is
species of parsimony is hereditary in the English Government, for, upon
the authority of the _Quarterly Review_, we learn that "within the
wide range of the British Islands _there is only one observatory_
(Greenwich), _and scarcely one supported by the Government_. We say
scarcely one, because we believe that some of the instruments in the
observatory at Greenwich were purchased out of the private funds of the
Royal Society of London."[2]

[1] For this very accurate Description with an Engraving, see
MIRROR, No. 400.

[2] For the remainder of the Extract, &c. see MIRROR, vol. xii.
p. 151. Only a few days since we saw recorded an instance of
enthusiasm in the study of astronomy, which will never be
forgotten. We allude to Mr. South's splendid purchase at Paris;
yet all the aid he received was some trifling remission of duty!

The first stone of this Observatory was laid by Flamstead, on the 10th
of August, 1675. It stands 160 feet above low-water mark, and
principally consists of two separate buildings: the first contains three
rooms on the ground-floor--viz. the transit-room, towards the east, the
quadrant-room, towards the west, and the assistant's sitting and
calculating-room, in the middle; above which is his bed-room, the latter
being furnished with sliding shutters in the roof. In the transit-room
is an eight-feet transit-instrument, with an axis of three feet, resting
on two piers of stone: this was made by Bird, but has been much improved
by Dolland, Troughton, and others. Near it is a curious transit-clock,
made by Graham, but greatly improved by Earnshaw, who so simplified the
train as to exclude two or three wheels, and also added cross-braces to
the gridiron-pendulum, by which an error of a second per day, arising
from its sudden starts, was corrected. The quadrant-room has a stone
pier in the middle, running north and south, having on its east face a
mural-quadrant, of eight feet radius, made by Bird, in 1749, by which
observations are made on the southern quarter of the meridian, through
an opening in the roof three feet wide, produced by means of two sliding
shutters; on its west face is another eight-feet mural quadrant, with an
iron frame, and an arch of brass, made by Graham, in 1725: this is
applied to the north quarter of the meridian. In the same apartment is
the famous zenith-sector, twelve feet in length, with which Dr. Bradley,
at Wanstead, and