Genre:

Letter, Anecdote / Afterword

Subjects:

Astronomy, Patronage, Instrument-makers, Cultural Geography, Nationalism, Observatories, Societies

People mentioned:

John Arnold , George Adams , [John F W Herschel]

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Society , Académie des Sciences, Paris , Royal Observatory, Greenwich , Dunsink Observatory, Dublin

Publications cited:

Quarterly Review

    The letter relates an anecdote concerning James Watson's intention of building a telescope superior to Herschel's 'great telescope', until countermanded by the crown (150). The editorial afterword reflects further on the paucity of patronage for astronomy in Britain, relating that 'one of the most able and enterprising astronomers of the present day [a reference to James South] relinquished a lucrative profession, that he might be more at leisure to indulge his philosophical pursuits' (151).

See also:

ML1/12/328a/4