many parents make to such enquiries; and it must be confessed that the argument has some weight, as the merits of a school may be supposed to be great when it has gained the votes of so large a number, and so many persons are encouraged by their own experience to send their sons to enjoy the same education. It is no part of our present object to account for the popularity of Eton; but we may say with the poet,

'Careat successibus opto,

Quisquis ab eventu facta notanda putat.'

The activity and industry of the assistant masters, who, by instructions given out of school, in books not read in school, help to lessen the bad effects of the school system,-the delightful situation of Eton,-the facility afforded for athletic sports by the large fields belonging to the College, and by the neighbourhood of the river,—the general happiness enjoyed by the older boys, the opportunity for selecting friends, afforded by numbers, are among the chief causes which endear this place in the recollection of most of its sons. Whether it is a choice of evils, and Eton is the least-what are the systems of the other public schools, and whether these systems are better or worse? are questions, into which we shall not now enter. In the meantime we may ask the governors of Eton whether things are not as we have said? If it can be shown that they are not, we shall be gladly undeceived; but if they are, is it fit that they should remain so?

We, on this side the Tweed, may well be allowed to feel some surprise that such defects and vices as are above detailed, should be permitted and upheld in a great and favourite seminary near the heart of the empire, at the very time when the Government has thought itself called upon to institute a Commission of Inquiry and Reform for the more remote, and, we will venture to say, the far more pure and perfect Universities of Scotland. Of this Commission we may perhaps hereafter have a fitter occasion to speak. Meanwhile, we confess, that we should like mightily to know how the governors of Eton, or the heads of the Colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, would relish the appointment of a Commission, composed of the sages of Westminster Hall, for the purpose of amending their academical government and discipline, and instructing them in the proper course and practice of tuition in literature and science. The facility with which certain Scottish institutions are given up to experiment, while the kindred ones of England are steadily shielded from change, suggests matter for a curious chapter in the history of innovations.

ART. IV.-Memoirs of the Astronomical Society of London. 3 vols. 4to. London, 1822-1829.

W ERE the progress of science always to be arrested at that point where it ceases to be of any practical utility to mankind, astronomy might now be considered as standing in need of little farther cultivation. The advantages which society derives from the labours of the astronomer, are confined to navigation, geography, and the regulation of the calendar. All other motives which induce us to study the laws of the celestial motions, and observe the various phenomena of the heavens, are of a purely speculative kind, and have their origin in that ardent and inquisitive curiosity to become acquainted with the cause and the laws of all physical occurrences, which forms one of the most active principles in the composition of human nature. But though the useful applications of astronomy are limited to the objects just enumerated, these objects are of so important a nature, and exact withal so extensive and accurate a knowledge of the celestial motions, that to a country whose prosperity, almost existence, depends on navigation and commerce, the cultivation of the science becomes a matter of political necessity. Its history, indeed, sufficiently proves that it has been more generally cultivated on account of its speculative interest, than for the sake of its practical applications; yet, in treating of its recent progress or future prospects, it may be well to keep those applications in view, as, by doing so, we shall be better enabled to form a just estimate of the real value of the exertions that are at present emulously made to give greater refinement to its theories, or to add to the immense mass of facts already accumulated by the labours of twenty centuries.

Though the magnificent spectacle of the heavens has attracted the admiration of mankind in all ages, and the motions and nature of the celestial bodies been one of the earliest and most constant objects of study, yet Astronomy, as a science, can only be said to have existed in its present form since the days of Kepler, to whose penetrating genius and most laborious industry, we are indebted not only for the discovery of the true nature of the planetary orbits and the laws of motion, but also for most of the methods of computation which are employed at the present day. Since that time, its advancement has been rapid and uninterrupted. The telescope enlarged to an immeasurable extent the boundaries of the visible universe, while the pendulum and micrometer-all discoveries of the same age-gave a precision to observations altogether unknown to the ancient astronomers,

and led to that accurate determination of the elements of the planetary system, which constitutes the triumph of modern science. Newton perceived that Kepler's elliptic orbits and laws of motion were deducible from the simple hypothesis of gravitation, directly as the mass, and inversely as the square of the distance; and on this principle laid the foundations of physical astronomy, which has been carried to its present vast height by means of the refined and powerful analysis, for which the world is also indebted to his genius. By the discovery of the aberration of light, and the nutation of the earth's axis, Bradley may be said to have completed the edifice, and to have left nothing for his successors to do, but to repeat his observations, and take account of those small secular irregularities, which are slowly developed by time, and can only be perfectly known after a long series of ages. By means of these discoveries, and the subsequent labours of geometers and observers, the tables of the sun, moon, principal planets, and the satellites of Jupiter, have been brought to that degree of perfection, that the places of these bodies can now be computed with almost the same certainty as those of the fixed stars.

This is a degree of perfection equal, perhaps superior, to the wants of navigation and geography; and, therefore, so far as utility is concerned, astronomy may now be regarded as a finished science, or, at least, as requiring only to be compared, from time to time, with a moderate number of good observations, in order to keep up the accuracy already attained. But curiosity is far from resting satisfied with what suffices for the useful applications. Having determined the orbits and motions of the bodies belonging to our own planetary system, the astronomer next directs his attention to the sidereal heavens, where an unbounded field of interesting enquiry presents itself. Are all the brilliant points which glitter in the firmament, placed at distances so great, that the immense diameter of the earth's orbit, as seen from them, is only an indivisible point? Are they perfectly quiescent, or do they change their relative situations, and observe determinate laws of motion? Are they placed at random in the sphere, or does any mechanical principle regulate their distribution? Does the solar attraction, which governs alike the largest planets and their smallest atoms, extend its influence to them, or are they themselves centres of attraction,-bodies like our sun,— dispensing light and heat to revolving, though invisible, planets? These are questions, indeed, which have not the remotest bearing on the more vulgar interests of mankind: Yet, by reason of the sublime subjects of meditation which they afford, there are few more worthy of the attention of rational beings; and the as

tronomer, armed with the profound science and delicate instruments of the present day, does not despair of their solution.

In the cultivation of a science so indispensable to navigation, a maritime country like Great Britain will naturally be expected to take a leading part; and, accordingly, some of the most valuable discoveries of which it boasts, are due to the persevering researches of our countrymen. Flamsteed and his successors in the Greenwich Observatory, have furnished an uninterrupted series of important observations, altogether unrivalled by any similar establishment in Europe, and which have contributed most essentially to the actual perfection of the astronomical tables. Such, indeed, is the extent and value of this collection, that it has been affirmed by authorities of the first order,-Baron Zach and Delambre,-that if, by any grand revolution in the moral or physical world, the whole monuments of existing science were swept away from the earth, leaving only the series of Greenwich observations, and some methods of computation, the entire edifice of modern astronomy might be re-constructed from these materials. Notwithstanding, however, the high position occupied by this country, in the history of astronomical discovery, it cannot be said that Practical Astronomy has received that support and encouragement from the Public Treasury, to which its great national importance seems justly to entitle it. The only observatory in the kingdom supported at the public expense, is that of Greenwich; and even with regard to it, the regular publication of the observations,-a thing most essential to the general interests of the science,-was procured at the solicitations of Dr Maskelyne, not from the government, but the private funds of the Royal Society. The other great observatories now established, as those at Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, and Armagh, are the property of corporations, over which the public has no control, and their usefulness entirely depends on the irresponsible activity or zeal of the individuals to whose care they are committed. Fortunately, a taste for the practical departments of astronomy has long been very generally diffused throughout the country; and now that excellent instruments are become in a manner common, numerous private observatories have sprung up, in which observations are made, of sufficient precision to be employed even in the determination of the most important elements, or which serve, at all events, to increase our knowledge of the sidereal heavens. Such observations, however, have seldom been available to the theoretical astronomer, through want of the means of publication; and much valuable time has often been fruitlessly consumed on subjects already sufficiently inves tigated by other observers, mutually ignorant of the labours and

discoveries of one another. With a view to render these insulated labours more useful to science, as well as to promote the general advancement of astronomy, some spirited individuals in London, a few years ago, conceived the idea of establishing a common centre of communication, by forming themselves into a Society for its exclusive cultivation; and their views being favourably met by many willing to co-operate in a measure so well calculated to give a fresh stimulus to scientific research, the Astronomical Society of London was established in 1820. Since that time, it has gone on increasing in numerical strength; and the three splendid volumes of Memoirs announced at the head of this article, give ample evidence of the zeal with which many of its members have devoted themselves to the objects of their association. These objects cannot be better stated, than in the words of the original address promulgated by the Society. They are 'to encourage and promote their peculiar science, by every means in their power, but especially by collecting, reducing, and publishing, useful observations and tables,-by setting on foot a minute and systematic examination of the heavens,-by encou'raging a general spirit of industry in practical astronomy,-by 'establishing communications with foreign observers,-by circulating notices of all remarkable phenomena about to happen, and of discoveries as they arise,-by comparing the merits of different artists, e:ninent in the construction of astronomical instruments, by proposing prizes for the improvement of particular departments, and bestowing medals or rewards for suc'cessful research in all,—and, finally, by acting as far as possible in concert with every institution, both in England and abroad, whose objects have any thing in common with their own; but 'avoiding all interference with the objects and interests of esta'blished scientific bodies.'

There are two ways by which we may extend our knowledge of the heavens; namely, by determining the relative positions of the celestial bodies with greater accuracy,-and by bringing a greater number of objects within the range of vision, and seeing them with greater distinctness. Of these, the first depends on the precision of astronomical instruments, and the accuracy of their division,-a branch of art which has now arrived at so high a degree of excellence, that little room is left for anticipating much farther improvement. The second depends on the optical powers of the telescope, to the augmentation of which, we can hardly venture to assign any insurmountable limit.

Before the invention of the telescope and micrometer, the mensuration of angular distances in the heavens, was effected in so imperfect a manner, as to be totally inadequate to the detection"