James Bradley

“He continued... to fulfill the duties [of holy orders]... though at this time he had made such observations as laid the foundation those discoveries which afterwards distinguished him as one of the greatest astronomers of his age.Though these observations were made as it were by stealth, they gained him first the notice, and then the friendship of lord chancellor Macclessield, Mr. Newton, afterwards Sir Issac, and Mr. Halley, and many other members of the royal society, into which he was soon elected a member.”

“His friends intended him for the church, and his studies were regulated with that view; and as soon as he was of sufficient age to receive holy orders, the bishop of Hereford, who had conceived a great esteem for him, gave him the living of Bridstow, and soon after he was inducted to that of Welfrie in Pembrokeshire. But, notwithstanding these advantages, from which he might promise himself still farther advancement in the church, he at length resigned his livings that he might be wholly at liberty to pursue his favourite study, the mathematics and particularly astronomy.”

“Dr. James Bradley was the third son of William and Jane Bradley, and was born at Sherborne in Dorsetshire in the year 1692.He was fitted for the university at North Leach [at] a boarding school... and from [there] he was sent to Oxford.”

“Seventy years have nearly elapsed since the death of Bradley and the generation of those who knew him has passed away some little however might be expected to remain in traditionary remembrance The rapid course of time would soon have swept away that little and have impaired some of the means which are still in our power for understanding what may exist in written documents It seemed desirable therefore to try what might yet be collected and though it proved to be far short of what could be wished I indulge the hope of its being authentic and accurate.”

“When Bradley's observations of γ Draconis were corrected for abberation, they showed, according to himself, that the parallax of that star could not be as much as 1".0 or that the star was more than 200,000 times as distant from the earth as the sun.”

“For common purposes we may without sensible error suppose the earth's motion equable and neglect the corrections, and then the rule for the parallax of {{w|right ascension}} will be this:Sine lat. : rad. : : cotang. A : cotang. C, or rad : sine lat. : : tang. A : tang. C; then long. star \mp C = long. of λ.Cosine C : cosine A : : semi transverse axis : z.And cosine decl. cosine (ʘ - λ) :: z : x = parallax of right ascension.”

“I would by no means attempt to infer from hence, that the longitude found by observations of this sort may in all cases be depended upon within one degree; but I beg leave to observe, that whatever extraordinary circumstances may have concurred to produce so near an agreement in this particular case, the event is such as may give reason to hope, however great the difficulties of finding the longitude by this method seem to be, that they are not insuperable, or such as ought to deter those whom it most nearly concerns from attempting to remove them.”

“I give all my printed books to Samuel Peach, son of Samuel Peach, in my Will named, and desire that this may be a codicil to my last Will and Testament, and taken as part thereof, as witness my hand, this third day of December. in the year of our Lord 1761.”