forfeit it all at
once by bestowing upon a man of inferior skill and abilities the most
honourable, though not the most lucrative, post in the profession (a post
so well filled by Dr. Halley and his predecessor), when at the same time
we have amongst us a man known by all the foreign, as well as our own
astronomers, not to be inferior to either of them, and one whom Sir Isaac
Newton was pleased to call the best astronomer in Europe." And again, "As
Mr. Bradley's abilities in astronomical learning are allowed and confessed
by all, so his character in every respect is so well established, and so
unblemished, that I may defy the worst of his enemies (if so good and
worthy a man have any) to make even the lowest or most trifling objection
to it."

"After all," the letter goes on, "it may be said if Mr. Bradley's skill is
so universally acknowledged, and his character so established, there is
little danger of opposition, since no competitor can entertain the least
hope of success against him. But, my lord, we live in an age when most men
how little soever their merit may be, seem to think themselves fit for
whatever they can get, and often meet with some people, who by their
recommendations of them appear to entertain the same opinion of them, and
it is for this reason that I am so pressing with your lordship not to lose
any time."

Such recommendations had, however, their effect: the dreaded possibility
of a miscarriage of justice was averted, and Bradley became the third
Astronomer Royal, though he did not resign his professorship at Oxford.
Halley, Bradley, and Bliss, who were Astronomers Royal in succession, all
held the appointment along with one of the Savilian professorships at
Oxford; but since the death of Bliss in 1761, the appointment has always
gone to a Cambridge man.

[Sidenote: Instruments very defective.]

When Bradley went to Greenwich, in June 1742, he was at first unable to do
much from the wretched state in which he found the instruments. Halley was
not a good observer: his heart was not in the work, and he had not taken
the trouble to set the instruments right when they went wrong. The
counterpoises of that instrument which ought to have been the best in the
world at the time rubbed against the roof so that the telescope could
scarcely be moved in some positions: and some of the screws were broken.
There was no proper means of illuminating the cross-wires, and so on. With
care and patience Bradley s