loved," being lodged in it. Mary of York, fifth daughter of Edward IV. died here in 1482; and Elizabeth's favourite, the Earl of Leicester, was confined in this tower after he had incurred the queen's displeasure by his marriage with the Countess of Essex.

rect places of the fixed stars than Tycho's observations made with plain sight afforded. This being made known to the king, he declared that his pilots and sailors should not want such an assistance. He resolved therefore to found an observatory, for the purpose of ascertaining the motions of the moon and the places of the fixed stars, as a medium of discovering that great desideratum, the

The structure was repaired or rebuilt by Henry VIII. and again enlarged by Henry, the learned Earl of Northampton, to whom it was grant-longitude at sea. ed by James I. and who made it his chief residence. Soon after the commencement of the civil war, it was thought of such consequence by the Parliament as a place of strength, that immediate steps were ordered to be taken for securing it. Charles II. caused it to be pulled down in 1675, and on its site founded the present Royal Observatory, for the purpose of obtaining a more accurate knowledge of the heavenly bodies, in order to afford greater facility to the attempts at discovering the longitude.

This foundation owed its origin to the following circumstance: M. de St. Pierre, a Frenchman, who came to London in 1675, having demanded a reward from Charles II. for his discovery of the method of finding the longitude by the moon's distance from a star, a commission was appointed to examine into his pretensions. Mr. Flamsteed, who was appointed one of the commissioners, furnished St. Pierre with certain data of observation, by which to calculate the longitude of a given place. This he was unable to do, but excused himself by asserting that the data were false. Flamsteed contended that they were true, but allowed that nothing certain could be deduced from them, for want of more cor

This spot was chosen for the edifice on the recommendation of Sir Christopher Wren: the materials of the old tower were employed to construct the new building, towards the expense of which the king gave 500%. and as many bricks as were wanted from a spare stock at Tilbury Fort. It was completed in August 1676; and Flamsteed, who was appointed the first Astronomer Royal, being put in possession, began to make observations in the following month, with a six feet radius contrived by himself, and such other instruments as were then in use. were then in use. Flamsteed resided many years in this place, which from him received the name of Flamsteed House, doing ample justice to the royal choice, though walking in an almost untrodden path, and being one of the first who employed telescopes for astronomical observations. It was not till 1689 that he had the advantage of a mural quadrant, and that was not such as is now in use, but one contrived and divided partly by himself, without any help but the strength of his own genius.

Flamsteed died at Greenwich in 1719, and was succeeded by Dr. Halley, who fixed a transit instrument, and had a new mural quadrant, of eight feet radius, constructed under the direction of Graham, and

put up at the public expense in 1725.
This celebrated astronomer, who prin-
cipally directed his attention to the
motions of the moon, died at the Ob-
servatory in 1742, and was buried at
Lee.Dr. Bradley, his successor,
made many important observations;
and in his time some very valuable
additions were made to the instru-
ments at the Observatory: among
them was a new mural brass quad-
rant, of eight feet radius; a transit
instrument, eight feet in length; a
moveable quadrant of forty inches
radius by Bird; an astronomical clock
by Shelton; and a Newtonian reflect-
ing telescope of six feet focal length
by Short. Dr. Bradley died in 1762,
and was succeeded by Nathaniel
Bliss, M. A. whose decease in 1764
made room for the advancement of
the late Astronomer Royal, the Rev.
Dr. Maskelyne, in whose time the
Observatory was furnished with an ex-
cellent achromatic telescope, of for-
ty-six inches focal length, with a
treble object-glass, by Dollond; and
the whole apparatus was greatly im-
proved by Dollond, Nairne, and Ar-
nold. The present Astronomer Roy-of which are very large.

al is William Pond, Esq. who suc-
ceeded Dr. Maskelyne in 1810.0

The observations made here by the Astronomer Royal since 1767 have been published annually, under the inspection of the Royal Society, who visit the Observatory once a year. Within the building is a deep dry well, for the purpose of admitting observations to be made on the stars in the daytime. It is from this place that the longitude in all English maps is calculated..

The prospects from the Observatory are very fine; particularly of the metropolis, the county of Essex, and the serpentine windings of the Thames, animated by the crowds of shipping continually navigating its busy stream. Greenwich Hospital is immediately under the eye, and with the adjacent country and river, sand London in the distance, presents as interesting a coup d'œil as can well be imagined. The park itself affords much rich scenery: it was laid out by Le Notre in the time of Charles II. and is planted chiefly with elms and Spanish chesnut, some of the latter

A LOVER'S DAY, OR VICISSITUDES OF TWELVE

HOURS!

זי!

THE clock had just struck twelve || then too unhappy to be reasonable;

as young Ernest de Cronstadt turned into the public walk, where, when the weather was fine, the beautiful Madame de Waldemar was accustomed to take her morning walk. He took a few turns, looked round anxiously, then threw himself into a seat, with his eyes fixed in the direction that he knew she must take; but yet she came not. At any other time he would have supposed that her absence was accidental, but he was

and well skilled in the art of selftormenting, he contrived in a few moments to convince himself, that his Amelia was the most perfidious of women, and himself the most abused of men.

That our readers may be acquainted with the premises from which he drew this comfortable conclusion, we must go back a little in our tale, It was now six months since Ernest had offered his vows at the shrine of

had blown the spark of jealousy to a flame in the heart of Ernest.

This was the sight of a stranger in close and earnest conversation with Madame de Waldemar, when he entered her drawing-room the evening before; they were standing

the young and beautiful widow of the old Baron de Waldemar. Young, handsome, and amiable, Ernest would have found little difficulty in recommending himself to Amelia, had she not thought that she saw in his temper a strong tendency to jealousy; and as the happiness of her life dur-at a window apart from the company, ing her former marriage had been sacrificed to this direful passion, she dreaded placing herself once more under its domination. Ernest owned his fault, but he promised, nay swore, to banish it for ever." But have you the power?" said Madame de Waldemar doubtingly." No, dearest Amelia," replied he; "but you have."-" I! how so?"-" Promise but to be mine, and secure in your faith, jealousy will be banished for ever." Amelia hesitated. Ernest redoubled his vows, and at length she agreed to put him upon his probation, but still without fixing a time for their union.

and it was evident from the looks of Amelia that the subject interested her exceedingly. He thought she started at his appearance, and that there was something of confusion in the air with which she came forward and introduced the young stranger to him as her particular friend, Captain Sternheim. It was evident to the jealous eye of Ernest, that during the rest of the evening the young officer had more than his share of. her attention; he even fancied that he saw some very significant smiles exchanged between them; in fine, he returned home very much disposed to break his promise.

For three months all went very A sleepless night sent him at an well: it is true, that Amelia, strictly earlier hour than usual to Madame speaking, gave her lover no cause to de Waldemar, with an intention of be jealous; but she was naturally coming to an immediate explanation. lively, mixed much in the world, and She was not up; he called again in was accustomed to receive the ho- an hour, and received the same anmage of the other sex with the good-swer. He knew, however, that when humoured ease of a woman consci- the weather was fine she rarely missous, without being vain, of her beau-ed her walk; and as he was sure that ty. Ernest would rather she had shunned all homage but his own, and though he never presumed to remonstrate with her on the subject, he was often observed to bite his lips, and to colour and turn pale alternately with anger when he saw her smile upon the adorers who daily hovered round her. Amelia, however, shut her eyes upon these little infractions of their treaty, and all went well; but a circumstance occurred the night before, which

she must have heard of his calling twice, he felt almost certain that she would meet him that morning. However, she came not; and after waiting till one o'clock, he was hastening to her house, when he was joined by an acquaintance, who had been of the party the night before. "Did you observe," said this gentleınan, "how delighted Madame de Waldemar was to see again her old friend Sternheim."-"Have they then known each other a long time?"