ot
actually implant, a love of astronomical observation in his nephew. The
two worked together, entering their observations one after the other on
the same paper; and it was to the pair of them together, rather than to
the uncle alone, that Newton made his princely presents, and Halley wrote
for help in his observations. There seems to be no doubt that the uncle
and nephew were about this time the best astronomical observers in the
world. There was no rivalry between them, and therefore there is no need
to discuss whether the partnership was one of equal merit on both sides;
but it is interesting to note that it probably was. The ability of Pound
was undoubted; many were keenly desirous that he, and not his nephew,
should be elected to the Oxford Chair in 1721, but he felt unequal to the
duties at his advanced age. On the other hand, when Bradley lost his
uncle's help, there was no trace of faltering in his steps to betray
previous dependence on a supporting or guiding hand. He walked erect and
firm, and trod paths where even his uncle might not have been able to
follow.

[Sidenote: The work done by Pound and Bradley.]

[Sidenote: Use of very long telescopes.]

[Sidenote: Reason for great length.]

A few instances will suffice to show the kind of observations made by this
notable firm of Pound and Bradley. They observed the positions of the
fixed stars and nebulae: these being generally the results required by
Halley and Newton. They also observed the places of the planets among the
stars, and especially the planet Mars, and determined its distance from
the Earth by the method of parallax, thus anticipating the modern standard
method of finding the Sun's distance; and though with their imperfect
instruments they did not obtain a greater accuracy than 1 in 10, still
this was a great advance on what had been done before, and excited the
wonder and admiration of Halley. They also paid some attention to double
stars, and did a great deal of work on Jupiter's satellites. We might
profitably linger over the records of these early years, which are full of
interest, but we must press on to the time of the great discoveries, and
we will dismiss them with brief illustrations of three points: Bradley's
assiduity, his skill in calculation, and his wonderful skill in the
management of instruments. Of his assiduity an example is afforded by his
calculations of the orbits of two comets which are still extant. One of
them fills thi