however, will not have been without its use, if it shall tend to diffuse clear conceptions of the subject, and to disentangle from one another corrections which seem to have got unduly mixed up together in the minds of practical inquirers.) No sooner were the ideas of M. Bessel pro- mulgated in England, than Captain Sabine, whose atten- tion was pointedly directed to a subject which had occupied so large and active a portion of this life, resolved
* If this view of the subject be correct, as I am persuaded it is, it seems not impossible that, by making a section of the pendukim coincident in form with the " wave-formed outline " of Mr. Kussel's ships, the resistance correction might be annihilated altogether, or so nearly as to render it quite inappreciable.
I trust that, in what is said above, I shall not be supposed to undervalue M. Bessel's analytical treatment of this intricate pro- blem, especially as it conducts to results which, regarded as a first approximation, represent sufficiently well the results of experience.
28 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
to ascertain the true amount of this new, or newlj- mentioned, correction, in the only way in which it could be effectually done^ viz., by vibrating the pendulum in vacuo, which he accordingly effected by a series of highly interesting experiments, carried on at the Royal Observa- tory at Greenwich, and recorded in the " Philosophical Transactions," in a paper read March 12, 1829. His result makes the total reduction to a vacuum about one and two-thirds of that usually called " the correction for buoyancy." It should, however, be borne carefully in mind, that the particular correction now in question has, in fact, nothing whatever to do with the buoyancy correction, either in its mode of production or its form of expression, and ought, therefore, to be very studiously kept apart from it in all theoretical views, though, of course, they must be numerically amalgamated in the " reduction to a vacuum."
Meanwhile the attention of Mr. Baily had, about the same time, been called to the pendulum, in consequence of- the contemplated expedition about to sail under the command of Captain Foster, on that memorable and most unfortunate expedition which cost him his life. It was on this occasion, and with a view to the use of this expe- dition, that Mr. Baily (still acting for the Astronomical Society, whose aid had been requested in suggesting useful objects of inquiry) devised that capital improve- ment in the system of itinerant pendulum observation, which consists in making each transferable pendulum a convertible one, by the simple addition of another knife- edge, and in doing away with extra apparatus of tail- pieces, sliders, &c., by the initial adjustments of the in- strument. And I may here incidentally remark, that.
MEMOIR OP THE AUTHOR. 29
the general principles of reducing, as far as possible, the number of moveable parts in every instrument intended for standard determinations of whatever kind, is one which cannot be too strongly recoemranded, and has been successfully acted on by the present Astronomer Royal [Mr. Airy] in more than one recent construction. Two peudula, a copper and an iron one, on Mr. Baily's prin- ciple, were furnished by tlie Society for this expedition, an account of which may be found in the " Notices" of the Society for June 13, 1828.
The adjustment and trial of these pendula previous to the sailing of the expedition, were performed by Mr. Baily at his own house, and, thus engaged in actual experiment, he at once became led on into a minute examination of all the possible sources of practical error in the experiments, and consequent uncertainty in the important results of which they had become the basis. It was in this stage of his experience that he became acquainted with Professor Bessel's results, which deter- mined him (as they had already done Captain Sabine) to go into the whole subject of the new correction by ex- periments performed in vacuo. But not content with assuming any fixed proportionality between it and the buoyancy correction, he resolved so to vary the form, magnitude, and materials of the vibrating masses, as to make its true nature and amount an object of inductive experimental inquiry ; thus, though adopting the lan- guage of Buat and Bessel, disengaging himself in effect from any theoretical view of the modus operandi or mechanical process by which the effect was produced.
The result of these inquiries was a very elaborate and masterly paper read to the Royal Society on the 31st of
30 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
May, 1832, containing the results of experiments in air and in vacuo, on upwards of eighty pendulums of various forms and materials, by which the new correction is clearly shown to depend not only on the dimensions, but on the form and situation of the vibrating body. Inde- pendent of the excellence of this paper as a specimen of delicate experimental inquiry and induction, in which, to use the expression of one best capable of appreciating and admiring them, his generalizing powers seem to have been held in abeyance till the right moment for their exercise arrived, it had the further merit of bringing into distinct notice a number of minute circumstances, (important, how- ever, from their influence on results,) chiefly relative to the mode of suspension, which it is absolutely necessary to attend to in these delicate and difficult inquiries, if the pendulum be ever again resorted to as a means of verifying or fixing anew the standard of length.
The return of the Chanticleer in 1831, without its lamented commander, threw the whole task of arranging and digesting for publication Captain Foster's pendulum observations on Mr. Baily — a labour of love, prompted by the warmest friendship, and which he executed in the spirit of one determined to erect a monument to the fame of that truly amiable and talented officer, of the most durable and precious materials. His report on the subject to the Admiralty was presented by the Lords Commis- sioners to the Council of the Astronomical Society, and printed at the expense of Government as the seventh volume of our " Memoirs." In this report the observa- tions are given in full, and with the most scrupulous fidelity, and those at each of the numerous stations dis- cussed with the utmost care. The final re-examination
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 31
of the pendulums in London, was also personally executed by Mr. Baily, and the whole series of stations combined into a general result, which gives for the ellipticity of the earth §89^. Not content with this, he has here also collected into one synoptic view the results ob- tained at various stations all over the globe with the invariable pendulum, by observers of all nations, so as to place them in comparison with each other, and to deduce from them a general result. Of these, by far the most numerous and prominent, in every respect, are those of our own countrymen. Captains Foster and Sabine ; and nothing can be more gratifying, in estimating our own national share in this sublime application of science, than to find these principal authorities, whose observations were made and reduced with the most absolute indepen- dence of each other, agreeing at all the stations where they admit of comparison, with a precision truly admirable. In fact, the greatest disagreement of each of their final results, from a mean of them both, amounts to a quantity less than half a vibration out of 86400, or in a mean solar day.*
" Standard of Length." — From the pendulum to the standard of length, or the fixation of the scientific unit, the transition is easy, and in Mr. Baily's case was un- avoidable. For, being once satisfied by experience of the innumerable minute circumstances on which perfect precision in these inquiries depends, and finding the
* The stations of comparison are London, Maranham, Ascension, and Trinidad. Taking London for a term of departure, each station aflfords a ratio whose extremes (see " Report," p. 86) differ only by 0-0000103, the half of which multiplied by 86400 gives 0H4446.
32 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
parliamentary enunciation of the relation between the conventional and natural standards nullified, as it were, under his eye, he felt himself irresistibly urged to inquire how far the conventional unit itself might be depended upon, and within what limits of error it might certainly be reproduced in copies. His first step in this direction was to obtain the most perfect possible representative of this unit, and (as the Astronomical Society was now identified with almost all his undertakings) justly con- sidering the possession of such a standard by that body as a thing in itself desirable, and the instrument itself likely, if thoroughly well executed, to become in its hands of universal scientific reference, he procured himself to be named by the Council a Committee for superintend- ing its execution, and comparing it with the most authentic standards at present existing in this country. Perhaps there is no subject of inquiry more perplexing, or one whose investigation calls for more patience and perseverance, than the detection and exact estimation of those minute sources of error which influence these deli- cate measurements, which can only be satisfactorily per- formed by endless repetition and systematic variation of every circumstance by which error can possibly be intro- duced. Another and peculiar source of annoyance, and even vexation, consisted in the rough and careless usage to which those precious instruments, on which the con- servation of our national units depends, had been sub- jected in too many instances, by which rude and ignorant hands had irrecoverably marred some of those refined pro- ductions of human workmanship, which ought not even to be approached but with precaution, or touched but with the utmost delicacy. Few things seem to have
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 33
excited Mr. Bailj's indignation more than the continual occurrence of evidence, only too palpable, of the small respect in which these standards appear to have been held by those under whose protection they had been placed, and of the violence which has been repeatedly suffered to be perpetrated on them.
I shall by no means go into any minute analysis of the admirable " Report" to the Council of this Society, which contains his account of the construction of our standard scale, its comparison with the parliamentary standard, and its most authentic existing representatives — and with the French metre, as we have it represented in this country by two platina metres, in the possession of the Royal Society ; or the means taken to secure it from loss, by the formation of carefully compared copies, two of which have been sent abroad, and two retained in England. Suffice it to say, that the delicacy of the means employed, the minuteness of the precautions used, and the multiplicity of the comparisons, surpassed every thing of the kind which had ever before been done in this country. This Report, too, is valuable in another way. Under the modest title of "A Short History of the Standard Measures of this Country," it presents a summary of the subject so complete as almost to obviate the necessity of referring elsewhere for historical infor- mation.*
* Mr. Baily was assisted in the actual comparisons by several Fellows of the Society, among whom the late Lieut. Murphy was conspicuous, an observer whose temper and scientific habits pecu- liarly fitted him for co-operating with Mr. Baily, and whose name would probably have occurred more than once in this memoir but for his untimely death, which took place in the service of Astro-
D
34 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
The immediate result of this useful and most laborious undertaking has been to put this Society in possession of, perhaps, the most perfect standard measure and divided scale in existence, in which every division, even to the individual inches, has been micrometrically veri- fied, and its errors ascertained and placed on record. It would almost seem, too, as if a prophetic spirit had actuated the undertaking, and urged it to its completion without any of those delays which so often and proverbially attend the construction and optical examination of deli- cate instruments. For the comparison of the new scale with the imperial standard yard had hardly been com- pleted six months, when the latter, together with the other original standard by Bird (that of 1758), as well as the imperial standard of weight, were destroyed in the conflagration of the Houses of Parliament in October 1834. Thus the operation in question has been the fortunate means of preserving, to the latest posterity, that unit which has pervaded all our science, almost from the first dawn of exact knowledge.
The scientific unit is indeed preserved ; but the nation remained, and remains up to this moment, without a legal standard either of weight or measure. In the early part of 1838, however, in consequence (as I have been led to understand) of some communications on the sub- ject between Mr. Baily, Mr. Bethune, and the Astronomer Royal, the latter was induced to draw the attention of Government to the subject, an occasion having arisen which rendered the mention in an official form unavoid- able. And on the 1 1 th of May of the same year a com-
nomy in a distant region, and was probably the unfortunate con- sequence of over-exertion in its cause.
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 35
mission was appointed, consisting of seven* members (Mr. Bailj being one), to report on the course most advis- able to be pursued under these circumstances. To this duty, which involved the hearing of a vast deal of evi- dence and much personal attendance, Mr. Baily gave his unceasing attention ; suggesting many valuable points, both practical and theoretical ; and, on the Report of the Commission being agreed on, and the practical forma- tion of new standards, in conformity with the view therein taken of the subject, being referred by Govern- ment to the same commissioners, Mr. Baily undertook, to the general satisfaction of the whole body, and at their particular request, the delicate and important task of reconstructing the standard of length — a task which, unhappily, he did not live to complete. On whomsoever mayt devolve the completion of this standard, it will be satisfactory to the Members of this Society to know that, among the evidence adduced for its restoration, the scale prepared for it by Mr. Baily necessarily forms a most im- portant and prominent feature.
" Density of the Earth." — The accurate determination of one fundamental quantity naturally leads to inquiry into others. To make our globe the basis of measure- ment for the dimensions of the planetary system and of
* An eighth was subsequently added.
t The task was undertaken by Mr. Sheepshanks, one of Mr. Baily's most devoted friends, who gave it, during eleven yeai's, an amount of thought and labour which will be but poorly collected even from the report of his proceedings now preparing. The number of recorded micrometer observations falls but five hundred short u^i ninety thousand. Mr. Sheepshanks died August 4, 1855, almoat on the day on which his results received a legal sanction. — Ejj.
36 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOE.
the visible universe, its form and magnitude must first be accurately known. To make it afi'ord a scale by which the masses and attractive forces of the sun and planets can be expressed in terms conveying a positive meaning, its density must be ascertained, as compared with that of substances which occur on its surface, with which our experience is familiar, and from which our notions of material existence are drawn. The fine expe- riment of Cavendish, confirmed as it was, in its general result, by the operations on Schehallien, had satisfactorily demonstrated the continuity of the Newtonian law of gravity, from such vast distances as astronomy is con- versant with, through the intermediate steps of the diameters of the earth, and of a mountain, down to those minute intervals which intervene between the parts of a philosophical apparatus, and their agreement within as moderate limits as could have reasonably been expected, — -and had even led to something like a probable estimate of the earth's density, which, however, could never be regarded as satisfactory, otherwise than as a first step towards more precise determinations. Mr. Baily's labours, therefore, on the pendulum were hardly brought to a conclusion, when he was led to enter upon this subject, the immediate occasion of his doing so being an incidental suggestion at the council table, by Mr. De Morgan, of the desirableness of repeating the experi- ment of Cavendish,'"' — a suggestion immediately seconded
* Fiat justitia, mat coelum. The original design of this beau- tiful experiment was Michell's, who actually constructed the identical apparatus which Cavendish used, but died before he could execute the experiment. The apparatus came, after his death, into the possession of the Rev. "W". H. Wollaston, D.D., toho gave
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 37
both by the Astronomer Royal and by Mr. Baily. The experience of the latter had shown him how indispensably necessary, in such inquiries, are extensive repetition and variation of circumstance. The Schehallien experiment, from its very nature, admitted of neither ; and, on care- fully examining Cavendish's record of his own experi- ment, he found abundant reason to perceive how much was left to be desired, in both these respects, even in that form of the inquiry.
In resolving on ^a repetition of this experiment, the difficulty of the undertaking itself, and his own prepara- tion for it, must have been, and no doubt were, very seriously considered. However confident in his own resources and perseverance, it was no holiday task in which he was now about to engage. The pendulum experiments, with all their delicacy, conld hardly be regarded as more than an elementary initiation into the extreme minuteness necessary for this inquiry. There are two branches of research in physical astronomy which task to the utmost the resources of art, the delicacy of manipulation, and the perseverance of the inquirer, — the parallax of the fixed stars, and the density of the earth. In both, an immense object has to be grasped by the smallest conceivable handle. But, of the two problems, the latter is probably that which throws the greatest burden on the inquirer, inasmuch as it is not merely a
it to Cavendish, who used it, indeed, to excellent purpose, but who assuredly neither devised the experiment, nor invented, nor constructed, nor even, so far as I can perceive, materially improved the apparatus. All this is distinctly stated by Cavendish himself, who is, therefore, noway to blame for any misconception which may prevail on the subject.
38 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
series of observations to be carried on under well-ascer- tained circumstances and known laws, but a course of experiraents to be entered on for eliminating or controlling influences which war against success in every part of the process, and where every element, nay, even the elementary powers of heat, electricity, magnetism, the molecular movements of the air, the varying elasticity of fibres, and a host of ill-understood disturbing causes, set themselves in opposing array in their most recondite and unexpected forms of interference. Nor could it have been overlooked by him that it was necessary, not merely to do over again what Cavendish had done before him, — a thing in itself not easy, — but to do it much more thoroughly and effectually.
Mr, Baily, however, was not to be discouraged by such considerations. He saw that there existed a blank in our list of exact data which it was necessary to fill, and he felt himself in possession of those gifts of nature and position which enabled him to fill it. Accordingly, in 1835, on the occasion above alluded to, the Astronomical Society appointed a committee to consider the subject ; and Mr. Baily having offered to perform the experiment, in 1837, the Government (at the instance of Mr. Airy) granted the liberal sum of ^^500 to defray the cost.
This great work was brought to a satisfactory conclu- sion in 1842, and a complete account, with a full detail of the experiments, printed in one volume, published in 1843, forming the fourteenth of the series of "Memoirs*' of this Society. The experiments were varied with balls of different materials, and with suspensions no less various, combined so as to form no less than 62 distinct series, embodying the results of 2,153 experi-
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 39
ments ; and which, formed into groups according to the nature of the combination, afford 36 distinct results, taking those only in which the balls were used, the extremes of which are 5*847 and 5'507, and the most probable mean 5*660, none of them being so low as Cavendish's mean result, 5'448. The probable error of the whole (0-0032) shows that the mean specific gravity of this our planet is, in all human probability, quite as well determined as that of an ordinary hand- specimen in a mineralogical cabinet, — a marvellous result, which should teach us to despair of nothing which lies within the compass of number, weight, and measure. I ought not to omit mentioning, that, of all the five determinations of this element we possess, Mr. Baily's is the highest.*
Though it would be equally remote from my present purpose, and superfluous in presence of such an assembly, to enter minutely into a discussion of these experiments, there is one point in their conduct which I cannot pass over in silence. The experiments had been carried on for eighteen months, a vast number of preliminary trials had been made, and upwards of one thousand registered results obtained, when it became apparent that the coin- cidence of Cavendish's results, one with another, was
* The five determinations alluded to are, in order of magnitude,
as follows : —
Schehallien experiment from Play- ) Max...4'867 )
r ■ , . . . , ■ L.. , y Mean... 4-713
lairs data and calculations ... J Min...4-5o9 j
Carlini, from pendulum on Mont Cenis, corrected by Giulio 4-950
Eeicli, Rej^etition of Cavendish's experiment (most probable
combination) ... ... ... ... ... ... 5-438
Cavendish, Computation corrected by Baily ... ... 5-448
Baily (most probable combination) ... .. ... ... 5-660
40 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
rather to be attributed to the paucity of his trials than to any especial accuracy in his observations or felicity in his mode of operating. Even in the few experiments made by Cavendish, discordances had shown themselves, of which no account could be given other than by refer- ence to the movements of included air ; but, on Mr. Baily's extensive scale of operation, the limits of disagree- ment obviously arising from this cause became so enor- mous as to render it hardly possible to draw any line for the reception and rejection of results. In fact, at one period he had almost begun to despair of bringing the matter to any positive conclusion. The happy suggestion of Mr. Forbes, to gild the torsion-box and leaden balls, at once dispelled all this vagueness and uncertainty, and reduced the results to a high degree of uniformity.'"' Most experimenters would have been content to reject the discordant results. Mr. Baily unhesitatingly sacri- ficed the whole, and began anew, without appearing to regard with an instant's regret the time and labour lost. The gold medal of this Society was awarded to him for this important memoir.
" Revision of Catalogues of the Stars." — The contribu- tions of Mr. Baily to this branch of sidereal astronomy are so numerous and so important, as alone would suffice to rank him among the greatest benefactors to the science, since, without being himself an observer, he has conferred, by his indefatigable industry and perseverance
* This was not, however, the only precaution used. Mr. Baily carried out the suggestion, by swathing the torsion-box in flannel, and applying over this defence an exterior gilded case. Should the experiment ever again be repeated, it should be attempted in vacuo.
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 41
in collating authorities, rescuing original observations from oblivion, and rectifying printed errors, a vast and unhoped-for accession of value to the works of all those on whom he has commented. In fact, this, which may be termed the archaeology of practical astronomy, formed his staple and standing work, which, though from time to time interrupted by other subjects, was always resumed ; always with increasing interest, and always on a larger and more effective scale, up to the very year of his death. His object appears to have been, so far as is now practicable, to destroy the gap which separates us from the elder astronomers, and to multiply, or at least to preserve from further destruction, the links which con- nect us with them ; to ascertain all that has really been recorded of the stars, and to make that totality of know- ledge the common property of astronomers — a precious and a pious labour, of which we have no examples, except in that spirit of loyal reverence which prompted Ptolemy to secure from oblivion the observations of Hipparchus, and make them the foundation of all future astronomy ; and in that which animated Bessel, when on the basis of Bradley's observations he may be said to have afforded the means of reconstructing the whole fabric of the science.
The catalogues which Mr. Baily has re-edited are those of Ptolemy, XJlugh Beigh, Tycho Brahe, Halley, Hevelius, Flamsteed, Lacaille, and Mayer ; a mass of commenta- tion, expurgation, and minute inquiry before which the most stout-hearted might quail, since there is not one of them in which each individual star has not been made the subject of a most scrupulous and searching examination, and in which errors that had escaped all prior detection, — errors of reading, errors of entry, of copying, of calcu-
42 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
lation, of printing, out of number, — have not been detected and corrected. Bat for these labours, the cata- logues of Ptolemy and Ulugh, indeed, must have remained sealed books to any but professed antiquaries ; and although we can now hardly ever have occasion to appeal to these earliest authorities for any practical purpose, we cannot but look on the labour thus cheerfully bestowed in embalming and consecrating their venerable relics as the sure pledge that our own works, if really worthy, will not be suffered to perish by time and neglect.
But while we admire both the diligence and the scrupulous exactness, of which the notes appended to these catalogues bear ample evidence, we must not omit to mention, that there are two of them, those of Mayer and Flamsteed, in respect of which Mr. Baily's researches have been pushed far beyond the mere duties of compa- rison and comment, having been extended to the con- servation and minute examination of the original records from which the catalogues were formed. In the case of Mayer, his influence with the late Board of Longitude secured the publication (in 1826) of the original obser- vations of that eminent astronomer at Gottingen, which had never before seen the light. In the case of Flamsteed, his labours were much more extensive, and require a more particular statement, inasmuch as not only Flamsteed's greatest work, the "British Catalogue," found in him its restorer to that high rank, as an astronomical docu- ment, which it is justly entitled to hold, but the fame and character of its author their defender and rescuer from grievous misa2)prehension and mistatement.
In 1832 it happened, by a most singular coincidence, that Mr. Baily became aware of the existence, in the pos-
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 43
session of his opposite neighbour in the same street, E. Giles, Esq., of the whole of Flarasteed's autograph letters to Abraham Sharp, and was permitted to peruse and copy them. Their perusal convinced him that Flamsteed's life, astronomical labours, and personal character, had never been fairly placed before the world, and induced him to examine with care the mass of his papers pre- served (or rather neglected and mouldering) at Green- wich. His first care was to arrest the progress of their further decay : his next, to avail himself of the original entries of the observations, and of the manuscript records of the computations founded on them, to trace out the sources, and to rectify the numerous errors and incon- sistencies of the "British Catalogue" as it then stood before the world, and to present it to the public under quite a new aspect — as a noble monument of its author's skill and devotion, and a work worthy of the age and country which produced it. Among the papers thus examined, however, were also found an almost complete autobiography of Flamsteed, and a voluminous corre- spondence illustrative of those points so painfully at issue between Flamsteed, Newton, and Halley, relative to the publication of the Catalogue and observations, and to other matters of a more personal nature, which had hitherto all along been stated in an infinitely more unfavourable light towards Flamsteed than that which appears, from Mr. Baily's thorough and voluminous exposition of the whole afiair, and the evidence of the almost innumerable letters which he has printed at length, truly and properly to belong to them. Indeed it seems impossible not to admit, on the evidence here produced, that great and grievous injustice was done, and hardship imposed, in
44 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR,
these transactions, on Flamsteed, whose character stands forward, on the whole showing, as that of a most devoted and painstaking astronomer, working at extreme disad- vantage, under most penurious arrangements on the part of government, making every sacrifice, both personal and pecuniary, and embroiled (as I cannot help considering, by the misrepresentations and misconduct of Halley) with the greatest man of his own or any other age, hold- ing a position with respect to the Observatory, as Visitor, which, under mistaken impressions of the true bearings of the case, might cause severity to assume the guise of public duty.
The volume which contains this important work of Mr. Baily was commenced (as we have seen) in 1832, and published in 1835, a rapidity of execution truly astonish- ing, when we consider that the volume extends to nearly 800 pages quarto ; that the notes to the Catalogue alone occupy no less than 144 of them, closely printed, not a line of which but involves some question of identity, of nomenclature, of arithmetical inquiry, or of reference to other authorities ; that the examination and selection of the letters and other biographical matter for publication was a matter of the utmost delicacy and responsibility ; and that the preface, which contains Mr. Baily's own summary of Flamsteed's life, the introduction to the Catalogue and the Supplement, in further vindication oT Flamsteed's character and justification of his own views of it, — are all of them works of a very elaborate nature, and of the highest interest.
" Catalogues of Lacaille and Lalande." — But Mr. Baily's views were not confined to the mere correction of existing catalogues. The labour of the commentator and
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 45
collator, which has filled and satisfied so many minds, was to him only a means to an end of real practical im- portance. His aim was to render readily available to every astronomer all recorded observations of the sidereal heavens which could be depended on. Two great masses of observation might be said to exist buried under their own weight, and aff"ording matter of grief and reproach to astronomy, now to be exchanged for congratulation and triumph. These were Lacaille's observations at the Cape of nearly 10,000 stars, and those of D'Agelet and Michel Lefranqais Lalande at Paris, of nearly 50,000. Neither of these collections of observations had been more than partially reduced. Lacaille himself had per- formed this task for 1942 of his stars. A considerable number of the stars of the " Histoire Celeste" (Lalande's observations) had also been reduced and catalogued by Bode. But the great mass of both remained unreduced and unarranged, though it is true that Lacaille had accompanied each page of his observations with a table of reductions, and that in 1825, Professor Schumacher had published and dedicated to this Society a volume of assistant tables, enabling any one, with little trouble, to reduce any single observation of the '^ Histoire Celeste." Still they remained unreduced, and, therefore, useless, except on those rare occasions when, for special reasons, it might be necessary to search out and reduce any parti- cular object.
Thus was a treasure of great value held in abeyance. This Mr. Baily perceived, and after some correspondence with the French Bureau des Longitudes, which, however, led to no result, he resolved to bring the subject before the British Association. That liberal and energetic body
46 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
at ouce acceded to his views, and in 1838 appointed two committees, each with funds at their disposal, to execute the reductions and prepare the catalogues. The reduc- tion and arrangement of Lacaille's stars was executed under the superintendence of Mr. Henderson, that of Lalande's under Mr. Bailj, the arrangement of the work in both (if I mistake not) having been effected on a plan concerted and matured bj the latter. Both works were reported as complete (the prefaces alone excepted) in 1843, and it only remained to provide for their print- ing. This also was done by the liberality of the British government, who assigned £1000 for the purpose; and this work was especially placed under Mr. Baily's direc- tion. These catalogues, unhappily, he did not live to see published. The printing, however, of each was found advanced at his decease as far as 8320 stars,* and is now continuingf under the more immediate inspection and superintendence of Mr. Stratford.
" Catalogue of the British Association." — I have yet to speak of another and a magnificent work undertaken and brought to a successful conclusion by Mr. Baily ; a work which, perhaps, deserves to be considered as the greatest boon which could have been conferred on practical astronomy in its present state, and whose influence will be felt in all its ramifications, giving to them a coherence and a unity which it could hardly gain from any other source. I allude to the general standard catalogue of nearly 10,000 stars, which the British Association are
* The total number of stars in the two catalogues respectively, will amount to 9,766, and 47,400.
t See the additions to the list of works at the end of this memoir. — Ed.
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 47
about to publish, at the instance of Mr. Baily. The plan of this great and useful work is an extension of that of the Astronomical Society, of which I have already spoken. The stars (selected by Mr. Baily) form a uni- versal system of zero-points, comprehending probably every star of the sixth and higher magnitudes in the whole heavens. All the coefficients for their reduction are tabulated, and the greatest pains bestowed upon their exact identification and synonymes in other cata- logues ; so that this, in all human probability, will become the catalogue of universal reference. It is pre- ceded by a valuable preface from the pen of Mr. Baily, his last contribution to astronomical science.
A very important feature of this and the two cata- logues last noticed is their nomenclature. The system adopted is the same in all ; and that, a system not capri- ciously adopted or servilely copied, but founded on a most searching and careful revision of all existing catalogues, and of the charts of Bayer, Flamsteed, and Lacaille, rectifying'^''' the boundaries of constellations which had become strangely confused, correcting innumerable errors of naming, numbering, and lettering, and reducing, in short, to order and regularity, a subject which had become almost hopelessly entangled. The way is thus at length opened to a more rational distribution of the heavens into constellations, and that final step which must sooner or later be taken, of introducing a systematic nomenclature into sidereal astronomy, rendered easy, whensoever astronomers shall be prepared on other grounds to take it. The trouble and difficulty attending
* The boundaries of the constellations on Malby's globes were laid down by Mr. Baily, shortly before his last illness. — Ed.
48 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOE.
this part of the work exceeds what any one unused to such tasks can easily imagine.
There are two papers by Mr. Baily relating to sidereal astronomy, of which mention ought to be made here ; viz., one "^ On the Proper Motions of the Stars," which was read before the Astronomical Society on the 9th December, 1831, in which a list of about 200 stars, whose proper motion appears sufficiently sensible to merit further inquiry, is discussed. In drawing up this list, he was much aided by a series of transit observa- tions by Dr. Robinson, observed expressly with a view to this inquiry. But as no positive conclusion of a general nature is arrived at in this memoir, and as the subject is yet hardly ripe for a complete discussion, I shall dilate no further on it. The other paper to which I allude (which was read also to this Society on the 14th Novem- ber, 1834) states the result of an examination of Dr. Halley's MSS. at the Royal Observatory. The appoint- ment of Astronomer Royal was held by Halley twenty- two years ; and though for the first two of them the Observatory was entirely deprived of instruments, and for the next four a five-feet transit only was available, it might, at least, have been expected that he should have used diligently the means he did possess, or, at all events, have recorded the observations he did make in a regular, methodical, and intelligible manner. From Mr. Baily's examination of these papers, however, this appears to have been very far indeed from the case ; and that, with the exception of difi'erences of right ascension between the moon and planets and neighbouring fixed stars, which alone he seems to have considered worthy of attention, little of interest could be expected to repay
MEMOIR OF THE AUTflOR, 49
the trouble and expense of their reduction. Of these papers, Mr. Baily, ever anxious for the preservation of records, and mindful of the dormant value which they so often possess, obtained from the Admiralty a transcript, which, being carefully collated with and corrected by the original MSS., is now deposited in our library.
The mention of the Royal Observatory induces me to notice here a change which has been lately made in the constitution of that noble institution, by a revision of the royal warrant, defining the number and mode of appointment of the Visitors, and placing this Society on a similar and equal footing with the Royal Society in the discharge of that important duty. This change was made at Mr. Baily's suggestion, with the entire concur- rence, however, of the then President of the Royal Society, as to its expediency, on the occasion of the demise of the crown by the death of George lY., which rendered a new warrant necessary. The new system has been found to work admirably well, and to have secured a perfect harmony of feeling between the Visitors and the eminent individual who now fills the post of Astronomer Royal, as well as entire confidence in the recommendations and suggestions of that body on the part of Government. Aware, as all now are, of the fatal and soporific influence of routine in public institutions, they have only henceforward to guard against the oppo- site extreme ; to which end, they cannot do better than take for their guide and example that admirable combi- nation of energy, gentleness, and judgment, which dis- tinguished Mr. Baily, no less on every public occasion than in his conduct as a Visitor; in which capacity, under both the old and new system of visitation, he was an
E
50 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
invariable attendant, having never been absent, during a period of twenty-eight years, from any meeting but the last.
About the end of June, 1841, an accident happened to him which had very nearly proved fatal. Crossing "Wellington Street for the purpose of taking some ]\ISS. to a printer, a deafness, which had for some years been increasing on him, rendered him unaware of a rider recklessly urging his horse to furious speed, who either did not see him or was unable to pull up. In con- sequence a collision took place, and Mr. Baily received a stunning fall, accompanied by a severe scalp-wound. So violent, indeed, was the shock, that he lay for a whole week senseless ; and for an equal period after, his life was considered in imminent danger. His sound and excellent constitution, however, carried him through it, and no ill consequences remained. By the end of September he was enabled to resume the observations of the Cavendish experiment^ which this unfortunate occurrence had inter- rupted, and a few weeks' residence in the country com- pleted the cure.
On the 8th of July, 1842, he was gratified by the observation of a phenomenon which it had from his youth upwards been one of his most ardent wishes to witness, viz., a total eclipse of the sun. To this he looked forward, indeed, with a curiosity peculiarly intense ; having, on the occasion of the annular eclipse of May 15, 1836, which he travelled to Scotland to observe, and which he succeeded in observing under very favourable circumstances at Jedburgh, noticed a very singular phe- nomenon attending the formation of the annulus ; I mean, the appearance of beads of light, alternating finally
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 51
with long, straight, dark threads, cutting across the narrow line of the sun's limb, which he described in a highly interesting paper read to this Society on the 9th December, 1836. On the occasion of the total eclipse, he selected Pavia for his station, that town lying in the path of the centre of the shadow. There, by especial good fortune, he obtained an excellent view of it, and there he witnessed not only a repetition of the phenomenon of the beads, but that much more astonish- ing and previously unheard-of one, of the flame-like, or conical rose-coloured protuberances, seen to project, as it were, from the hidden disk of the sun beyond the border of the moon. This truly wonderful appearance (which was corroborated by several other observers at different places, among others by Mr. Airy, at Turin) was described by him, on his return from Italy, in a paper read to this Society on the 11th ]N"ovember, 1842; and it is not a little singular, that the two most remarkable solar eclipses on record should thus have furnished the subjects of his first and last astronomical memoirs, —
" Servatur ad imiim Qualis ab incepto."
On his return from this journey he resumed his astro- nomical labours on the catalogues, as we have seen, which he continued, as well as his usual unremitted attendance to the business and at the meetings of this Society, till the spring of the present year (1844), when his health began to decline, and several weeks of serious illness, a thing utterly unknown to him at any former period of his life, (except as a result of accident,) gave intimation of a failing constitution. For the first time since the re-organisation of the visitation of the Royal
E 2
52 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
Observatory he was unable to attend the annual meeting of the visitors in June. He, however, rallied somewhat, so as to be able to be present at the commemoration at Oxford on July 2nd, on which occasion the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law was conferred on him by that university, as well as on Mr. Airy and Professor Struve. On his return from Oxford his health again rapidly declined, and all efforts of medical skill proving unavailing to relieve an internal complaint {albuminuria) which had at length declared itself, he expired, after a protracted, but happily not painful, illness, during which he was fully sen- sible of his approaching end, in a state of the utmost calmness and composure, at half-past nine o'clock in the evening of the 30th of August, at the age of seventy years and four months.
In passing in review, as I have attempted to do, the scientific works of Mr. Baily, and noticing, as we cannot help doing, the gradual expansion of his views, and the progressively increasing importance of the objects they embraced, we are naturally led to ask by what means he was enabled thus to live as it were two distinct lives, each so active and successful, yet so apparently incom- patible with each other ? how, in what is generally regarded as the decline of life, he could not only accom- plish so much with such apparent ease to himself, but go on continually opening out wider and wider plans of useful exertion in a manner which seems only to belong to the freshness of youth 1 The answer to such an inquiry is, no doubtj partly to be found in his uninterrupted en- joyment of health, which was so perfect, that he has been heard to declare himself a stranger to every form of bodily ailment, and even to those inequalities of state
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 53
which render most men at some hours of the day or night less fit for business or thought than at others. But though this is in itself a blessing of the most precious kind, and, if properly used, a vantage-ground of power and success to any one favoured enough to possess it, it must be regarded in his case as subordinate to, though, no doubt, intimately connected with, a gift of a much higher order, — that of an equable and perfectly balanced intel- lectual and moral nature, — that greatest of gifts, which has been regarded, and justly, as the only one really worthy to be asked of Heaven in this life, — mens sana in Gorpore sano. Few men, indeed, have ever enjoyed a state of being so habitually serene and composed, accom- panied with so much power, and disposition to exert it. A calm, the reverse of apathy, a moderation having no- thing in common with indifference, a method diametrically opposed to routine, pervaded every part of his sentiments and conduct. And hence it arose that every step which he took was measured and consequent — one fairly secured before another was put in progress. Such is ever the march of real power to durable conquest. Hence, too, it arose that a clear natural judgment, and that very un- common gift, a sound common sense, viewing all things through a medium unclouded by passion or prejudice, gave to his decisions a certainty from which few were ever found to dissent, and to his recommendations a weight which few thought it right to resist.
It is very difficult, in speaking of Mr. Baily's character, to convey a true impression through the medium of a language so exaggerative as that which men now habi- tually use. Its impressiveness was more felt on reflection than on the instant, for it consisted in the absence of all
54 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
that was obtrusive or imposing, without the possibility of that abseuce being misconstrued into a deficiency, — like a sphere whose form is perfect simply because nothing is protuberant. Equal to every occasion which arose, either in public or private life, yet, when not called forth, or when others occupied the field, content to be unremarked ; to speak of his conduct as unassuming, would convey but a faint idea of the perfect simplicity with which he stood aside from unnecessary prominence or interference.
Hardly less inadequate would it be to say of his temper that, always equable and cheerful, it was a source of peace and happiness to himself and others. It was much more, — it was a bond of kindness and union to all around him, and infused into every affair in which the co-opera- tion of others was needed an alacrity of spirit, which was more than a simple reflex of his own good humour. It rendered every relation between himself and others easy and natural, and brought out all the latent warmth of every disposition. One would have been ashamed to evade a duty or refuse a burden when it was seen how lightly his share was borne, how readily he stepped out of his way to offer aid wherever he saw it needed, and how frankly every suggestion was received, and every aid from others accepted and acknowledged. This is the secret of all successful co-operation.
Order, method, and regularity, are the essence of busi- ness, and these qualities pervaded all proceedings in which he took a part, and, indeed, all his habits of life. In consequence, all details found their right place and due provision for their execution, in every matter in which he engaged. This was not so much the result of acquired habits in a man of business, as the natural con-
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 55
sequence of his practical views, and an emanation of that clear, collected spirit, of which even his ordinary hand- writing was no uncertain index. Among hundreds of his letters which I possess, there is hardly an erasure or correction to be found, but every where, on whatever sub- ject, or whatever the haste, the same clear, finished, copperplate characters.
Of his choice of life 1 have already spoken something. Fortune he regarded as a means to an end, but that end he placed very high ; and fortune, he well knew, though a means to its attainment, was not the only or the chief means. As a member of civilized society, to add some- thing to civilization ; to ennoble his country and improve himself, by enlarging the boundaries of knowledge ; and to provide for his own dignity and happiness by a pursuit capable of conferring both, — these were the ends which he proposed and accomplished. In choosing the parti- cular line which he did, it is impossible too highly to appretiate the self-knowledge and judgment which en- abled him to see and adopt those objects best adapted to his powers, and on which they could be, on the whole, most availably and usefully employed. Both in his pub- lic and private capacity he was liberal*' and generous
* Mr. Baily combined, ia a very unusual degree, the opposite qualities of liberality in spending money, and keen attention to getting money's worth for it. The editor of this work was one day walking with him from his own door, when he suddenly went up to a lame little boy who swept the neighbouring crossing, and who had a smart, strong, new crutch. Mr. Baily first put the boy through his paces, and proved that the crutch was of the proper length : he then took it up, and examined it very narrowly in all parts. In walking away he muttered, " f told the man to make the boy a crutch, and I thought he charged quite enough for it,
56 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
in the extreme, and both his purse and his influence were ever ready ^ whether to befriend merit, or to promote objects of public and, especially, of scientific utility.
To term Mr. Baily a man of brilliant genius or great invention, would in effect be doing him wrong. His talents were great, but rather solid and sober than bril- liant, and such as seized their subject rather with a tenacious grasp than with a sudden pounce. His mind, though perhaps not excursive, was yet always in progress ; and by industry, activity, and using to advantage every ray of light as it broke in upon his path, he often accom- plished what is denied to the desultory efforts of more imaginative men. Whatever he knew he knew thoroughly, and enlarged his frontier by continually stepping across the boundary and making good a new and well-marked line between the cultivation within and the wilderness without. But the frame of his mind, if not colossal, was manly in the largest sense. Far-sighted, clear-judging, and active ; true, sterling, and equally unbiassed by partiality and by fear ; upright, undeviating, and candid, ardently attached to truth, and deeming no sacrifice too great for its attainment ; — these are qualities which throw what is called genius, when unaccompanied, or but partially accompanied, with them, quite into the shade.
In speaking of his conduct with respect to this Society, and the infinite obligations we owe to him, we must regard him in the first place as the individual to whom,
but I see it is very well made." The writer, wlio liad known Mr. Baily well for many years, was not a little amused with the manner in which the impulse of seeing that the carpenter had earned his money overcame the reserve which he always maintained on the subject of his own beneficent actions. — Ed.
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 57
more than to any other, we owe the titles of a parent and a protector, and our early consolidation into a compact, united, and efficient body. As Secretary pro tempore, the draft of our Rules and the first Address explanatory of our objects, circulated at the commencement of our existence, were entirely, or in great measure, prepared by him ; and, governed by these rules with hardly any change, we have continued to flourish for twenty-four years, which is the best test of their adaptation to our purposes. As I have already stated, he acted as Secretary during the first three years of our existence, during which period the business of our meetings and of our council was brought into that systematic and orderly train of which the benefit has never since ceased to be felt. On retiring from this office be was elected Vice-Presi- dent, and on the next biennial demise of the chair he became our President, an office which he afterwards filled for three subsequent periods of two years, including that of his lamented death. Altogether, during eight years as President and eleven as Vice-President, he filled the highest offices of our institution, and was never off the Council, nor was there any Committee on which he did not sit as one of its most active and efficient members.
With the exception of the Meeting of May 12th, 1836, when he was in Scotland observing the annular eclipse, he was never absent from any Council, nor from any Ordinary, General, or Committee Meeting until prevented by his last illness. Nor during the whole period of the Society's existence was there any matter in which its interests were concerned in which he was not a mover, and, indeed, the principal mover and operator. Nor was this care of our interests
58 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
and respectability confined to formal business or to matters of internal management. On every external occasion which ofiered he bore those interests in mind. He watched and seized the precise opportunity to procure for us from Government the commodious apartments we occupy. He obtained for us the respected and dignified position of Joint- Visitors of the Royal Observatory. He let no opportunity pass of enriching our library with attested copies of the most valuable astronomical docu- ments, such as " Flamsteed's Letters'' and '^ Halley's Recorded Observations." He husbanded and nursed our finances with the utmost judgment and economy, thereby rendering us rich and independent. He printed at his own cost the thirteenth volume of our Transactions, and procured to be defrayed by Government the expense of the seventh, and, by subscription among the members, without intrenching on the funds of the Society, that of the computation and printing of our Catalogue. He pre- pared all our Annual Reports, and his Addresses from the chair will always be read with pleasure and instruction. He also prepared all Committees' Reports, and translated for reading at our meetings numerous notices and com- munications in the German language : among others, the memoir relating to the Berlin charts. In fine, he super- intended every thing in every department. But it was the manner and delicate tact of this superintendence which gave it its value and rendered it efficient. In respect of this point I may, perhaps, be permitted to use the expressions of a distinguished member of our body, to whom we owe many and great obligations, and who has witnessed the working of its machinery from the begin- ning, an advantage of which for some years I have myself
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 59
been deprived by non-residence in London and absence from England. " Of his management of our Society," says Mr. Sheepshanks, " it is difficult to speak so as to convey a correct idea. No assumption, no interference with other people, no martinet spirit (which seems almost natural to all good businessmen), but every thing carried on smoothly and correctly, and without bustle. He hit, better than any chairman I have even seen, the mean between strictness and laxity ; and, while he kept every thing going in its proper channel, he also kept every body in good humour. This natural tact was a great gift ; but there was another quality which I never saw in any one but him, and that was his readiness to give pre- cedence and room to every one who wished to do any thing useful, and his equal readiness to supply every deficiency and do the work of every body else. He was also the person who never was asleep and never forgot any thing, and who contrived, by his good humour, hos- pitality, and good sense, to keep every thing in train." To much of this view, as a matter of general character, I have given my own independent expression, but I could not deny myself the satisfaction of corroborating my own judgment by that of one so well qualified, from intimate knowledge, to form opinions.
Mr. Baily, as I have already stated, was a Member of the Royal, Geological, and Linnean Societies, to which 1 may also add the Royal Irish Academy and the Society of Civil Engineers. In the Royal Society his eminence as an astronomer and a man of general science made his presence valuable, and the universal respect in which he was held gave him much influence. He filled in that body the office of Vice-President for six years, of Trea-
60 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
surer for three, and was fifteen times elected on the Council. I have already mentioned two of the three papers he contributed to its transactions. The third contains a minute account of the standard barometer of that Society, fixed up in their apartments in the year 1837, in which he enters into every particular of its con- struction, mode of registry, and corrections. It was read on the 16th of November, 1837. He was also one of the earliest members of the Royal Geographical Society, and took a very active part in its establishment. He was also a member and one of the trustees of the British Asso- ciation, at whose meetings he was an occasional attendant, and acted, as we have seen, on some important com- mittees. In 1835, the University of Dublin conferred on him the honorary title of Doctor of Civil Law, as, I have already stated, was also done by Oxford in 1844. Among the foreign Academies which in honouring him honoured themselves, I find him to have been a correspondent of the Royal Institute of Sciences of Paris, and of the Royal Academies of Berlin, Naples, and Palermo, as well as of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at Boston.
His portrait, by Phillips, presented by some Fellows of the Society, has long adorned, and though for the present removed from its frame, will speedily again adorn, our meeting-room. May his mantle descend on our future Presidents, and his spirit long continue to preside over our councils and animate our exertions in the cause he had so much at heart !
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 61
LIST
OP
MR. FRANCIS BAILY'S PUBLICATIONS,
Chronologically Arranged.
1. Tables for the Purcliasing and Renewing of Leases for Terms
of Years certain and for Lives, with Rules for determining the Value of the Reversion of Estates after any such Leases, and for the solution of other useful Problems, adapted to general use ; to which is added an Appendix. London, 1802. 8vo.
Second Edition, 1807.
Third Edition, 1812,
2. The Rights of the Stock-Brokers defended against the attacks
of the City of Loudon, London, 1806. 8vo.
3. The Doctrine of Interest and Annuities analytically investi-
gated and explained, together with several useful Tables connected with the subject. Loudon, 1808. 4to.
4. An Account of the several Life- Assurance Companies esta-
blished in London, containing a "View of their respective merits and advantages. London, 1810. 8vo. Second Edition, 1811.
5. The Doctrine of Life- Annuities and Assurances analytically
investigated and ^practically explained, together with several useful Tables connected with the subject. London, 1810. 8vo,
(This work has been lately translated and published in
France under the following title : — " Theorie des Annuit6s viageres et des Assurances sur la Vie, suivie d'une Collection de Tables relative a ces matieres, par Francis Baily. Traduit de T Anglais par Alfred de Courcy, et public par la Compagnie d' Assurances generales sur la Vie. Paris, 1836.")
6. On the Solar Eclipse which is said to have been predicted by
Thales. Read before the Royal Society, March 11, 1811. Phil. Trans., 1811.
62 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
7.* A Synopsis of the Principal Elements of Astronomy, dediiced from M. Laplace's jEJxjjosition du Systeme du Monde. London, 1812. 8vo.
8. A New Chart of History. Large Sheet. London, 1812.
Corrected to 1817, with the Third Edition of the following work :
9. Description and Use of a New Chart of History, exhibiting
the most material Revolutions that have taken place in the principal Empires, Kingdoms, and States, from the earliest authentic Records to the commencement of the present Year. London, 1812. 8vo.
Second Edition, 1813.
Third Edition, 1817.
10. An Appendix to the Doctrine of Life Annuities and Assu-
rances, containing a Paper read before the Royal Society, on a New Method of Calculating the Value of Life- Annuities. London, 1813. 8vo.
(By this Appendix the Doctrine of Life- Annuities, &c., was divided into 2 vols.)
11. An Epitome of Universal History, Ancient and Modern, from
the earliest authentic Records to the commencement of the present Year. London, 1813. 2 vols. 8vo.
12. Report of the Sub-Committee of the Stock-Exchange relative
to the late Fraud. London, 1814. 8vo. Second Report of the Sub-Committee of the Stock-Exchange relative to the late Fraud. London, 1815. 8vo.
13. Report of the Committee of the Stock-Exchange appointed for
the Distribution of the Money stopped on Account of the late Fraud. London, 1815. 8vo.
14. Memoir relative to the Annular Eclipse of the Sun, which
wiU happen on September 7, 1820. London, 1818. 8vo. with a Map.
(Not published for sale.)
15. On the Nautical Almanac. Phil. Mag. for April, 1819.
Vol. LIII. p. 217.
* I very much doubt that this work was actually published, though such a publication was intended. See the additions to the life at the end of this list. —Ed.
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 63
16. Memoh' on a New and Certain Method of ascertaining the
Figure of the Earth by means of Occultations of the Fixed Stars. By A. Cagnoli, with Notes and Appendix. Lon- don, 1819. 8vo.
(Not published for sale.)
17. Address Explanatory of the Views and Objects of the Astro-
nomical Society. London, 1820, 8vo.
(Also nearly the whole of the Society's Annual Reports till the year 1844, inclusive.)
18. On a Method of Fixing a Transit Instrument exactly hi the
Meridian. Read June 9, 1820. Mem. Ast. Soc. Vol. I. p. 59.
19. On the Apparent Place of the Pole Star at the time of its
upper Culmination for the years 1820, 1821, and 1822. Phil. Mag. 1820. Vol. LV. p. 401.
20. Tables by the Board of Longitude. Phil. Mag. 1820. Vol.
LVI. p. 288.
21. On the Solar Eclipse which took place on September 7, 1820.
Read December 8, 1820. Mem. Ast. Soc. Vol. L p. 135.
22. Astronomical Tables and Remarks for the year 1822. Witli
a Map. London, 1822. 8vo. (Nob published for sale.)
23. Remarks on the present Defective State of the Nautical
Almanac. London, 1822. 8vo.
24. On a New Method of determining the Latitude of a Place by
Observations of the Pole Star. Phil. Mag. 1822. Vol. LIX. p. 445.
25. Astronomical Information. Phil. Mag. 1822. Vol. LX. p. 388.
26. On some New Tables of Aberration and Nutation. Phil. Mag.
1822. Vol. LX. p. 279.
27. On some New Tables for determining the Time by means of
Altitudes taken near the Prime Vertical. Read January 10, 1823. Mem. Ast. Soc. Vol. L p. 315.
28. Supplementary Table for computing the Precession and Nuta-
tion of the Fixed Stars. Phil. Mag. 1823. Vol. LXI. p. 217.
29. On the New Tables of Aberration, Nutation, and Precession.
Phil. Mag. 1823. Vol. LXI. p. 366.
64 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
30. Astronomical luformation. Mr. Pond and M. Bessel. Phil.
Mag. 1823. Vol. LXI. p. 469.
31. On M. lughirami's List of Occultations of the Fixed Stars.
Phil Mag. 1823. Vol. LXII. p. 161.
32. Astronomical Information. Phil. Mag. 1823. Vol. LXII.
pp. 391 and 466.
33. Mr. Pond and M. Bessel. Phil. Mag. 1823. Vol. LXII,
pp. 390 and 467.
34. On the Mercurial Compensation-Pendulum. Head May 9.
and June 13, 1823. Mem. Ast. Soc. Vol. I. pp. 381-420, with a Plate.
35. On the enssuing Opposition of Mars. Phil. Mag, 1824. Vol.
LXIII. p. 50.
36. On the Circular Micrometer. Phil. Mag. 1824. Vol. LXIII.
p. 167.
37. On Ml". Babbage's New Machine for Calculating and Printing
Mathematical and Astronomical Tables. Phil. Mag. May, 1824. Vol. LXin. p. 335 ; and Ast. Nach. No. 46.
38. On the Occultation of the Georgium Sidus. Phil. Mag.
1824. Vol. LXIII. p. 458.
39. Astronomical Discovery (Bessel). Phil. Mag. 1824. Vol.
LXIV. p. 67.
40. New Lunar Tables by M. Damoiseau. Phil. Mag. 1824.
Vol. LXIV. p. Qd>.
41. On the Method of determining the Difference of Meridians by
the Culmination of the Moon and Stars ; with an Aj^pendix and a List of Stars applicable to the purpose for the year
1825. Read April 9 and May 14, 1824. Mem. Ast. Soc. Vol. II. p. 1.
42. A Statement of some Circumstances connected with the Mode
of contracting the Columbian Loan in 1824. London, 1825. 8vo.
43. Astronomical Information. Phil. Mag. 1825. Vol. LXV.
p. 466.
44. Errors in Piazzi's Catalogue of Stars. Phil. Mag. 1825. Vol.
LXVL p, 261.
45. Notice respecting the Opposition of Mars. Phil. Mag. 1825.
Vol. LXVI. p. 465.
MEMOIR OF THE AUT[IOR. GT)
46. An Address delivered at a Special General Meeting of the
Astronomical Society of London, on April 14, 1826, on presenting the Gold Medals to J. F. W. Herschel, Esq., J. South, Esq., and Professor Struve. Afem. Ast. iSoc. Vol. II. p. 541.
47. Astronomical Tables and Formulte, together with a variety of
Problems explanatory of their use and application. To which are prefixed the Elements of the Solar System. London. 1827. 8vo.
48. Astronomical Collections, No. I., containing a Catalogue of
Zodiacal Stars. London, March, 1827. 8vo. (Not published for sale.)
49. New Tables for facilitating the Computation of Precession,
Aberration, and Nutation of 2881 principal Fixed Stars ; together with a Catalogue of the same reduced to Jan. 1, 1830. To which is prefixed an Introduction explanatory of their construction and application. Loudon, 1827. Appendix to Vol. II. Mem. Ast. Soc.
50. Further List of Errors in Piazzi's Catalogue of Stars. Phil.
Mag. 1827. Vol. I. p. 19.
51. List of Moon-culminating Stars for 1827. Phil. Mag. 1827.
Vol. I. (new series) p. 47.
52. On some new Auxiliary Tables for determining the Apparent
Places of the Greenwich Stars. Phil. Mag. for 1827. Vol. L p. 81.
53. On the Eoyal Observatory at Palermo. Phil. Mag. 1827.
Vol. II. p. 81.
54. On the Right Ascension of y C'asdopeice. Phil. Mag. 1828.
Vol. III. p. 64.
55. New Astronomical Ephemeris. Phil. Mag. 1828. Vol. IV. p. 141.
5Q. On a new Micrometer, principally intended for the Construc- tion of a more complete Map of the Heavens. By M. Steinheil. Phil. Mag. 1828. Vol. IV. p. 173.
57. Further Remarks on the present Defective State of the Nautical Almanac; to which is added an Account of the new Astronomical Ephemeris published at Berlin. London, Jan. 1829. 8vo.
(Extracted from the Appendix to " Astronomical Tables and Formulae.") F
66 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
58. A Letter to the Editor of " The Times," and inserted in that
paper April 17, 1829.
59. On the Discordances in the Results of the Methods for Deter-
mining the Length of the Simple Pendulum. Phil. Mag. 1829. Yol. Y. p. 97.
60. Appendix to Lieut. H. Foster's Paper on the Longitude of
Port Bowen, by the Method of Moon-culminating Stars. London, 1829. Mem. Ast. Soc. Yol. III. p. 43.
61. A Catalogue of the Positions (in 1690) of 5Q^ Stars observed by
Flamsteed, but not inserted in his Bi-itish Catalogue ; to- gether with some Remarks on Flamsteed's Observations. Read May 8, 1829. Mem. Ast. Soc. Yol. lY. pp. 129-164. Q'2. On the System of Prize Chronometers at Greenwich. Phil. Mag. 1829. Yol. YI. p, 424.
63. On Mr. Pond's recent Catalogue of the Places of 720 principal
Stars, compared with the Places of the same Stars in the Catalogue of this Society ; with Remarks on the Differences between the two Catalogues. Read March 12, 1830. Mem. Ast. Soc. Yol. lY. pp. 255-290.
64. Mayer's Catalogue of Stars, corrected and enlarged ; together
with a Comparison of the Places of the greater part of them, with those given by Bradley, and a reference to every Observation of every Star. Read June 11, 1830. Mem. Ast. Soc. Yol. lY. pp. 391-445.
65. Report of the Committee of the Astronomical Society of
London, relative to the Improvement of the Nautical Almanac. Adopted by the Council, November 19, 1830 : approved by the Right Honourable Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and ordered by them to be carried into effect. Mem. Ast. Soc. Yol. lY. p. 447.
66. On the New Nautical Almanac. Phil. Mag. 1831. Yol.
IX. p. 23.
67. Lacaille's Catalogue of 398 principal Stars, together with a
Comparison of the Places of such as are visible in this Lati- tude with those given by Bradley, and a reference to every Observation of every Star. Read April 8 and May 13, 1831. Mem. Ast. Soc. Yol. Y. pp. 93-124.
68. On the Proper Motion of the Fixed Stars : with a List of
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. G7
those which are known, or supposed, to be materially affected by such a motion. Read Dec. 9, 1831. If em. Ast. SoG. Yol. V. pp. 147-170.
69. On the Visitation of Greenwich Observatory, with a Copy
of the Kew Warrant. Phil Mag. 1831. Yol. TX. p. 72.
70. On the Computation of the Moon's Motion in Right Ascension.
PhU. Mag. 1831. Yol. IX. p. 24 1 .
71. On the Correction of a Pendulum for the Reduction to a
Yacuum : together with Remarks on some Anomalies observed in Pendulum Experiments. Read May 31, 1831. Phil. Trans. 1832. pp. 399-492.
72. An Account of Experiments with an Invariable Pendulum,
during a Russian Scientific Yoyage by Captain Luetke Phil. Mag. 1832. Yol. I. p. 420.
73. An Address delivered at the Annual General Meeting of the
Royal Astronomical Society, on Feb. 8, 1833, on presenting the Honorary Medal to Professor Airy. Mem. Ast. Soc. Yol. YI. pp. 247-256.
74. Report on the Pendulum Experiments made by the late Capt.
Henry Foster, R.N., in his Scientific Yoyage in the years 1828-1831, with a view to determine the Figure of the Earth.
Printed at the public expense, and forming the seventh
volume of the Memows of the Royal Astronomical
Society. 1834. 4to.
75. Some Account of the Astronomical Observations made by Dr.
Edmund Halley, at the Royal Obsei'vatory at Greenwich. Read Nov. 14, 1834. Mem. Ast . Soc. Yol.YIII. pp. 1G9-190.
76. An Address delivered at the Annual General Meeting of the
Royal Astronomical Society, Feb. 13, 1835, on presenting the Honorar'y Medal to Lieutenant Johnson. Mem. Ast. Soc. Yol. YIII. p. 298.
77. An Account of the Rev. John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer
Royal, compiled from his own Manuscripts and other aiithentic Documents, never before pubhshed. To which is added, his British Catalogue of Stars, corrected and enlarged. London, 1835. 4to.
(Printed at the public expense.)
F 2
68 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
78. Report on the New Standard Scale of this Society. Presented
December 11, 1835. Mem. Ast. Soc. Vol. IX. p. 35.
79. On a Remarkable Phenomenon that occurs in Total and An-
nular Eclipses of the Sun. Read Dec. 9, 1836. Mem. Ast. SoG. Vol. X. p. 1.
80. Supplement to the Account of the Rev. John Flamsteed.
London, 1837. 4to.
(Printed at his own expense for private circulation only.)
81. An Address to Astronomical Observers relative to the Im-
provement and Extension of the Astronomical Society's Catalogue of 2881 Stars. London, 1837. 4to. (For private circulation only.)
82. On the Non-existence of the star 42 Virginis. Monthly Notices
of the Roy. Ast. Soc. June 9, 1837.
83. On the Repetition of the Cavendish Experiment. Monthly
Notices of the Roy. Ast. Soc. Dec. 8, 1837.
84. Description of a New Barometer, recently fixed up in the
Apartments of the Royal Society ; with Remarks on the Mode hitherto pursued at various periods, and an Account of that which is now adopted for correcting the observed Height of the Mercury in the Society's Barometers. Phil. Trams. 1837, p. 431.
85. An Address delivered at the Annual General Meeting of the
Royal Astronomical Society, Feb. 8, 1839, on presenting the Honorary Medal to the Hon. John Wrottesley. Mem. Ast. Soc. Vol. XI. p. 306.
86. Experiments with the Torsion-Rod for Determining the Mean
Density of the Earth. Mem. Ast. Soc. Vol. XIV, (Printed partly at the Government expense.)
87. The Catalogues of Ptolemy, Ulugh Beigh, Tycho Brahe,
Halley, Hevelius, deduced from the best Authorities ; with various Notes and Corrections, and a Preface to each Catalogue. To which is added the synonym of each Star in the Catalogues of Flamsteed or Lacaille, as far as the same can be ascertained. Forming Vol. XIII. of Mem. Ast. Soc.
(Printed at his own expense.)
88. Some Remarks on the Total Eclipse of the Sun, on July 8,
1842. Mem. Ast. Soc. Vol.XV. p. 1.
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. G9
89. Posthumous. Tlie Catalogue of Stars of the British Associa- tion for the Advancemeut of Science ; containing the mean right ascensions and north polar distances of 8377 fixed stars, reduced to January 1, 1850 : together with their annual Precessions, secular Variations, and proper Motions, as well as the logarithmic constants for computing Preces- sion, Aberration, and Nutation. With a preface explana- tory of their construction and ajjplication. By the late Francis Baily. . . . London, 1845, 4to. [Superintended, after Mr. Baily's death, by Dr. Robinson, Professor Challis, and Lieut. Stratford, R.N.]
90. Fosthumoios. A Catalogue of 9766 Stars in the Southern
Hemisphere, for the beginning of the year 1750, from the Observations of the Abbe de Lacaille made at the Cape of Good Hope in the years 1751 and 1752. Reduced at the expense of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, under the immediate superintendence of the late Professor Hendei'son, director of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, and printed at the expense of her Majesty's Government, under the direction of the late Francis Baily, Esq. With a preface by Sir J. F. W. Herschel. London, 1847, 8vo.
91. Posthu/mous, A Catalogue of those Stars in the Ilistoire
Celeste Frangaise of Jerome Delalande, for which tables of reduction to the epoch of 1800 have been published by Professor Schumacher. Reduced at the expense of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, under the immediate superiutendence of the late Francis Baily, Esq. Printed at the expense of her Majesty's Government. London, 1847, 8vo. [Superintended, after Mr. Baily's death, by Sir J. F. W. Herschel, G. B. Airy, Astronomer Royal, and Lieut. Stratford, R.N. The number of stars is 47,390.]
70 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
*^/'' The following additions to the preceding Memoir ajypea/r in the Annucd Report of the Council oftlie Royol Astronomical Society for 1853-4, read February 10, 1854.
Though it is not usual to introduce supplements to obituary notices contained in former Reports, yet the interest which is here felt in all that relates to Francis Baily will justify the statement of some facts relative to his early life, which have been brought out by a recent examination of his correspondence, and of the journal of his voyage in America.
Perhaps the earliest mention of his name in print is in the proceedings of the American Congress. The Spanish authorities had imposed various hardships upon citizens of the United States and other foreigners, by the depre- ciation of their coinage ; and in the discussions which took place at Washington upon this subject, the name of Baily is cited as one of the parties aggrieved. It dis- tinctly appears that one of the objects of his tour was the formation or extension of commercial connexion, pro- bably of some house in England. It also appears that during his voyage he gave formal notice of his intention to apply for the privileges of citizenship, with a view to take up his permanent residence in the United States ; and further, that his friends in England were made cogni- sant of this intention. Some allusions to a young lady seem to give the reason of this contemplated change of country ; but nothing is found which explains the aban- donment of the plan. Two subjects are concealed in short-hand : one is that which has just been hinted at ; the other is the expression of his feelings towards Washington, for whom he entertained a respect, the depth
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 71
of which may best be judged of from the description of his mode of recording it.
On his return to England, he seems for some time to have had no decided plan, except that of adopting some life of active adventure. In May, 1798, he was seeking a commission in the militia, and an ensigncy in the volunteer company of the Berkshire corps was actually oifered. In December of the same year, he had been inquiring as to the means of obtaining a commission in the Engineers ; and a letter from Bonnycastle, which represents the impossibility of such a thing, hints at the East India Company's Service, and informs him that several officers and other gentlemen are soon going to Turkey. In May, 1799, he applied to the African Association, with an offer to enrol himself in their service as a traveller, and by a letter from Sir Joseph Banks, (June 11), it appears, that, if there had been sufficient funds, his offer might have been seriously considered. In a private letter to Sir John Stepney (Sept. 18, 1799) is the following passage:— "I had proposed to myself a route which should be less circuitous than those of Park or Ilorneman, namely, to proceed northwardly, or north- eastwardly from Calabar or Wydah, till I should strike the Niger. I had the subject so much at heart, that I would have gone through any trials to have accomplished my object. With respect to the difficulties and dangers of such an undertaking, they would, no doubt, have been many; but they are things which much experience of this mode of travelling in the New World has induced me to think light of. I can even say with Horace, Dulce peri- culum est. So true is it that habit and custom can soon efface those disagreeable sensations which arise from some
72 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
of the rough accidents of life. After a number of fruitless attempts to succeed in mj object, and meeting with so little encouragement in the prosecution of it, I have at length determined to give it up ; and an event is about to take place which most probably will prevent my ever resuming it — this is, my going to enter into partnership with an eminent stockbroker in the City."
All this time it appears that Baily was paying close attention to mathematics, astronomy, and botany. The earliest astronomical writing of his now extant is a paper (dated October, 1798), written apparently for his own instruction, containing a description of a neatly drawn projection of the heavens after sunset on April 5, 1799, at which time he says, '^ all the planets in our system will be above the horizon at the same time, forming a line along the ecliptic from the most westerly point to near the zenith."
The origin of the work on " Tables and Formulse," is in a manuscript having the title " Elements of Astronomy, deduced from M. Laplace's ' Exposition du Systeme du Monde.'" London, 1810. This manuscript^ most neatly written, was certainly intended for publication ; and by being marked in pencil ^' Communicated by Francis Baily, Esq.," and " 25 copies for Mr. Baily," it seems to have been drawn up for some society for mutual instruction, or other private association.
To complete what was said on Baily's writings in Sir John Herschel's Memoir of his life, it may be added that a large mass of his astronomical papers and correspondence, including much of the account of Flamsteed, and the whole of the Catalogue, is, or will be, deposited at Green- wich. The manuscripts of the works on Leases, on Inte-
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 73
rest, and on Annuities, are in the library of tlie Institute of Actuaries. An account of his correspondence with Mr. George Barrett, which was the means of laying before the world one of the greatest improvements ever made in the calculation of life contingencies, will appear in the "Assurance Magazine" for April (1854) next.
{Pages 9-11 and 31-35.) Subsequent investigations require the following remarks on the eclipse of Thales, and on the standard scale. The recent elaborate researches of Mr. Airy, (under- taken on doubts suggested by Mr. Baily's remark, that no single correction would reconcile the eclipse of Thales with that of Agathocles,) conducted upon the latest im- provements in the lunar theory, have led him to reject the eclipse of 610 B.C., and to substitute for it that of May 28, 585 B.C., changing the locality of the battle from the mouth of the river Halys to Issus, at the head of the Mediterranean, which accords even better with the state- ment of Herodotus. By this change of place and date the two eclipses are reconciled with each other, and with the improvements in the lunar theory.
The anticipations of tlie permanence and accuracy of the record of length to be obtained from the Astronomical Society's standard have scarcely been justified by its sub- sequent history. In the year 1835 the Astronomical Society's standard was compared by Mr. Baily with the tubular standards of similar construction, one the private property of Mr. Baily, and the other belonging to Mr. Simms. The same standards were again compared by Mr. Baily, by use of the same comparing apparatus, in the
74 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
year 1844. On collating the two comparisons, it was found that the relation between the lengths of the dif- ferent standards had altered by ^ of an inch. In 1854 Mr, Sheepshanks repeated the comparisons, and his results agreed with those of Mr. Baily in 1844, in showing that the relation of lengths had changed, although the amount of change appeared somewhat less than Mr. Baily had found it.
Mr. Baily, however, in 1844, put the permanence of the standard to a severer proof. The Astronomical Society's standard (cylindrical in form) leaves four sets of marks, each set defining very approximately a measure of five feet, at four equidistant parts of the cylindrical circumference. Those four measures were compared by Mr. Baily in 1834, and again in 1844. Their relative lengths had sensibly altered : in two instances by more than eiro of ^^ i^ch.
In consequence of these anomalies, the Astronomical Society's standard was not used by Mr. Sheepshanks in the restoration of the national standard of length.
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0^ Wednesday, the 21st of October, 1795, 1 embarked on board the Jay, Capt. O'Brien, bound to JSFew York, then lying at Gravesend. Whilst we lay in the river, the brig Harlequin, of Belfast, ran foul of us, and carried away our bowsprit and cutwater, which detained us a day or two longer than we expected, so that we did not reach the Downs till the 25th. Here the pilot left us, and we lay amidst a fleet of upwards of a hundred sail, waiting for a fair wind to take us out of the Channel. The weather had been calm for some days before, and the wind westerly, so that we had every reason to expect that a favourable breeze would spring up before any great length of time elapsed. But how soon may our hopes and expectations be clouded over by adverse and unforeseen contingencies I for, on the night of the 29th, whilst we were at supper in the cabin, a most violent gale of wind sprung up, almost as sudden as it was un- expected. The damage which it did that night in the Downs, and in other places along the coast as well as ashore, is still in the recollection of many. Most of the ships parted their cables, and drifted about without being able to bring up ; some ran foul of each other, many
76 JOURNAL OF A TOUR.
were driven on the Goodwin Sands, and others foundered at their anchors. The first notice of any danger which we received, was the sight of a ship drifting towards us, and which we had scarcely discovered, before we ex- pected every moment that she would run foul of us. This we endeavoured to avoid by paying out more cable, and manoeuvring the ship to keep out of her track ; but all to no purpose, we were so surrounded by shipping, that equal danger seemed on every side, and all we could do was to stand by and wait the event, as she was fast approaching towards our starboard quarter. In a few moments she came with her bowsprit athwart our gun- wale : the former was immediately broken in pieces by the violence of the stroke. The horrid crash arising from this, and from our rigging and quarter-boards being all carried away at the same time, together with the violent concussion given to the ship by such an immense body striking her so forcibly, raised in us apprehensions that the ship had received some considerable damage ; but whilst we were employed in ascertaining this fact, an- other unlucky ship which had parted her cables, and been driven about at the mercy of the winds, attacked us on the other quarter, so that we were absolutely between two fires, and in a very dangerous situation. It was now about ten o'clock : the sea, which but a few hours before had been nearly calm, now ran mountains high; and by the alternate elevation and depression of its waves, we received several reiterated and repeated shocks from our two neighbouring foes. At length one of them veered round under our hows and cut our cable ; the consequence was, that we drifted away, and escaped the imminent danger to which we had been exposed. We directly let go our
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other anclior ; but the cable, being very old and rotten, parted immediately, the wind still blowing very heavy, and the sea running exceedingly high, and both united drifting us towards the Goodwin Sands, so that a still more imminent danger seemed to await us than that from which we had just escaped. Thus we were in a state of forlorn hope, — both anchors gone, and the wind and tide setting us on towards that spot which has been the grave of many a seaman ! At length we got the remaining part of the broken cable bent to a large sheet anchor which we had below deck, and heaving it overboard, after dragging for some time it brought us up about twelve o'clock within a cable's length of the breakers. Here we waited with anxious suspense till the morning, when a Deal pilot, seeing our precarious situation, came off to our assistance, and took charge of the ship ; and the day after, the storm having abated, we got into Ramsgate harbour to refit.
It was truly a deplorable sight to see the havoc made amongst the shipping by this dreadful hurricane : the greatest part of them had suffered very materially, and were obliged to return to port to repair their damages. One vessel, a transport, which lay alongside us, went down at her anchors ; two others, which lay not far distant, we saw towed into the harbour with the loss of all their masts. One of them was laden with Hessian soldiers, bound to Cork, and it was some time before they could get permission to be landed, being foreign troops in actual service ; so that the poor distressed objects were obliged to remain aboard the ship till they could get an order for their removal.
Monday, November 9fh. — This morning, the wind
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springing up from the eastward, and our damages being repaired, the signal was hoisted for sailing, and about twelve o'clock we all got on board. The number of pas- sengers, besides myself, was five, amongst whom was one lady. We were the last of near fifty sail of vessels that sailed out of the harbour this morning, all bound down Channel ; but, crowding all the sail we could, and having a favourable breeze, we came up with most of them before night, and next morning left them all behind, our ship sailing remarkably fast. It is a most charming sight to see so many vessels under sail at the same time, to remark their different manoeuvres and observe their signals, to notice their earnest efforts to get a head of each other, and the apparent mortification of those who are not able to keep up with the rest. This, together with that pleas- ing sensation of being carried on with a great rapidity of motion without any labour or trouble,"" added, perhaps, to the novelty of the scene, made me for the moment quite fascinated with a seafaring life, and tended to re- move a little of that dejection so natural to a person leaving his native country, perhaps for ever !
November 11th. — Got abreast of Scilly lighthouse this morning by six o'clock, having had a fine run down the Channel in forty-two hours. This being the last land we see till our arrival on the American coast, we therefore took our departure from it ; that is, the latitude and longitude of this place being well ascertained, we made it a point from which to calculate, and to which to refer all our daily reckonings during the voyage. The common principles of navigation, sufficient to keep a ship's reckon-
* Dr. Johnson used to remark that few things were more plea- sant than being whirled along rapidly in a post chaise.
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ing, are very easily learned without • going into the great depths of the science ; and it would not only be found a very pleasant amusement during the many vacant hours aboard a ship, if a part of the time were employed in this manner, but would also tend to give clearer ideas of geographical and nautical science than otherwise might be obtained.
After being a few days out of sight of land, and not having seen anything to relieve the eye from that same- ness of appearance in the sea and heavens which takes place on being immerged into the bosom of the wide ocean, I began to think of Dr. Johnson's opinion of a seafaring life, and could not help partially admiring the justness of the remark.* Still, however, if there be pleasant company aboard, and if you take care to furnish yourself with books, draughts, cards, music, or any other thing which may serve to banish ennui, the time will appear not only free from weariness, but at times may be spent as agreeably as on shore. Reading as well as writing will be very irksome at first, owing to the motion of the ship ; and it is some time before one can acquire a countermotion to oppose its effects.
Dr. Franklin recommends to persons going a voyage to take rusks with them, or pieces of bread baked over again, supposing that they would soon get tired of biscuit. For my own part, if ever you think of taking a trip across the Atlantic, I should recommend the former ; but that which would supersede the use of either would be the taking of a little yeast on board, just before you start ;
* A ship (says he) is worse than a gaol. There is, in a gaol, better air and better company, better conveniency of every kind ; and a ship has the additional disadvantage of being in danger.
80 JOURNAL OF A TOUR.
by this means you may have new bread every day, as almost every ship has an oven on board. Besides the stores laid in by the captain for the use of the pas- sengers, I would recommend every person to lay in a small private stock * on his own account of those things for which he thinks he may have most occasion ; parti- cularly such as, not being immediately necessaries, are often overlooked by the captain, as oranges, apples, raisins, lemons, and other fruit : they will prove very pleasant and acceptable at all times, but still more so if sickness takes place. In this latter case, tapioca or sago, boiled in a little water, and mixed with some white wine and sugar, will be very grateful, as well as nourishing ; it is soon taken up in the circulation, and does not load the stomach so much as animal food.
Becemher 1 Uh. — We had been out now thirty-five days, and were, by our reckoning, within one or two days' sail of New York : our passage had not been long ; and we began to anticipate the pleasure of setting our feet once more on terra firma. But our hopes were here, as in the first outset, cut short by the precarious winds. The whole day it had blown very hard from the north-west ; and every succeeding moment gave symptoms of a storm near at hand ; we accordingly lay-to under our foresail, and waited with anxious suspense its result. Towards night we found the gale had increased considerably ; however, seeing we could be of no service upon deck, we turned in and went to bed. The wind whistled through the rigging, and the waves dashed against the sides of the
* This is recommended by most voyagers, and particularly by Dr. Franklin ; yet it is a thing which is very little attended to, till persons have found the want by experience.
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ship, SO that it was with difficulty we could hear eacli other speak : and this, independent of anything else, was enough to banish sleep from our eyes ; yet it at last over- took us, and we remained locked up in its silken bands, unconscious of harm, or unsuspecting danger, till we were awakened by a violent concussion of the ship, attended with a most hideous crash. It was not long ere I was on deck to learn the cause, and found that a sea had struck her on the larboard bow, and carried away the binnacle, the two boats, hencoops, and every thing else on the deck ; happily, no lives were lost. It blew most tremendously hard, the sea ran mountains high, and seemed to groan most horribly at this conflict of nature, this war of ele- ments. I could not help admiring the sublime spectacle, and observing how much the science of navigation and naval architecture had been improved since its first dis- covery. When I reflected on the little row-boats of which they made use in former days, and their being obliged always to keep inland, and push into a har- bour on the first appearance of a storm ;""" and when I contrasted that with the present improved state of the art and science (when such enormous bodies carrying such heavy pieces of artillery are made use of not only for the purposes of commerce, but also of war and attack, by which a great part of the human race are actually become tenants of the ocean) ; or when I con- trasted it with my then present situation, tossed and buifetted about at the mercy of the winds and waves, sometimes apparently raised to the clouds above, and the next moment sunk into the abyss below, and as sud-
* Anderson, vol. i. lutro. p. 81. Robertson's History C'f America, vol. i. p. 5.
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denlj overwhelmed by the surrounding waves, I could not help thinking what praise was due to those who had by their exertions tended to bring naval architecture and the science of navigation to their present state of per- fection ; and I am proud to acknowledge my countrymen amongst the first promoters of this art and science. For my own part, I rank Columbus and Cook amongst the highest ornaments of the three last centuries ; and I take equal pleasure in seeing a square-rigged vessel propor- tionate in all its parts, as in viewing the most perfect models of Grecian architecture. But, to return from this digression. The gale in which we were continued to increase without intermission for three days, when it blew a perfect hurricane. During this time we learned that the ship was considerably out of repair, and had suffered very much from the storm ; that her beam-ends were rotten, her sternposts loose, her iron works almost all rusted away, her rudderbolts loose, her decks very much out of repair, and that she wanted oakum in every part of her. In this predicament it was not to be supposed we thought ourselves very safe. She was almost a wreck, and at one time made so much water, that we were obliged to keep both pumps going. Accordingly, on the third day, —
December 17th, — The captain, finding he could not gain the coast, that the wind had no appearance of abating, and that the ship was unable to stand against the hurricane any longer, put her about, and resolved to bear away for the Island of Bermuda, so celebrated by Waller, which lies in N. L. 32° 20', W. L. 65°, and which was the nearest port to which he could run. We had not been many hours on this tack before we discovered a number of staves and
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spars floating on the surface of the ocean, which seemed to increase in quantity the further we proceeded. The captain immediately conceived the sad catastrophe, and ordered all hands aloft to look out for a wreck. In about half an hour one of the men from the fore-top- mast head descried something, he could not tell what. "We accordingly bore down for it, and on coming up with it, found it to be a brig, which had been upset apparently the night before. Her keel was upwards, and the masts (which were broken off, and retained by the rigging) ap- peared to be fresh broken. She had no name on her stern. All hands were ordered aloft again to look out for her boat, to see if happily any of the crew escaped ; but our efforts were unsuccessful, and we had every reason to believe they met with a watery grave. We supposed she was laden with staves and spars upon the deck ; and that in scudding a sea had struck her on her quarter and upset her ; in which case there would be no pro- bability of any of the crew escaping, the event being so instantaneous. I must confess this sight affected us very much, and raised in us a sense of gratitude for our pre- servation somewhat deeper than what we might otherwise have been impressed with had we not seen it. It is astonishing what great risks the New England men will run sometimes, in endeavouring to save their property. I have known them, when, in a gale of wind, their main deck has been covered with spars lashed to each other, to stand with the axe in their hand, and to run till the last moment, at the imminent peril of being upset ; and when they have at last observed the sea coming to strike them in a dangerous quarter, they have cut the lashings and let all go.
G 2
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It was not long ere we came into the latitude of Bermuda, tlie wind being very favourable ; and by our stretching so far to the south-west and going right before the wind, we soon got out of those violent north-westerly gales which almost continually infest the American coast. The Bermuda Islands lying very low are not seen at any great distance, which makes them so difficult to make, that is, to be discovered. We beat about here for three days without being able to discover land, amidst the most tempestuous weather; with which, it is* observed, these islands are generally troubled. After carrying away our mizen-topmast, and springing our fore-top, and tearing our sails to pieces, we were obliged to give up the pursuit, and bear away to the Island of Antigua.
In going from Bermuda to Antigua, we crossed what are called the Horse Latitudes, extending from lat. 26° to 28°, and so called from the great destruction of horses between these limits ; for it is observed that it almost always blows a hurricane here, or is a dead calm ; and as the New England men trade a great deal in this species of cattle to the West Indies, and carry them on the decks of their vessels, they often get carried away, in the first instance, by the sea breaking over the vessel, or else are so long detained by the calm in these latitudes as to die through want of provisions.
On the 25th of December, 1795, (Christmas- day,) we crossed the tropic f of Cancer ; and here it was that Old
* I have heard the same remark made on the Western Islands, and on the island which forms Cape Hatteras, — that there exist generally very violent winds blowing out at sea for near one hun- dred miles round the coast.
t Here we came into the influence of those steady gales which
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Neptune, as is usual in such cases, came aboard and de- manded a sight of those who had not entered the sanctum sanctorum before. We were accordingly all drawn up, and he soon signalized those who had never yet crossed the line ; and having exacted his fine, departed. In case of non-compliance we should have been punished agreeably to the manner prescribed in such cases, and which is called shaving; it is this : — the sailors place you on a stick over a large tub of water ; and, at a signal given, the stick is knocked from under, and you fall backwards into the tub over your head and ears in water ; when you raise your head it is immediately smeared over with pitch and tar, and all the filth they can gather about the ship, and if they can introduce any into your mouth they will be so much the more satisfied and delighted.
December '2,1 th. — About four o'clock this morning, the moon shining very bright, and the weather being very serene and pleasant, to our great joy we discovered land ahead, which we soon after found to be the Island of Barbuda, and by daylight saw Antigua. Barbuda is a flat island, extending about twenty miles in length and twelve in breadth ; it contains but few families. We coasted along the leeward side of it, as near as the rocks, which extend a great way out at sea, and are very dan- gerous to navigators, would permit us; we could observe the cattle on the shore, which, with the green trees and constant verdure with which these islands are perpetually blessed, was a most pleasing sight to us who had been on the wide ocean so long, and had escaped so many dangers.
perpetually blow, with some little variation, from one point of the compass the whole year round ; and are well known by sailors under the name of trade-winds.
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Barbuda lies very low compared with the other West India islands, for they mostly appear to be exceeding high mountains, particularly the Island of Saba, belonging to the Dutch, which appears now at an amazing distance off, in the shape of a cone, and whose summit seems to reach the skies. About twelve o'clock, on our hoisting a signal, a pilot came on board ; and in the afternoon we anchored in St. John's roads, being unable to go into the harbour, owing to a bar which crosses the mouth of it, and which prevents vessels of any great burthen passing it without first unlading. In the evening we went ashore, and having found out a boarding-house, we took our abode there this night.
December 28th. — Never having dreamed that such an unforeseen event should befal us, neither myself nor any of my fellow passengers had brought any letters of intro- duction or credit to this part of the world, so that we were in a truly unfortunate situation, especially on hear- ing to-day, that on a review by the ship carpenters ap- pointed to examine the ship, she had been declared to be not sea-ivorihi/, and to be totally unfit for the purposes of navigation, by which event we were obliged to look out for another vessel to take us to the continent. However, in a country where benevolence and hospitality are so prevalent, we did not remain long without enjoying their effects; for the Hon. Edward Byam, Esq., the president of the Island, and the Hon. Thomas Norbury Kerby, Esq., the treasurer, hearing that the ship had put into the port in distress, and that there were several passengers aboard, immediately sent to us, and in the most polite and ingenuous manner offered us their assistance. They took a great deal of trouble to provide us with a comfortable
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boarding-house, invited us to their table, and furnished us with every means necessary to make our stay in the island pleasant and agreeable ; and I am happy thus to acknowledge their generous conduct and unsolicited assistance.
Antigua (which lies in N'. L. 17° 30', W. L. 62° 5') is about twenty miles in diameter, and about fifty in cir- cumference ; it is, like the rest of the West India islands which I have seen, very hilly and rocky ; nevertheless, some parts of it are very fertile. There are very few or no trees upon it but such as are raised for fruit, as oranges, lemons, limes, cocoas, &c., most of the country being laid out in plantations.* In going to English Harbour, during my stay on the island, I passed over several hills of solid rock, without any layer of earth on them ; many of them were prodigiously high, and by some convulsion of nature several large pieces of rock had been thrown off into the valley beneath, some of which were as large as a moderate-sized house. The view of the distant islands of Nevis, St. Kitts, Montserrat, and Guadaloupe, and the views of the sea from different parts of this highly romantic country, added to that agreeable variety of hill and dale, with which this island is interspersed, make the scenery very pictu- resque and enchanting. The roads are very bad, so much so that I was almost afraid to venture myself in
* There is neither river nor spring in the whole island, so that they are obliged to make use of rain water, which they preserve in large stone reservoirs made in the ground, into which all the rain which falls on their houses is conducted by pi-oper spouts ; and this, if it stands any length of time, becomes green, and full of living animals. Some make use of wooden butts set up on end.
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one of their sulkeys, a conveyance made a good deal like a one-horse chaise in England ; it has a top to it, sup- ported by two iron rods, and leather curtains are made to let down on both sides and behind, in case of rain ; when this is the case, and the person happens to be driving to windward, he lets down the curtains, turns the sulkey round, with its back to the wind, and waits till the squall is over, then, putting up the curtains, again pur- sues his journey.
St. John's, which is the capital "^'^ of the island, is a miserable-looking place, there being to outward appear- ance scarcely a decent house in it, though many of them are fitted up tolerably well in the inside ; the houses are mostly built of wood, with nothing but a ground floor, which consists of a hall and two or three bedrooms. The hall is the first place you enter, and faces the street, and is generally the only room the inha- bitants have to sit in ; it is therefore built large, for the benefit of the air. Glass windows are but little made use of ; the climate being so hot, they are continued open, with shutters affixed to keep out the rain. Their beds are a mattress, stufibd hard, and raised in the middle
* It looks more like a country village running to ruins than the capital of an island. Possibly my just coming from England might heighten the effect which this apparently ruinous place produced on my mind. Mr. Cox takes notice of the different appearance which places and things had, according to the country through which he had antecedently travelled. " On again entering Schauffhausen," says he, "the 18th of July, 1786, I was not so much struck with its neatness as in 1776. The reason is obvious : In my former expetlition I emerged from the wilds of Suabia ; on the latter occasion I had just quitted the cultivated parts of Ba- varia."— Travels throiigh Stvitzerland, vol. i. p. 4.
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(a feather bed would be too warm), over which a single sheet is thrown ; and round the whole is a fine gauze curtain to keep off the mosquitos, which are very trouble- some. The town is divided into streets crossing each other at right angles ; but no attention is paid to the building of the houses, being patched up in a slovenly manner, and some of them no better than huts. The streets are in the same condition, none of them being paved or kept in the least order, but great stones and rubbish thrown into them, which renders it very trou- blesome walking or riding ; in flict, the inhabitants walk very little here, for if they want to go to any place, far or near, they order out their horses. The ladies ride about in sulkeys. There is a tavern near the water-side, kept by one Scotland, which, by the by, appears no better than a country ale-house in England ; it is made use of as a kind of exchange, and in the evening is fre- quented by many of the inhabitants, who there play in the public room at cards, dice, backgammon, and other games, and sometimes considerable sums of money are lost. There is no playhouse nor assembly-room in the place, though sometimes the inhabitants act a play among themselves, and sometimes there are private dances.
Among the public buildings of this place, there are only two, excepting the church, which deserve attention ; these are the barracks and the court-house. The former is commodiously built at the upper end of the town, on an eminence, and commands a fine view of St. John's and its harbour ; it is of brick, and I suppose would con- tain five hundred men. The court-house is a stone building, and, for the place, a very elegant edifice, well
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fitted up for the purpose, with the diiTerent necessary offices. It stands nearly in the middle of the town. Besides these there are the jail, the guard-house, and the fort, but there is nothing in them to merit particular attention.
January Srd, 1796. — Three of my fellow-passengers and myself proposed going to English Harbour, about twelve miles distant ; and accordingly, having hired two sulkeys, we set off about eight o'clock in the morning, and got to English Harbour to breakfast. There are no taverns in this country, except the one at St. John's, so that our visit was made to a gentleman with whom we had formed some slight acquaintance during our stay. In a country where hospitality is so prevalent as it is here, that natural reserve so characteristic of Eng- lishmen soon wears off, and a mutual interchange of sen- timents and good offices takes place, which sets aside every idea of intrusion, or of being an unwelcome guest. After breakfast we went to view the harbour, which is one of the finest in the West Indies. It consists of an inlet of the sea between two very high rocks, the passage between which is very narrow and almost perpendicular. Within, it forms a kind of basin, sheltered on every side by high hills, and of such a depth as to allow a seventy-four to be hove down alongside the yard. During the heaviest gales a ship may ride here with perfect safety, the water being as smooth and as tranquil as in a river. The yard is fitted up with every requisite for a place of this kind.
The town of English Harbour (if a town it may be called) consists of about thirty or forty houses, lying scattered about on the side of one of those hills which
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form the harbour. There is no prospect from the town itself, being surrounded bj a mountainous country ; but from the tops of the hills you have a delightful view of the country and the neighbouring islands. There is a fort on one of these hills, which commands the entrance of the harbour, and which, as well as the fort at St. John's* shows by signals when any vessel appears in the offing, as well as the course she is going, and her bearing from the land. On our return from this place in the evening, we were astonished at the continual noise made by the lizards and other reptiles and insects with which the whole island abounds : it was so loud, that it was with difficulty we could hear each other speak : it had the sound of a number of horse-bells ringing at the same time. The lizard is a beautiful little animal, about four or five inches long in the body, with a tail about three or four inches; some of them are beautifully spotted with variegated colours, generally green and gold : they frequent the leaves of the sugar-cane very much. I have seen sometimes three or four on one leaf basking in the sun. Their motion when disturbed is amazingly quick, almost too much so for the eye.
We were attended on our journey to English Harbour by two negroes, whom the owner of the sulkeys had sent to take care of the horses on our arrival there. I could not, for my soul, help pitying the poor creatures, who kept up a constant running on the side of us the whole way. This I had seen practised before, during my residence on the island, as scarcely any person goes to a place where he expects to stop without his slave to take care of the horse ; and this slave must not ride, but run behind, and keep up as well as he can : sometimes he may be in-
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dulged by his master's suffering him to lay hold of the horse's tail. In this manner I have several times seen negroes following their master, not unusually with the whip in their hand to save him the trouble of carrying it. I have often thought, when I have been witness to this ludicrous scene, that the master deserved the whip much more than the poor beast.
Witli respect to the negroes, though they are treated in this island with more lenity than in any other of the West Indies, yet I had too frequent opportunities of beholding the unhappy and inhuman consequences of such an abominable traffic as the slave-trade. When I went to the plantations to see the process of making the sugar, I beheld in different parts negroes standing with their whips, which every now and then they would exercise on the backs of those who, perhaps but for the moment, neglected to proceed in their various employ- ments : some to bring the cane stalks from the field to the mill ; some to take away the stalks which had been pressed ; and others to feed the fire which kept the cauldrons boiling in which the expressed juice of the cane was placed. I could not but commiserate their unhappy situation : unhappy, perhaps, I should not say, in the strictly logical sense of the word ; because, as happiness is a relative term, they may, no doubt, if they can reconcile them- selves to their unfortunate state, enjoy as great a share of that invaluable blessing, as one born under more favourable circumstances. Why, then, disturb them ? Perhaps, in such circumstances, we ought not ; but as it requires some time before they can be brought to this reconciliation, and as every man must undergo the most severe and afllicting tortures both of body and mind, in
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being deprived of family and friends, torn from his native country, and thrown in chains into the dark hold of a prison ship, deprived of every mean^'' which may tend to make the rugged path of his pilgrimage in this v^^orld the more smooth or comfortable, at once cut off from every hope of escape from a horde of Christian barbarians : I say, the struggles he must encounter during this dark period of misery and oppression, are such as no man, nor nation of men, has a right to inflict on another.
With respect to their being by nature a more depraved and degenerate race of men than the whites, it is too unphilosophical as well as absurd to be insisted upon. What is attributed to nature, arises from their mode of being brought up ; and had they the same advantages of education, they would equal the whites in the improve- ment of their mental faculties. That they are idle, stupid, and depraved under the present system of things, I do not much wonder. Toiling the whole day in the service of their master, wearied at night with the daily routine of labour, and not reaping any benefit from exertions, which, had they that stimulus, they might be prompted to perform, they are of course idle. Not having the advantages of an education, insulted and
* Among the very few corrections I have made, I should have included the substitution of raeans for mean : but this particular word has a charter. Mr. Baily, at that time at least, was under the erroneous impression that the last letter in means is the plural s. In the letter to Noah "Webster, mentioned in page 4, one of the errors attributed is the use of the supposed plural, when the sense was singular. As I should not be justified in allowing any curious biographer, who might consult the New York Gazette, to impute to Mr. Baily the accusation of a practice in which he himself indulged, I have let the word stand. — Ed.
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beaten by a merciless and unfeeling animal in the shape of a man, they become unconscious of their own dignity in the scale of created beings ; the use of those mental faculties, given them by a beneficent Creator, becomes perverted ; and they are branded by those very persons, through whose conduct the effect is accomplished, with the epithet of a stupid and depraved race of men. Yet under all these disadvantages, I have met with many of them who have been active, indus- trious, and of a good moral character ; and, what is still more remarkable, have had, for people in their situation, very refined and exalted ideas of liberty. I do not mean the late Jacobinical system of liberty, where any adven- turer, if he find another with property, claims the liberty of going his halves, or, what would be more consonant to his wishes, of seizing the whole ; but that system which has equal rights and the protection of life and property for its foundation.
Believe me, that, however much interested men may defend this horrid traffic, and with whatever sophistry they may endeavour to justify it, still there are points which must strike home to the feelings of every one, and tell him that such a perversion of the noblest faculties of man, such an unnatural exercise of an unsurped power, and the practice of such a system of tyrannical oppression, is indefensible, both upon the common principles of natural justice, and of divine instruction.
Provisions, during the time we were at Antigua, were very dear, owing in a great measure to the uncertainty of supplies, and the greater consumption during a state of war. Fresh beef, 15d. per lb.; salt ditto, 72s. per barrel ; mutton, lOd. per lb. ; bread, 4id. ; pilot bread,
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54s. per barrel; flour, 67s. 6d. ditto; Irish butter, 63s. per firkin ; old rum, 4s. 6d. to 5s. per gallon ; rum, by the hhd., 3s. to 3s. 4d. per gallon ; fowls, 22s. per doz. ; coffee, 15d. per lb. ; brown sugar, 12d. and 13d. per lb. (an astonishing price for a sugar country) ; a roasting pig, 4s. 6d. ; oranges, 12d. per hundred ; limes, 6d. per hundred ; cocoa nuts, 3d. each, and pine apples, 2d. These are all sterling* prices. The price of a labourer, by the single day, half a dollar ; for the week, 1 dollar, and 2s. for hisf board. Boarding and lodging, with a good table of three different dishes every day, to be had for 2 dollars per day, fruit and liquors included. The inhabitants of this island live very much upon fish, being very fine, and in great abundance. The money which passes in this island is an assemblage of all the coins on the face of the world : any gold coin will pass here for its own weight ; but, as to silver coin, no other passes but the Spanish dollar and its smaller parts. The dollar is reckoned at 8s. 3d. ; and so scarce is silver, that they exact a quarter of a dollar for changing a Johannes, a piece of gold worth eight dollars.
January 21s^, 1796. — Finding that the Jay has been condemned by a Court of Vice-Admiralty, as unfit for the sea, and that she was to be sold for the benefit of the underwriters, I engaged this day with Capt. Woodberry, of the schooner Friendship, bound to Norfolk, in Virginia, and who was ready to sail the first fair wind. Accord- ingly, putting my trunks aboard, I prepared to take leave
* It is to be observed, that all the prices mentioned in this book are reduced to sterling money,
t The hire of a sulkey for the day, 6 dollars ; for a single horse, 3 dollars.
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of this delightful island, where I had received so many marks of generous and hospitable treatment. Whilst I remained on the island there were three more vessels driven into the port in distress, in endeavouring to make the coast of America, and which had been driven off by the same gale of wind we were. I am also informed, that there have arrived several at the other islands, so that its effects must have been dreadful. I was told by a very respectable merchant here, that it is no uncommon thing at this season of the year to be driven off the coast, as the north-west winds prevail so very much ; and he expressed his surprise, that persons who undertake the voyage at this time of the year do not furnish themselves with letters of credit to some one in the islands, in case of such an accident, as it was seldom they brought money out with them : I told him, it was for want of the fact being more generally known.
; You ask me, what were the most remarkable occurrences or curiosities I met with during my voyage. The first and most obvious is the luminousness of the sea, which is so often remarked, and yet so unsatisfactorily accounted for. The first time I observed it was the second or third night after being out at sea, and then I saw it to very great advantage. It appeared at first sight as if the bottom of the ship were on fire ; and the sparks and luminous smoke rising on each side to the surface of the water. I do not know that I can describe its general appearance better than in the words of Father Bourzes, in his* voyage to the Indies, t You must observe that it does not always
* Probably alluding to a paper by Bourzes on tbe luminosity of the sea, publisliecl in tbe Phil. Trans, for 1713, or thereabouts. — Ed, t Some of them were like points of light, others such as stai's
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make this grand spectacle ; in fact, very seldom, — not more than a few sparks, and a luminous appearance of the foam of the sea round the ship's sides. On what par- ticular properties or circumstances the alteration of this phenomencm depends, or what is the real cause of the phenomenon itself, remains to be determined. Mr. Can- ton's opinion, that it arises from the phosphoric property of dead fish, is the most probable. That it does not depend on any known laws of electricity I am well con- vinced in my own mind. What an immense quantity of fishes must have putrified since the creation ! May not the admixture of the phosphoric particles of such fish with the body of water in the ocean, conduce to this phenomenon 1 It is observed that it does not take place unless the water be put in motion ; and when this is the case, the appearance will take place (though difierent in degree, according to some unknown laws) at any time. The course of fishes may be marked out by the luminous track they leave behind, and if you take up a bucket of water from the sea, and dash it on the deck, it disperses into little sparks, and assumes a general luminous ap- pearance. Even the agitation of the waves by the wind is sufiicient to produce the efiect, but in a weaker degree, having then the appearance of an aurora borealis on the water. May not some parts of the sea be more fully impregnated with these phosphoric particles than others,
appear to the naked eye ; some of them were like globes of a line or two in diameter and others as big as one's head. Sometimes they fonned themselves into squares of three or four inches long and one or two broad. Sometimes all these figures were visible at the same time ; and sometimes there were what he calls vortices of light.
H
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which may account for the difference of degree which is observed to take place in this phenomenon at different times 1 However, these are only loose hints thrown out : you will be better able to judge than I where the truth lies.
The flying-fish, of which you wished a description, is a genus exocetus, belonging to the order of abdominales: it is about the size of a small herring ; its head is scaly, and has no teeth ; its body is whitish, and the pectoral fins (the means of its flight) are very large, which, when it is pursued, it spreads out, and by that means raises itself from the water and flies to a considerable distance, till the fins become dry, and then it falls down again into the water ; or, sometimes flying against the sails, it falls down on the deck of the ship. They are met with in large quantities in warm climates ; they seldom fly unless pursued by their devourers, and then they are often caught by the gulls and other sea-birds, or else they drop down again into the jaws of their pursuer, who keeps pace below with their aerial flight above. They generally fly in shoals together ; and I have often commiserated their unhappy lot when I have observed them flying from instant death, and, unable to sustain themselves, just dipping their fins in the ocean, and renewing their flight ; and this for several times successively, till at last, over- come with fatigue, they have sunk to rise no more.
I was surprised, on leaving the coast of England, to find the colour of the sea change from that green hue with which it is always represented, and assume a dark blue colour, though still perfectly transparent when taken up in a glass. Its re-assuming the green hue indicates approaching land .
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I sailed from Antigua on the 2Uh of January, 1796. We came out of the harbour by sunrise ; it was most serenely pleasant ; the sun was just peeping above the horizon, and hastening to bestow his favour on an ungrateful world : the atmosphere was clear and bright, and, what was more desirable to us as sailors, the wind most charmingly propitious. My pen fails me when I attempt to describe to you our most delightful voyage along the coast of these romantic islands ; — the scenery of the country so highly picturesque, — blessed with so perpetual a verdure ; and all united, raised in me so great an admiration of these stupendous and sportive works of nature, that I could not but regret when they sunk below the horizon from my sight.
After a most pleasant passage of three weeks, I arrived at Norfolk, in Virginia, on the \ith of February ; and now being on the holy ground, you will naturally expect a description of the country, the situation and trade of its towns, and remarks on every particular I may think worthy of observation. This much I shall do (if you will give me a patient hearing) in as unbiassed and unprejudiced a manner as I am able ; embellishments I shall not so much seek after as a plain narration of facts ; and to this end you must travel with me in the same order I travel myself in this country. First, then, let me begin with Norfolk. On our landing at this place, we directed our steps, by the pilot's advice, to the Eagle Tavern, kept by Street, who is also the Major* of the
* This may perhaps surprise you, but it is no uncommon thing in this country for a citizen to be in a military employment. The fact is, they are all soldiers, which prevents the necessity of keep- ing up a standing army in time of peace.
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fort on the river. On inquiring whether we could be accommodated with beds there, the landlord, without rising from his seat, answered with a seeming kind of indifference that " he guessed'*' we could." Having satisfied ourselves so far, we requested our trunks to be taken into the rooms intended for us ; and this, after some difficulty, we got accomplished. Our rooms agreed with the spirit and disposition of our liost, — none of those ornamental appendages, or luxurious downy beds, so unbecoming the character of those who call themselves republicans ; but everything corresponding to the habits of those who pretend to look with a degree of contempt on the degeneracy of a luxurious age. Four beds in a room crowded pretty close together ; these beds laid on a kind of frame without any curtains, and the room itself without any ornament, save the bare white wall, indi- cated, without any other assurance, my removal into a strange country. It was about the middle of the day when we arrived here ; and we were soon ushered in to dinner, when I saw about forty people (consisting of boardersf in the house, and inhabitants^ of the town ) sitting down to a long table covered with a profusion of every necessary, in a plain but plentiful way. During meals a general conversation is commenced, which is
* A common mode of expression among the Yankees.
t Persons who put up at any of the taverns in America, when they stop two or three days, pay the same per day, whether they eat anything in the house or not ; hence the general term " boarders."
% It is very common for those people in the large towns of America who do not keep house to board at the taverns ; and they, together with whatever company may be in the house, all sit down at one table.
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continued without reserve ; and in this manner, two strangers, who had never seen one another before, will become as intimate as if they had known each other for years. After dinner the whole company rise and depart to their different engagements ; and it is seldom or never that you see them sit drinking after the cloth is removed. This, to be sure, is an exemplary practice ; but still, as the sum of human perfection is never complete in one man, or set of men, they have other foibles and vices which counterbalance these good qualities, of which, that passion for gaming, so characteristic of this state in particular (Virginia), is the most predominant. Thus, what time is so laudably saved from the bottle, is thrown away* at the billiard-table, a cock-fight, or at cards. I believe there are near a dozen of the former in this little place, which are crowded during the whole of the after- noon, and till late at night. To these (in this land of equality) any person is admitted, and you sometimes see there a collection of curious characters, some of them not of the most respectable cast ; but still, when it comes to their turn, they will have their game, notwithstanding there may be some of the first people in the country waiting to play.
The town of Norfolk is a poor-looking place. It is situated on the river Elizabeth, and on the opposite side is the town of Portsmouth, about the same size as !N"or- folk. Here are still the ruins of those houses to be seen which were burnt during the contest with Lord Dunmore at the commencement of the last war. The spirit of improvement has not extended so far as to have them
* This, however, will apply only to the southern states.
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rebuilt ; which makes it appear like a town* running to ruins. It has not one public building to set it off. There is not much foreign trade carried on from this place, except to the West Indies. Their vessels consist chiefly of the smaller sort, as sloops and schooners. I do not remember seeing a single ship whilst I was there, except one which had put in in distress. The New-England men, who are a most industrious race of people, trade a great deal to this place ; they bring them turnery ware, upholstery, home-made linens and cloths, cheese, butter, and, in fact, any thing for which they can get a market. These they expose for sale on the decks of their vessels, where they keep a kind of shop, and where you may purchase ever so small a quantity. The country about Norfolk is flat, and of a sandy soil, which makes it un- pleasant to travel by land in the summer season. The price of provisions at this place is considerably advanced since Mr. Cooper's book was published. This I do not men- tion as any disparagement of that work, but to show you how great a difference there actually is between the present pricef of things and when he wrote. The present price of the following articles is (in sterling money) as under : — Indian corn, 4s, 6d, per bushel ; wheat, 8s. per bushel ; oats, from 2s. to 2s. 3d, per bushel ; flour, 63s. per barrel (a barrel of flour contains 196 lbs.); coffee, 13d. per lb. ;
* I observed that most of the houses in this place were fur- nished with a conductor, a plan which cannot be too much recom- mended ; by which means the lightning, which in this country is at times very prevalent, is disarmed of its destructive powers.
f That the prices mentioned by Mr. Cooper were the actual prices at the time his information was received, I believe may be depended on, as I had his book with me, and made particular inquiries.
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butter, 7d. per lb. ; brown sugar, from 7d, to 9d. per lb. ; West India rum, 9s. per gallon ; apple brandy, 5s. 8d. per gallon ; London porter, 13s. 6d, per dozen ; beef, 4jd. per lb. ; pork, 76s. 6d. per barrel ; turkeys, from 3s. to 9s. each; salt, 3s. 9d. per bushel ; firewood, from lis. to 20s. per cord (a cord is a pile of wood 8 feet long and 4 feet high and broad) ; coals, 74d. per bushel ; iron, 34d. per lb. ; sheep, 9s. each ; eggs, 1 3d. per dozen. Articles of wearing apparel somewhat dearer than in the northern states of America. For board and lodging whilst I was there, they charged one dollar per day, for which they provide you with breakfast and dinner only: if you eat supper, (which here is very seldom done,) you are charged separately for it. Their breakfasts * consist of beefsteaks, sausages, stewed veal, fried ham, eggs, coffee and tea, and a dish, or rather a cahe, peculiar to the southern states, made out of the meal of Indian corn, and called hoe-cahe, of which the inhabitants are very fond. Its taste I do not dislike when buttered and eaten with eggs, though to many it is disagreeable : it is simply a mixture of Indian meal and water, and baked on an iron plate over the fire. Having stayed in this placet about a
* This preparation, which seems more fit for a dinner than a breakfast, is common all over America.
t Whilst at this place we buried the landlord of our inn. He was a major in the artillery, and, agreeably to the ancient custom, a fieldpiece was discharged over his grave after the coflSn had been let down. On firing it, the lid of the coflin flew up, owing to the rarefaction of the air caused by the firing of the gun too close, and which made some of the old women run away, as they either fancied he was come to life again, or that his ghost was rising out of his grave. This circumstance is similar to one I found after- wards recorded in the "Phil. Mag.," vol. ix., p. 361, resj)ecting
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week, I proceeded on my way to NeAv York, and for this end took my passage on board a packet bound to Bal- timore, in the state of Maryland, intending to go the remaining part of the way by land. These packets (of which there are a number continually plying between Norfolk and Baltimore) are something like the Margate hoys in England. They will accommodate twelve or fif- teen people very comfortably, and it is by far the most agreeable way of travelling'''' in America. Our course lay up the Chesapeak bay, which is from fifteen to twenty miles wide, and about three hundred miles long ; it is agreeably interspersed with a number of small islands, which (with the neighbouring shore gradually ascending, and covered with the most stately forests^ with every here and there a road breaking through this confused mass of plantations) made our voyage most extremely delightful and pleasant. I thought at first sight that the Chesapeak would make a good harbour for shipping, but was informed that it was quite the reverse, being very dangerous in a gale of wind. After a fine run up the bay, we arrived at Balti- more about five o'clock in the evening, February 25th, 1796. Here we observed quite a different appearance from that we had remarked at Norfolk. Instead of that apparent decay of trade^ that want of emulation, and pro- pensity for gaming, we beheld everywhere that spirit of improvement so congenial to a free and flourishing people, — the streets resounding with the busy hum of men, and
the blowing up of a powder mill, when the doors and windows of an adjoining building were forced open outwards by the explosion. * I paid ten dollars for my passage, for which the captain furnished us very plentifully. If you provide for yourselfj you pay only six dollars.
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indicating a taste for tlie refinements* and enjoyments of civilized society. This town,f which, thirty years ago, did not contain thirty houses, is now a large flourishing place, containing near 20,000 inhabitants. It is built in a hollow, and on each side of the town there is a gradual rising, from the top of which there is a most delightful view of the harbour and the adjacent country, including the river Patapsco. The harbour is formed by an inlet of this river ; and the mouth of it, which is about four miles from the town, is but pistol-shot across, where there is a fort, which is sufficient to protect it against any naval force.
The streets of the city are built at right angles, after the manner of Philadelphia,J and are all paved with brick and stone, but not lighted with lamps.
There is a very good library established here lately by subscription. There are also two daily newspapers published, which shows at least that the inhabitants encourage a taste for literature and reading amongst themselves.
On a little run of water which empties itself into the harbour, there are several mills erected, the chief of which are appropriated to the making of flour, of which article there is a great quantity exported from this place.
I do not know of any public building in this place,
* There are two excellent taverns in tMs place, ■where our accommodations were much better than at Norfolk, though still not to be compared to the old country.
t It has lately been made a city, with a mayor and corporation, elected annually by the body of the people. 1798.
% This is a plan of which the Americans are very fond, and I think with reason, as it is by far the best way of laying out a city. All the modern-built towns in America are on this principle.
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except the court-house, which is very old, and is going to be rebuilt. There is a neat little playhouse, consisting of a pit capable of containing about 300 persons, and two rows of boxes, but no gallery. There is also an assembly- room, where there are assemblies, during the winter sea- son, once a fortnight.
Thus, you see, the Baltimorians are not behindhand in the enjoyment of those sweets which tend to enliven the hours that are not taken up in the daily routine of a mercantile employment, or the necessary cares of a family.
The prices of the following articles, whilst I was at Baltimore, were : — Beef, 7d. per lb. ; mutton, 5 Jd. per lb. ; fowls, 13d. each ; butter, 13d. per lb. ; cabbages, 18d. each; hay, 4s. 6d. per 100 lbs.; peaches (during the summer season,) 13d. per dozen.
The following articles were sold at Vendue,* a mode of sale not uncommon in America ; and in this town, by no means disreputable, as there are but two Vendue masters licensed to act in the place ; which keeps the profession out of improper hands : — Best Cogniac brandy (as fine as any I ever tasted), 8s. 6d. per gallon ; common brandy, from 5s. to 7s. per gallon ; Antigua rum, 3'^' proof, 6s. 8d. per gallon; sherry wine, 4s. 6d. per gallon ; Teneriffe wine, 4s. per gallon ; claret, 1.9s. to 22s. per dozen ; coifee, 2s. per lb. ; cotton, entitled to draw- back, 19d. per lb. ; brown sugar, 63s. per cwt. ; clayed sugar, 73s. per hhd. ; common bohea tea, 12jd. per lb. ; green ditto, 5s. 6d. per lb. ; mustard, 5s. lOd. per doz.
* The same as our sales by auction ; and a practice whicli is very much abused iu many of the large towns on that conti- nent.
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lbs. ; ginger, lid. per lb. The above were sold in large quantities.
There being no turnpikes in America, the roads are, of course, very bad in winter, though excellent in summer. I waited at Baltimore near a week before I could proceed on mj journey, the roads being rendered impassable. There is, at present, but one turnpike-road on the conti- nent, which is between Lancaster and Philadelphia, a distance of sixty-six miles, and is a masterpiece of its kind ; it is paved with stone the whole way, and over- laid with gravel, so that it is never obstructed during the most severe season. This practice is going to be adopted in other parts of that public-spirited* state, though none of the other states have yet come into the measure.
From Baltimore to Philadelphia are ninety-eight miles ; between which places there is no want of conveyance, as there are three or four stages run daily. In one of these I placed myself on the morning of March Srd, 1796. A description of them perhaps would be amusing. The body of the carriage is closed in, about breast high ; from the sides of which are raised six or eight small perpendicular posts, which support a covering — so that it is in fact a kind of open coach. From the top are suspended leather curtains, which may be either drawn up in fine weather, or let down in rainy or cold weather ; and which button at the bottom. The inside is fitted up with four seats, placed one before the other ; so that the whole of the passengers face the horses ; each seat will contain three passengers ; and the driver sits on
* Pennsylvania.
108 JOURNAL OF A TOUR.
the foremost, under the same cover with the rest of the company. The whole is suspended on springs ; and the way to get into it is in front, as if you were getting into a covered cart. This mode of travelling, and which is the only one used in America, is very pleasant, as you enjoy the country much more agreeably than when imprisoned in a close coach, inhaling and exhaling the same air a thousand times over, like a cow chewing the cud ; hut then it is not quite so desirable in dis- agreeable* weather.
We had not proceeded far on our journey before we began to encounter some of those inconveniences to which every person who travels in this country in vimter time is exposed. The roads, which in general were very bad, would in some places be impassable, so that we were obliged to get out and walk a considerable distance, and sometimes to " put our shoulders to the wheel f and this in the most unpleasant weather, as well as in the midst of mire and dirt. However, we did manage to get twelve miles to breakfast ; and after that, to a little place called Bush, about thirteen miles farther, to dinner ; and about nine o'clock at night we came to Havre de Grace, about twelve miles further, to supper ; having walked nearly half the way up to our ancles in mud, in a most inclement season. Havre de Grace is a pretty little place, most delightfully situated on the banks of the Susquehannah river, which at this place is about a quarter of a mile
* "In these stages," as Brissot observes, " yoii meet with men of all professions. The member of congress is placed by the side of the shoemaker who elected him ; they fraternise together, and con- verse with familiarity. You see no person here take upon him those important airs which you too often meet with in England."
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broad ; it is about a couple of miles a])ove the mouth of the river, where it empties into the Chesapeak bay ; a fine view of which you have from the town. An excellent tavern is kept here by Mr. Barney (brother to the Commodore), and which is frequented by parties in the shooting season, for the sake of the wild fowl with which the Susquehannah so plentifully abounds ; the canvass-back, a most delicious bird, frequents this river, and is found nowhere else in America. Next morning we got ferried across the river, and, breakfasting at the tavern on the other side, proceeded on our journey, encountering the same difficulties we had done the pre- ceding day. About three miles from Barney's is a little place, called Principio, situated in a highly romantic country, where there is a large foundry for cannon and