The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 404, December 12, 1829

Оглавление

Various. The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 404, December 12, 1829

The Royal Observatory, Greenwich

TWIN SISTERS

ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF A SPARROW

FINE ARTS

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

BRITISH STYLES OF ARCHITECTURE, AND THEIR DURATION

THE NOVELIST

ABAD AND ADA

OLD POETS

SHAME

PARENTS

SIN

WISDOM

CHARITY

COURAGE

ENVY

OPINION

SLANDER

SLEEP

WAR

EXCELLENCE

THE NATURALIST

COCHINEAL INSECT AND PLANT

LARGE CHESTNUT-TREE

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

I'D BE AN ALDERMAN

A PROVINCIAL REPUTATION

LONDON LYRICS

JACK JONES, THE RECRUIT.—A HINT FROM OVID

THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS

THE JUVENILE KEEPSAKE,

PICTURE OF SHEFFIELD

THE GATHERER

DARK DAY

THE LIQUOR OF LIFE

SOUP

ABYSSINIAN CATTLE

ECCENTRIC INVITATION

CANALS

Отрывок из книги

In the present almanack season, as it is technically called, the above illustration of our pages may not be inappropriate or ill-timed, inasmuch as it represents the spot whence all English astronomers make their calculations.

The Observatory was built by Charles II., in the year 1675—probably, observes a recent writer, "with no better motive than to imitate Louis XIV.," who had just completed the erection and endowment of an observatory at Paris. The English Observatory was fortunately placed under the direction of the celebrated Flamstead, whose name the hill, or site of the building, still retains. He was appointed astronomer-royal in 1676; but Charles (as in the case of the curious dial at Whitehall, described by us a few weeks since1), neglected to complete what he had so well begun: and Flamstead entered upon the duties of his appointment with instruments principally provided at his own expense, and that of a zealous patron of science, James Moore. It should seem that this 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

.....

Mullions.—By these, windows are divided into lights.

Parapet.—When walls are crowned with a parapet, it is straight at the top.

.....