THE LIFE AND WORK 
 
 OF 
 
 PROFESSOR PRITCHARD 
 
 a 
 
CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 D.D.; F.R.S.j F.R.A.S.; F.R.G.S. 
 
 Late Satnlian Professor of Astronomy in the 
 University of Oxford 
 
 MEMOIRS OF HIS LIFE 
 
 COMPILED BY HIS DAUGHTER 
 
 ADA PRITCHARD 
 ii 
 
 WITH 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF HIS THEOLOGICAL WORK 
 
 BY THE RIGHT REVEREND 
 
 THE LORD BISHOP OF WORCESTER 
 
 AND 
 
 OF HIS ASTRONOMICAL WORK 
 
 BY HIS SUCCESSOR 
 
 PROFESSOR H. H. TURNER, F.R.A.S. 
 
 LONDON 
 SEELEY AND CO. LIMITED 
 
 38 GREAT RUSSELL STREET 
 1897 
 
PREFACE 
 
 I FEEL that the name of Charles Pritchard will itself be 
 deemed sufficient justification for the publication of this 
 book. A word, however, may fairly be said as to the 
 manner in which the Memoirs came to be written. 
 
 Upon the death of my father, it was thought among 
 those who had known him privately, and also within 
 the wide circle of those whose work and enthusiasms 
 had lain near to his own, who were indebted to him as 
 their master, and who had trodden where he led and 
 assisted in the realisation of his hopes, that some 
 authentic record of his life and work should be made. 
 It was his old friend, the pupil of the early days of 
 the Clapham Grammar School, Sir George Grove, who 
 urged me to undertake the work. In the summer of 
 1893, ne wrote to me: 'I have suggested that we should 
 propose a biography to you. In it many of us could 
 have our say. What do you think of this ? ' 
 
 The proposal for a joint work was readily adopted, and 
 through the kindness and generous assistance of many to 
 whom the memory of Charles Pritchard was dear, a scheme 
 gradually shaped itself, and resulted in the present volume. 
 
 If the method adopted has of necessity interfered some- 
 what with the chronological sequence of the chapters, it has 
 this advantage, that each part of my father's many-sided 
 life has been dealt with by the writer best qualified to 
 form a just estimate of it. 
 
 The production of these Memoirs has been a labour of 
 
 258468 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 love to all who have contributed, but 1 owe, none the less, 
 deep thanks to the Bishop of Worcester, Professor H. H. 
 Turner, Sir William Herschel, Mrs Ogier Ward, Miss 
 Agnes Weld, and to those who have assisted me by 
 contributing letters ; to Mr E. J. Webb, for valuable 
 literary aid ; and lastly to my sister Rosalind, whose 
 sympathy and encouraging help have aided me in my 
 task. 
 
 ADA PRITCHARD. 
 
 September 1896. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 MEMOIRS COMPILED BY ADA PRITCHARD 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 REMINISCENCES OF His EARLY LIFE, . i 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 His WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER, 1833-1862 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL, 24 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 His WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER REMINISCENCES OF PUPILS 
 
 AND OTHERS, . . . . 68 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 LIFE AT FRESHWATER, 1862-1870, . . , . 82 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 FIRST YEARS AT OXFORD, 1870-1881, . . . .105 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 LIFE AT OXFORD, 1882-1886, . . . . . ; 127 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 LAST YEARS, 1887-1893, . 144 
 
 THEOLOGICAL WORK BY THE LORD BISHOP OF WORCESTER, . 171 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 ASTRONOMICAL WORK BY PROFESSOR H. H. TURNER, F.R.A.S. 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTORY, . . . . .215 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 ASTRONOMICAL WORK AT CLAPHAM AND FRESHWATER, . 219 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 OFFICIAL LIFE IN THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, . 236 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 LIFE AT OXFORD, . . . . , . 260 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY, 274 
 
 T 'I 
 
Memoirs of Charles Pritchard 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 REMINISCENCES OF HIS EARLY LIFE 
 By his Niece, E. Ogier Ward 
 
 I AM asked to contribute my personal recollections of my 
 dear uncle to his proposed Memoirs, and I gladly do so, 
 in the belief that there is no one now living who knows 
 as much as I do of his early surroundings. Without some 
 outline of these, it seems to me, no one can draw a fair 
 portrait of a character so many sided, so full of startling 
 contradictions, as his certainly was. 
 
 I own I feel a little 'hampered,' not by respect for the 
 dead, for I have nothing to tell that need detract one iota 
 from that, but by consideration for the living, lest any 
 word of mine should give pain to those who knew and 
 loved him in his later years only, when the pure gold had 
 passed through the furnace and been well refined. 
 
 Captain Charles Pritchard, eldest son of my uncle's 
 eldest son, Sir Charles Pritchard, has recently made some 
 elaborate heraldic and genealogical researches, which point 
 decidedly to the conclusion that my uncle belonged to a 
 family of considerable standing and antiquity in the West 
 of England. 
 
 The name of Pritchard is very variously spelt in old 
 
 A 
 
2 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 documents, and it is suggested that from an original form 
 Pickard, or Picard, signifying a native of Picardy, it has 
 been corrupted to Pytchard or Prichard, and finally con- 
 fused with the Welsh Ap Richard, anglicised as Pritchard. 
 Miss Isabel Southall in her work, 'Memorials of the 
 Prichards of Almeley* (Birmingham, privately printed, 
 1893), mentions an existing tradition that a member of 
 this family whose arms are the same as my uncle's 
 once entertained the Black Prince, and that 'this coincides 
 with a statement in Hallanis Constitutional History, that 
 Picard, Lord Mayor of London, gave a banquet to Edward 
 III. and his son/ 
 
 I do not imagine that the Savilian professor ever knew 
 of the Welsh motto mentioned by Miss Southall as be- 
 longing to the Herefordshire Pritchards : 
 
 ' Heb Dduw heb ddim, a Duw a digon.' 
 'Without God without anything. With God all.' 
 
 But, in view of my uncle's unwavering and fervent faith, 
 I doubt not it would have interested him. 
 
 I firmly believe that a dash of Celtic blood accounted 
 for some of my uncle's characteristics. A Pritchard married 
 to a Lloyd were his parents. Shropshire, however, the 
 county in which the family had been settled for three 
 generations, and which they dearly loved, is as intensely 
 English as any ' shire ' in the heart of the country ; and 
 although it lies in the shadow of the Welsh hills, none 
 of its natives would like to be called Welsh. When 
 the title of * Proud Salopians ' was first bestowed upon 
 them I know not, but when I first knew this favoured 
 county they certainly deserved it ! Their exclusiveness 
 and hatred of innovation had caused them vehemently 
 to oppose the original scheme of one of the great rail- 
 way lines, which would have brought it through Shrews- 
 
EARLY LIFE 3 
 
 bury. I am not sure which line it was, but they had 
 succeeded in diverting it, and were only just beginning 
 to find out their mistake. 
 
 Then, again, politics ran extremely high. The Con- 
 servative party was naturally predominant, and they were 
 intensely jubilant at having just returned twelve Conser- 
 vative members for the county, with Mr Disraeli at their 
 head. Yet, such was the pride of birth and race, that I 
 well remember at the Hunt Ball, which took place just 
 at the time of the General Election of 1841, that the cool 
 and distant civility of the * great ladies ' to Mrs Disraeli 
 was quite as noticeable as the fact that her diamonds 
 outshone even the splendid Powys heirlooms. 
 
 If the beauty of one's native county is a reasonable 
 source of pride, the Salopians were fully justified. Grandly 
 fertile soil, splendid woodlands, a noble, swift-flowing river, 
 beautiful parks arfd country houses, picturesque towns and 
 churches, and a general air of prosperity form the picture 
 my memory retains. 
 
 It is true such fertile soil has its drawbacks ; hills look 
 tamer when cultivated to their summits than when gorse 
 and heather run riot over them ; and coming from the 
 open downs and commons of Surrey, I missed the freedom 
 of walks and rides over short crisp turf. Still, Shropshire 
 was so beautiful I did not wonder at the love all our 
 family felt for it. Most of them had an absolute horror 
 of the atmosphere, the crowds, and the dirt of London, 
 Manchester, Birmingham and all large cities. Some of 
 them were said to have fretted and pined themselves ill 
 when obliged to live in London. 
 
 Unfortunately, proud contentment with one's own place 
 and conditions of life is often a bar to progress, and the 
 Shropshire of my young days was in some ways behind the 
 rest of England, and content to be so. 'They make a re- 
 ligion of their field sports/ said indignantly to me a girl from 
 
4 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 another county who had married into the family. And, cer- 
 tainly, these were a main object of attention and conversation, 
 and art and science were nowhere compared to them ! Next, 
 I think, in the Salopian estimation, after field sports, came 
 cookery, which occupied a vast deal of thought and care. 
 Perhaps this was excusable with such excellent provisions to 
 be done justice to : splendid and abundant game, fat-pastured 
 meat, Severn salmon, and cream plentiful as milk in a poorer 
 country. Still, it did sound excessive to be told that my 
 grandfather once took a long coach journey to buy a dish of 
 cranberries, because there happened to be none in Shrewsbury 
 market when he had a fancy for them ! 
 
 Temperance and total abstinence were not yet preached 
 through the length and breadth of England, but near London, 
 in good society, it had become unusual for gentlemen to take 
 too much wine after dinner. In Shropshire it was yet com- 
 mon enough ! Shropshire ale was famous ; not at all the 
 sharp, bitter drink now so much relished. It was sweet and 
 'humming,' much more malt in it, less hops, and terribly 
 potent. But the native heads were 'hard,' and could stand 
 an immense amount of it. 
 
 Another thing that surprised me among my mother's 
 immediate relations was their love of frolic, almost buffoonery, 
 in which grown men and women would indulge, carrying it 
 out in the form of practical jokes.* In this life of jovial 
 
 * As an illustration, I may tell a true story of a trick played by two ladies 
 thoroughly ladylike women they were and no one who knew of it thought the 
 worse of them for it. 
 
 They were sisters aunts of my mother both remarkably handsome women. 
 They each of them in turn had received and rejected the addresses of a squire who 
 might have served Sheridan as a model for Bob Acres, and whose devotion to the 
 
 fair sex in general had won for him the nickname of the ' Knight of S e.' He 
 
 would not take c no ' for an answer, and, on one occasion, followed these ladies up 
 to London, whither they had taken my mother, a girl of sixteen, to whom he had 
 offered the bribe of a gold watch and chain if she would induce one or other of her 
 aunts (he did not care which !) to listen to his suit ! After pestering them for 
 some days with his attentions, he suddenly appeared with tickets for a front box 
 
EARLY LIFE 5 
 
 enjoyment, free, open-air sports and general self-indulgence 
 were the elder members of my uncle's family brought up, and 
 I think it is much to their credit to be able to say that they 
 one and all showed energy and readiness in putting a shoulder 
 to the wheel when the pinch of altered circumstances made 
 itself felt 
 
 As far as we can trace the annals, the founder of the 
 family to which my uncle belonged was a prosperous and 
 much-respected man, town clerk of Meole, a small town near 
 Shrewsbury, about the beginning of the eighteenth century. 
 He was the great - grandfather of Professor Pritchard. He 
 must have been a contemporary, as he was certainly a rela- 
 tion, of a highly-gifted woman, Mrs Pritchard, the celebrated 
 Shakespearian actress who preceded Mrs Siddons, and whose 
 splendid talents and spotless private character have won for 
 her a monument and a poetical epitaph in Poets' Corner in 
 Westminster Abbey. 
 
 I have often thought it must have been the tradition of 
 their relationship to this great actress and excellent woman 
 which brought about the anomaly of a very strong love and 
 admiration for the stage amongst many members of the 
 Pritchard family, in spite of their Calvinistic principles and 
 education. 
 
 My grandmother (the mother of Charles Pritchard) was a 
 notable instance of this. She would take any trouble and 
 endure any fatigue to see a good play well acted. While 
 a young married woman, she was staying in her father-in- 
 law's house at Meole, when a travelling company of players 
 arrived, in such poor plight that, not being able to hire the 
 
 at a theatre, which he pressed upon them, saying he had intended to be their 
 escort, but, to his great chagrin, was obliged to go down to Shropshire that very 
 night. To get rid of him, they accepted the tickets ; but, when the evening came, 
 they all three dressed up in old bonnets and shawls and went to the pit (which 
 was permissible then), and from thence enjoyed the joke of seeing the unfortunate 
 knight enter his box, find it empty, and sit there alone all through the perform- 
 ance ! 
 
6 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 Shrewsbury theatre, they acted 'Macbeth' in a barn, and 
 went round to the houses of the well-to-do inhabitants to 
 solicit not only the purchase of tickets, but the loan of 
 articles of furniture and even of dress ! My grandmother 
 lent her black satin dress to the actress who played Lady 
 Macbeth, whose own name was Mrs Siddons ! and whose 
 brother, named John Kemble, played Macbeth ! 
 
 Years afterwards (in 1816), the famous actress was re- 
 called to the stage to play her great part, by Royal com- 
 mand, before the newly-married pair, Princess Charlotte and 
 Prince Leopold, and my grandmother stood for four hours at 
 the door of the great London theatre, and had her clothes 
 nearly torn off her back in the entrance crush. It was under- 
 stood that Lady Macbeth was to wear the coronation robes 
 of Mary of Modena, queen to James II., which had been pre- 
 served by some adherent of the Stuarts and sold by a needy 
 descendant 
 
 My grandmother used to describe the scene and Lady 
 Macbeth's stately sweep of her train when, in uttering the 
 line 
 
 * Greater still, by the All hail, hereafter ! ' 
 
 she turned towards the Royal box, and made a point of the 
 words by a majestic curtsey to the Princess, which brought 
 down the house in thunders of applause. And then came the 
 very natural comment : ' Only to think that I had lent her 
 my black satin gown to play that part in a barn ! ' A most 
 unwarrantable use, no doubt, for the actress to make of her 
 ' words ' and poor Mary of Modena's historically splendid 
 robes (see Macaulay), must have been a shocking anachron- 
 ism. But, ' I tell the tale as 'twas told to me ! ' 
 
 The Princess Charlotte died the next year (1817), and my 
 grandmother in 1820, leaving her youngest son just twelve 
 years old. 
 
 The second generation of * Pritchards of Meole ' were 
 
EARLY LIFE 7 
 
 equally prosperous, and one of them was an archite and 
 engineer of no mean ability. He built the first iron bridge 
 in England, over the Severn, in Coal Brook Dale. It has 
 given the name of Ironbridge to the town which sprang up 
 around it, and is still known as ' Pritchard's Bridge ' among 
 architects and engineers. 
 
 The second son of this generation was Professor Prit- 
 chard's grandfather. He established a flourishing business 
 in Shrewsbury, and had a family of thirteen children, who 
 all grew to mature, and some to extreme old age. On 
 his retirement to a house at Meole, built for him by his 
 architect brother, he handed over his house and business 
 in Shrewsbury to his eldest and third sons. The third 
 was William Pritchard, the professor's father, and he had 
 four sons and two daughters. The eldest of the family 
 was my mother, the youngest child was Charles, and as 
 he was twelve years her junior, this brought me, her only 
 child, more on a level with him as to age than might 
 have otherwise been the case. 
 
 My grandfather, William Pritchard, has always been 
 described to me as a man of remarkable talent, industry 
 and integrity, but of a violent temper, and impatient of 
 the least contradiction. Politics, as I have said, ran high 
 among Salopians, and it unluckily happened that about 
 1 80 1 there was a fierce election contest between two rival 
 branches of the Hill family, which seems to have brought 
 with it all the bitterness of a civil war. In this contest 
 William Pritchard became a violent partisan, and most 
 unfortunately in opposition to his brother-partner and all 
 the rest of his family. Strange tales were still current 
 when I was in Shrewsbury of the fury of the struggle, 
 and of the unheard-of expenses of the rival candidates, 
 both of whom were said to have impoverished their estates. 
 'Voters were brought even from the West Indies, and 
 Shrewsbury was drowned in strong ale.' 
 
8 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 To my grandfather the consequences were disastrous. 
 He had alienated friends and made enemies to such an 
 extent that the town was unbearable to him, and he 
 migrated to London. From this time for twenty years 
 his life was a continuous fight with difficulties, of which 
 the consequences fell heavily on his children. For several 
 years after leaving Shrewsbury, their greatest happiness 
 seems to have been paying occasional long visits to their 
 maternal grandfather's farm at Rowton,* near Shrewsbury, 
 when all country delights were once more theirs, and they 
 always spoke of it as of a Garden of Eden. 
 
 Their father had fixed his new abode at Brixton. 
 There was much about him of which his descendants 
 may well be proud. His second son, John, has left behind 
 him a short family chronicle, from which I have drawn a 
 good many facts and dates not within my own knowledge. 
 He draws a portrait of his father at this time as of a man 
 just and honourable in all his dealings, never descending 
 to any tricks of trade, working on in the teeth of evil 
 fortune, employing the best materials and paying the best 
 wages. Who can doubt that his youngest child derived 
 his wonderful health and vitality from a father who is 
 described at forty years of age as walking daily to and 
 from his work in London at such a pace that a young man 
 who had rashly bet his companions that he would keep 
 up with him was completely knocked up, and had to give 
 in to his unconscious competitor. 
 
 Professor Pritchard was born at Brixton on February 
 28th, i8o8,f but no one can now point out the house. 
 Being the youngest child, he had never enjoyed, except in 
 
 * From this village Lord Beaconsfield's friend, Lord Rowton, takes his 
 title. 
 
 t This is undoubtedly the right date. But it is remarkable that, like his 
 contemporary, Cardinal Manning, Professor Pritchard was unable to say with 
 certainty in what year he had been born. 
 
EARLY LIFE 9 
 
 brief holiday snatches, the blissful life of a Shropshire 
 country boy. This may have been good for him in some 
 ways, but it left him scarcely any pleasant recollections 
 of his childhood. For field sports he never through life 
 had time or opportunity, and I do not think he shared 
 his brother's hatred of London, though no one more de- 
 lighted in country air and scenery. Neither can he ever, 
 except at Rowton, have known a lavish indulgence in 
 ' good things,' and though he liked them keenly,* he 
 never became a slave to the pleasures of the table. He 
 fully shared, however, the family love of boisterous, rol- 
 licking fun, and used to indulge in it sometimes to a 
 degree rather detrimental to dignity, but which was no 
 doubt a safety valve for a brain that worked so much at 
 high pressure. 
 
 I think he was too much taken up with science ever 
 to take deep interest in politics. The greatest misfortune 
 of his childhood was the death of his mother when he was 
 only twelve years old. Her precociously clever youngest 
 son fell, after her death, first under the rule of an aunt 
 who was proud of his talents, and alternately petted and 
 punished him. I am afraid he had the character of being 
 a 'very naughty boy/ and cost his second sister many 
 tears, but she (a very lovely girl) married at sixteen, 
 and his aunt died early, and from that time his home 
 life was unsoftened by womanly kindness till he left college. 
 It is true he inherited his father's irritability, and could 
 not have been easy to manage, but from anecdotes I have 
 heard I suspect his naughtiness often consisted of trouble- 
 some pranks, which were punished just as much as moral 
 offences. Of this kind of injustice I think there are traces 
 of his recollection and resentment in his Annals of Our School 
 
 * He once wrote to ask me for a special recipe for mince pies, which he 
 remembered eating at Rowton, in the Christmas holidays. 
 
10 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 Life. In it he has given a graphic account of the way 
 he was shifted about to four different schools. To one 
 of these he never ceased to confess his obligations. It 
 was a private, middle-class school, kept by a * most worthy 
 and indefatigable master,' one John Stock, of Poplar. Of 
 his first private school at Uxbridge he gives no pleasant 
 picture, but he adds : 
 
 'There must have been some good about it' (the 
 teaching), inasmuch as I am told that an elder brother 
 of mine, at the age of sixteen, was frequently observed 
 sitting apart in some solitary corner with his Aristophanes 
 in his hand, and there convulsed with laughter.' 
 
 I felt some surprise when I first read this sentence in 
 the Annals ', for, in the first place, I am not inclined to 
 attribute this striking familiarity with the language and 
 perception of the humour of the old Greek drama to any 
 Uxbridge teaching, but to this wonderful boy's own talent. 
 In the second place, I could not understand how my Uncle 
 Charles, so modest as he was about his own powers, had 
 made so slight an allusion to his gifted * elder brother.' But 
 since I have been looking closely into dates and facts, I 
 see clearly that he really knew very little of his brother 
 George * (five years his senior), and may never have real- 
 ised the fact that he himself was not considered in boyhood 
 the cleverest of his very remarkable family. Such was the 
 case, however. A gentleman who had been at this same 
 Uxbridge seminary told my mother, at a time when 'the 
 head of Clapham Grammar School ' was becoming famous, 
 that he had been a 'schoolfellow of both her brothers, 
 George and Charles,' and that George was 'considered a 
 far cleverer lad than Charles could ever grow to.' And my 
 
 * Indeed, this appears from his own words : ' I had no companion of my own 
 age, nor, indeed, of any age, excepting my two brothers ' by whom he meant 
 William and John. George must have been sent to New Orleans before Charles 
 went to Uxbridge, and he probably spent all his holidays at Rowton where he was 
 a favourite. 
 
EARLY LIFE II 
 
 mother and my Uncle John both declared to me in after 
 years that this had always been the family verdict. The 
 sequel of the short life of this promising scholar George 
 was a sad one. An uncle on his mother's side, who was 
 ' doing well in cotton ' at New Orleans, made my grand- 
 father an offer to take one of his sons off his hands. At 
 the time the offer was made, the two eldest were just 
 starting for themselves in business in London. Charles was 
 too young (only eleven years old), so George was sent 
 out, and very soon fell a victim to yellow fever, to the 
 great grief of all who knew him, and who felt he had 
 been sacrificed to pecuniary circumstances. 
 
 Things were now going from bad to worse. None of 
 my uncles could ever speak without a shudder of the 
 years at Brixton that followed my grandmother's death, 
 when my grandfather's temper, exasperated by misfortune, 
 ruled supreme over their young lives. But brighter days 
 were at hand. A relative, struck with the business talents 
 of the eldest son William, had helped him and John to 
 establish themselves in London, and they partly under- 
 took the care of Charles till he could, by some means, be 
 sent to Cambridge. 
 
 In 1822, the eldest of the family, my mother, was married 
 to John Allan, a retired surgeon of the Royal Navy, and 
 my grandfather, thus set free from the charge of his children, 
 soon after left Brixton and returned to Shrewsbury, where 
 he married a lady with a nice little property at a neigh- 
 bouring town (Middle), who gave the quaint reason for the 
 match that she 'married Mr Pritchard out of her great 
 regard for his first wife.' He survived his kind second wife 
 some years, and died at Middle in 1859, aged ninety years. 
 
 His son John afterwards attained to the same great age. 
 I have perhaps dwelt too long on my uncle's early dis- 
 advantages, but to me it seems unjust to conceal them from 
 anyone who has to review his whole life and character, 
 
12 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 The early loss of his mother, the subjection to an irascible 
 father's moods, the absence of the refining influences of 
 society, could not fail to be injurious to a passionate and 
 timid child. And, accordingly, he grew up bristling at all 
 points with asperities, which it took all the sunshine of 
 success, all the chastening of heart sorrow, all the purify- 
 ing work of religion gradually to smooth away in after years. 
 And to those who knew him best in latest life it was evident 
 that the smoothing process was going on to the very last. 
 
 My mother's marriage proved a turning point in her 
 youngest brother's life. My father was a man of a high 
 order of intellect, and keen to perceive and encourage it 
 in others. He early discerned his young brother-in-law's 
 great talents and unfitness for a life of business drudgery. 
 As my uncle himself expressed it to me, * Your dear father 
 never ceased " dinning it, dinning it " into my father that 
 I must go to Cambridge.' And, at last, other friends came 
 forward with substantial help, and the promising, rather 
 uncouth, lad went to St John's College, Cambridge, in the 
 least expensive way as a sizar. 
 
 Of his hard - won honours at college he has spoken 
 modestly in the Annals. I will only bear witness that 
 never were the grand intentions of the founders exercised 
 in the case of a more grateful student. He never missed 
 an opportunity of expressing his deep sense of them. 
 With this period of his life my personal recollections of 
 him commence. I distinctly remember his doings at Cam- 
 bridge being discussed by my mother and my father, who 
 followed every step of his progress with eager interest. 
 Had I been as other children under ten years of age, 
 relegated to a schoolroom among companions of my own 
 age, I should not have heard so much, nor understood 
 what I heard. But I was a solitary child with books for 
 my bosom friends, and constantly in the company of my 
 parents, especially of my father, who, with no wish to see 
 
EARLY LIFE 13 
 
 me precocious, could not help elevating my mind above 
 my years. Thus it was, no doubt, that I can distinctly 
 remember an anxiously - expected letter, and my mother's 
 blank look and my father's tone of disappointment when 
 he read, ' Only fourth, not Senior Wrangler.' 
 
 Here I shall anticipate a little to give my uncle's graphic 
 explanation of this, which we had from his own lips a little 
 later. He painted for us a word-picture of a scene, well 
 enough known in these days of examinations, but which 
 at that time, and to us quiet dwellers fifteen miles from 
 London, had all the charm and the awe of novelty. He 
 told us of the first day of the ' Tripos.' He described the 
 great 'schools,' the candidates each seated at his table, 
 the spectators looking down from the gallery, the devour- 
 ing anxiety when the papers were given out, the happy 
 satisfaction or the blank despair with which each man 
 viewed the work cut out for him, the various moods in 
 which they set to work at once, or else sat staring at 
 the task. 
 
 He himself was, all through life, of a most nervous tem- 
 perament, and unable to concentrate his attention if anything 
 happened to worry him, Unluckily, the man nearest him 
 was gesticulative ; rustled his papers, fidgeted in his seat, 
 bit his pen, slapped his forehead, stamped his foot, all this 
 probably without much noise, but with enough to excite 
 my uncle's fastidious irritability. The result was that 
 Pritchard's paper was given up almost blank the first day, 
 or even two days, to the utter dismay of his tutor, who 
 knew him to be quite capable of answering the whole of 
 the questions. On the third day he made amends; a 
 mathematical paper was set, of exceptional difficulty, the 
 crux of the examination, which instantly called forth and 
 absorbed all the powers of his mind. From that moment 
 the hall, the spectators, his competitors, his own fears of 
 failure, existed no longer for him. As his intellect rose 
 
14 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 to grapple with the abstruse problem, he must have felt 
 something akin to 
 
 ' The joy which warriors feel 
 In foemen worthy of their steel.' 
 
 He came out of the struggle successful and content. 
 ' That paper gave him his place,' and he went through the 
 rest of them with comparative ease. I believe there was 
 no doubt among tutors and examiners that he would have 
 come out first of his year if he could have * collected ' him- 
 self earlier. Anyhow, he took one of the Smith's Prizes 
 soon after, and then came down to us at Epsom to enjoy 
 a rest. 
 
 How well I remember looking out for the coach, and 
 seeing him come down from the outside, a spare, pale 
 young man, with a rather narrow, but very high, forehead, 
 abundant long black hair, which he often swept back like 
 a mane, and those wonderful dark blue eyes which never 
 needed spectacles after more than three score and ten years 
 of microscope and telescope, and Greek type and mathe- 
 matical symbol, and incessant writing and reading. I did 
 not think him good-looking, rather the reverse, but he 
 fascinated me, and the fascination never wore off, but en- 
 dured through all the changes and chances of our respective 
 lives. There was about him a sense of power, of the pres- 
 ence of something more than an ordinary man. The spell 
 lay partly in his voice and manner of speaking, which was 
 unlike anyone else. Except when raised in anger or com- 
 mand, the voice was low, and even a little thick. He had 
 lisped when a child, and there was something left like a 
 lisp in a peculiar movement of the lips that gave emphasis 
 to some syllables. How can I describe that way of breath- 
 ing out words, rather than speaking them, when he was 
 very earnest, that so instantly riveted attention ? It was 
 
EARLY LIFE 15 
 
 like a whisper, yet was not a whisper. I am not quite 
 sure that a strict elocutionist would not deem it a defective 
 mode of utterance. All I know is that it gave an impression 
 of such sincerity, such conviction of the importance and 
 truth of what he was saying, that none who heard could 
 lightly disregard what was said. I have watched the effect 
 of these undertones on guests at my father's table, on men 
 who, for the most part, had made their own names known, 
 and who had not, in the early days, heard of Charles 
 Pritchard, who as yet knew him only as the brother-in-law 
 of their host, and were not attracted by his rather shy, not 
 very conciliatory manner. After a few sentences exchanged, 
 there would be a look of surprise, then interest, and this 
 would deepen into respect and admiration as the talk 
 proceeded. It was no trick of diction, no effort to gain 
 attention. Though conscious of great mental power, no 
 man was ever more modest, or knew better his own limita- 
 tions. He never talked, or lectured, or preached to show 
 off his own learning. Overbearing and abrupt he might 
 be in argument, but only because he was sincerely convinced 
 of the truth himself, and could not bear to hear it disputed. 
 If convinced of being in the wrong, he would own it un- 
 reservedly. Conceit was to him a thing intolerable. In 
 fact, there was in him a certain timidity or diffidence of his 
 own powers. He told me he had rather shrunk from a 
 conference with sceptics of the working-class, whom he 
 was asked to meet and address, ' because,' he said, ' I have 
 no readiness.' 
 
 After entering on his career as a schoolmaster, he used 
 often to run down to Epsom to talk over his difficulties, 
 his quarrels with committees, his plans, etc., with my father, 
 and then would grow enthusiastic over education and science. 
 I (a mere child) was supposed to be absorbed in my favourite 
 books, but I used to listen entranced and watch my dear 
 father's face, sometimes grave and cautioning, sometimes 
 
1 6 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 approving, and often lighting up with delight when some 
 new development in science was unfolded to him. My 
 mother, though as intelligent as the rest of her family, 
 was a bad listener, being too intent (like a true Salopian) 
 on * matters of the house,' but she used to pass in and out, 
 well pleased to see the two conversing on high themes. 
 
 As time went on we saw less of him, and my father 
 died, and I really believe no one felt his death more deeply 
 than my uncle. Then there were sorrows and changes in 
 his own home circle, and then again a sort of renewal of his 
 youth, and a time of retirement to enjoy life again and 
 rest in the Isle of Wight. How he was called back to 
 university life and astronomical research he has himself 
 told us. He really lived the lives and earned the fame 
 of two or three ordinary men. Let others more competent 
 speak of him as a schoolmaster, a theologian, a man of 
 science, an astronomer. I only wish to bear my small 
 tribute to his extraordinary powers as a preacher^ and to 
 express the regret I often felt that he had no larger and 
 more permanent opportunity of making them felt. At 
 one time we thought this would have been the case. He 
 was encouraged, when still very young, to stand as a candi- 
 date for the Preachership at the Magdalen Chapel, then 
 a fashionable resort of ' the religious world ' on Sunday, 
 and famed for its eloquent preachers. My father and I 
 drove up from Epsom to hear his trial sermon. I remember 
 it dimly as being exquisitely pathetic. We were told 
 afterwards that he very nearly got the appointment, but 
 interest among the governors prevailed in favour of another 
 candidate. 
 
 He preached a good deal, about this time, in various 
 pulpits in Stockwell and Clapham. He prepared his sermons 
 with as much intense application as he had ever employed 
 for his university studies, sitting up half the night after his 
 school work, and drinking green tea ! What would the 
 
EARLY LIFE I/ 
 
 doctors of the present day say to such a regimen for an 
 excessively nervous man ? He would not put less work or 
 less earnestness into the message he had to give from God, 
 than he put into his secular teaching; and the result was a 
 tone of sincerity that carried all before it at a time when 
 popular preachers were much given to a bland plausibility. 
 It was rather the fashion with them to preach in lavender- 
 coloured gloves, and I once heard him say, ' It is incon- 
 ceivable to me how a man can preach in gloves ! ' This 
 quality of sincerity must have been very strongly marked 
 to induce his second sister, whose tears his boyish 
 * naughtiness ' had caused to flow, and who knew better than 
 anyone else all his failings and infirmities of temper as a 
 young man, to follow him about from church to church, 
 only to hear him preach ! 
 
 I myself can never forget some of those early sermons, 
 although I cannot trust my memory to quote from them. 
 He was not eloquent^ his voice did not suit a large building 
 well, but his choice of language was exquisite, his power of 
 arresting attention most remarkable, and his tenderness and 
 pathos irresistible because so thoroughly unaffected. I have 
 heard many fine preachers, but none so impressive. 
 
 In daily life his moods were capricious ; sometimes full of 
 deep solemnity, sometimes indulging like a boy in boisterous 
 fun, sometimes irritable and nervous to an extraordinary 
 degree. The horror of affectation, of appearing to pose y 
 would often lead him, after uttering some beautiful and 
 touching sentiment, to turn it off with a jest, as if deprecating 
 his own sincerity and emotion a habit very discomposing 
 and perplexing to listeners. 
 
 But in the pulpit all these inconsistencies and eccen- 
 tricities were swept away and forgotten in the awful arid 
 intense earnestness with which he set himself to deliver his 
 divine message to his fellow human beings. He was trans- 
 figured for the time, and greatly dignified, and I could 
 
 B 
 
1 8 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 wish he had been more frequently known and seen in that 
 aspect. 
 
 One sentence from one sermon I shall venture to quote. 
 I heard him preach it in Clapham School Chapel soon after a 
 deep family affliction. The subject was the story of Lazarus. 
 He came to the Saviour's words to Martha : ' Thy brother 
 shall rise again,' and her answer, 'Yea, Lord, I know that 
 he shall rise again at the last day ' ; and he paraphrased 
 it : * Yea, Lord, I know that he shall rise again at 
 the last day it is no fear, no doubt of that ! Oh, 
 Lord, it is not that not that, which makes my heart so 
 desolate ! ' 
 
 How cold the words look now they are written ! To hear 
 them was like listening to a stanza of ' In Memoriam ' recited 
 by a master of tone-music, and it seemed quite natural 
 to me in later years that the preacher who so uttered them 
 had become a close friend of the poet, when neighbourhood 
 brought them together. 
 
 As soon as his position was assured by his success at 
 Cambridge and consequent appointment as headmaster of 
 the Stockwell Grammar School,' 34 ' my uncle began, naturally, 
 
 * At this particular time, what were called ' Grammar Schools ' were 
 being opened in many localities on rather a novel plan, and there was a general 
 stir in the public mind on the subject of education. 
 
 Charles Pritchard was the first headmaster of the Stockwell School, and 
 at its opening he delivered an address which made a deep impression, and 
 for many years he used to speak of it as ' the best thing he had ever done.' 
 
 It was a very earnest exposition of his theories of education theories then 
 novel and rather startling, but which, for the most part, have been adopted since 
 then. It showed him in the character of a pioneer. In one respect, I think few 
 of his followers can have attained to the same pinnacle of success that he did in 
 inspiring schoolboys with a sense of honour. 
 
 The first time my husband went with me to Clapham, an apple tree, loaded 
 with ripe fruit, was hanging over the private garden wall into the playground, and 
 my husband remarking upon this with surprise, my uncle stopped in his walk, and 
 said in that deep, soft, emphatic voice of his, 
 
 ' I should be sorry, indeed, to think that one of my boys would touch one of 
 those apples ! ' 
 
 And it was quite clear that not one of them had done so ! 
 
EARLY LIFE 19 
 
 to long for what is, and ought to be, the ambition of every 
 right-minded young man a home with a wife in it and 
 he had not far to seek. 
 
 With his reputation for remarkable talent as a teacher, 
 preacher and lecturer, he could not but be attractive to 
 the minds and hearts of the female part of his acquaintances. 
 It is true that he was not handsome, but his appearance was 
 impressive, and his shyness and want of society manners were 
 in his favour, as they were set down to his absorption in 
 thoughts of higher things. Besides this, he was extremely 
 fascinating, and it was not easy to resist the persuasive 
 tones of his soft, earnest voice. We, therefore, watching 
 every step of his progress from only a little distance (at 
 Epsom), were not surprised to hear that he had won the 
 heart of a young and beautiful girl. I well remember 
 Emily Newton's first visit to Epsom, and how we were 
 charmed with her. My dear father especially formed an 
 affection for her that never wavered during the rest of his 
 life, and she returned it warmly. To me she was ever a 
 kind and sincere friend. 
 
 I myself do not remember the exact date of the marriage, 
 but am told it was in the year 1836. As he had, of course, 
 to give up his Fellowship, some care was required at first 
 to manage a small income, and at the same time to keep 
 up a liberal style of housekeeping for the private pupils 
 whom he at first received in his own house. And it must 
 be said, in simple justice, that his young wife made an 
 admirable mistress to their small establishment. She had 
 learned the art of housekeeping well at her father's house 
 before she married, though the education she received at 
 a fashionable Clapham school was superficial and shallow 
 to a degree that would not now be believed, and did no 
 justice to her really considerable powers of mind. As a 
 hostess she was admirable, and when the success of the 
 Clapham School rapidly expanded, she rose to the level 
 
20 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 of her husband's improved position, and 'did the honours' 
 for him splendidly. 
 
 This was the bright side ! There was a reverse, of 
 which I need not say much. My uncle was at that time 
 not an easy man to live with. His superabundant energy 
 made him restless under the combined cares and inevitable 
 anxieties of school and family, and his natural irritability 
 of temper broke out only too often. To spare him as 
 much as possible, his children were being constantly sent 
 away to the country homes he was now able to provide 
 for them at Ramsgate, at the Lakes, and elsewhere. 
 
 The Clapham life was one of continual excitement and 
 turmoil, wonderfully successful, but fitted neither for him 
 nor for his wife, who, unfortunately, was as nervous and 
 excitable as himself. 
 
 As a small and trifling instance of the kind of thing 
 which was continually happening, I remember going over 
 one day from Kensington after my marriage, and finding 
 the whole establishment, from the headmaster down to 
 the kitchenmaid, in a commotion over coffee-pots. 
 
 He was never satisfied with anything short of perfec- 
 tion. Some complaint had been made of the coffee, and 
 the whole school had more than once been kept waiting 
 breakfast while some new form of coffee-pot or * biggin ' 
 was tried. Some made the coffee thick, others were too 
 slow, and one sort after another was discarded. Matron 
 and cook were in tears, masters were surly and uncom- 
 fortable, my uncle was furious, and my aunt wild with 
 worry. 
 
 As soon as I appeared I was pounced upon to explain 
 how the coffee used to be made at Epsom, where it was 
 always good. 
 
 I said, ' In a flannel bag, but that I believed felt bags 
 were to be bought, which answered as well.' 
 
 ' Ah, yes, felt was the right material ; ' and instantly I 
 
EARLY LIFE 21 
 
 know not how many felt bags were ordered, nor do I 
 know whether they were successful. 
 
 Never a strong woman, my aunt died at little more 
 than middle age, leaving her children at the most critical 
 time of their lives, just growing out of boyhood and 
 girlhood. 
 
 No bereaved husband and father ever mourned more 
 sincerely for the loss of his wife, or ever tried more con- 
 scientiously to do his duty to his motherless children. His 
 eldest son soon after entered the Civil Service of India, 
 and his distinguished services and the very eminent position 
 to which he has attained have proved him to be his father's 
 intellectual heir. He is now Sir Charles Pritchard, C.S.I., 
 K.C.I.E., and so distinguished a man that to be his father 
 is in itself no ordinary distinction, and it becomes a matter 
 of unusual interest when not only the talents, but many 
 characteristics of the father have been so clearly reproduced 
 in the son. 
 
 The Times of India, of 29th February 1896, says : 
 
 'Sir Charles Pritchard left India on Saturday last after 
 a service of something over eight-and-thirty years. He 
 carries with him the hearty good wishes of all who know 
 him. . . . 
 
 ' Sir Charles arrived in India before the last echoes of 
 the Mutiny had entirely died away. His first work was to 
 free Belgaum from bands of robbers. . . . 
 
 1 Two years later his name became still more widely 
 known in connection with his exposure of the great Public 
 Works Fraud. About this time the Salt Department was 
 ripe for his energies, and in five years, with so much vigour 
 had he taken it up, that the revenue went up from 68 to 
 104 lacs. His fame as an organiser spread abroad, and in 
 1876 he was appointed President of the Madras Salt 
 Commission. . . . 
 
 ' All this was preparatory to the great work of his official 
 
22 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 career. He devised a scheme which aimed at the high 
 ideal of diminishing drunkenness, while at the same time 
 increasing the revenue, and he carried it through with the 
 unflagging energy and masterfulness which were the dis- 
 tinguishing characteristics of his career. Whatever may 
 be the final verdict on the scheme, it was worked out with 
 a courage and ability which compel admiration and cordial 
 acknowledgment . . . 
 
 4 In 1887 Sir Charles Pritchard became Commissioner in 
 Sind, where he devoted his extraordinary energies to 
 harbour works, irrigation, railway extension, the establish- 
 ment of women's hospitals, training schools for nurses, etc. . . . 
 
 ' In 1889 ne was appointed member of Council, and 
 towards the end of 1892 he took his place as Public Works 
 Minister of the Viceroy's Council/ 
 
 The article ends, after some details of his ' masterfulness ' 
 in putting down the smuggling in salt, with these words : 
 * A singularly able and gifted administrator in all he under- 
 took, Sir Charles Pritchard made many friends, who view 
 his departure with regret, and wish him a very happy time 
 on his well-earned retirement.' 
 
 My uncle remained a widower for several years. Very 
 soon after his second marriage, which took place in 1859 to 
 Miss Rosalind Campbell, my children's health induced us 
 to remove from the neighbourhood of London into the 
 country, so that I saw comparatively little of his second 
 wife. But I saw enough to convince me more than ever 
 of the wonderful fascination he could exert when he pleased 
 and wished to win. For it could have been no common 
 attraction that could induce a sweetly charming and high- 
 born young woman, with a handsome fortune and great 
 good sense, to marry a man of fifty years of age with a 
 family nearly grown up. 
 
 I saw enough, too, to convince me that it was a marriage 
 of sincere affection on both sides. 
 
EARLY LIFE 23 
 
 I believe his wife soon saw that the Clapham life was too 
 trying and exciting for my uncle's nervous temperament, and 
 that it was in deference to her judicious wish that he retired 
 to the Isle of Wight. I am quite sure it was the real rest he 
 found there (when really and for the first time living a quiet 
 domestic life) that enabled him to make a fresh departure as 
 an astronomer at Oxford, to the amazement and admiration 
 of his contemporaries.* 
 
 Of Freshwater and Oxford his younger children have 
 written in a way that leaves no doubt as to the happy influ- 
 ences that guided the latter half of his life. Even the last 
 crowning grief of their mother's almost sudden death, in 1891, 
 seems, from their accounts, to have had none but a softening 
 effect upon him, ripening his heart and spirit for the last 
 great change. 
 
 And here my task is ended. May it appear to others less 
 imperfectly accomplished than it does to the writer. 
 
 * I cannot refrain from adding ray tribute to my Aunt Rosalind's memory. 
 She was an ideal helpmate for a highly gifted and highly irritable man. Had it 
 been the good fortune of Mozart or Moliere to meet with such a wife, they might 
 not, perchance, have died in their prime, and the world might have been the 
 richer by many a masterpiece. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 HIS WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER, 1833-1862, 
 By himself 
 
 [Of my father's career as a schoolmaster, the best account 
 has been given by himself. When, in 1886, the gold medal of 
 the Royal Astronomical Society was conferred upon him, a 
 large number of his former Clapham pupils celebrated the event 
 by entertaining their old schoolmaster at a dinner, which took 
 place in London on the 5th of July, and of which fuller mention 
 will be made in its proper place. It was to this company of 
 'Old Boys r that my father soon afterwards addressed the 
 autobiographical pamphlet entitled, Annals of Our School Life, 
 the bulk of which is contained in the succeeding chapter. A. P.] 
 
 MY own school education was not fortunate. Sixty years 
 ago, and before Dean Stanley's interesting portraiture of 
 Rugby life, public schools were in general, and in many 
 respects, incredibly inferior to their present condition; on 
 the other hand, private establishments, or, as they are often 
 ignominiously but unreasonably designated, private adven- 
 tures, were at that day intrinsically pretty much the same 
 as they are now. Not resting on endowment and ancient 
 establishment, they were within easy reach of the effects of 
 opinion. I cannot judge accurately and in all respects of my 
 own first school, but the little that I do remember was not 
 pleasant ; this recollection, however, touches only on the 
 internal and economical arrangements. For there must 
 have been something substantially good about it, inasmuch 
 as I am told that an elder brother of mine at the same school, 
 at the age of sixteen, was frequently observed sitting apart 
 
 24 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 2$ 
 
 in some solitary corner with his Aristophanes in his hand, 
 and there convulsed in laughter.* Our great public schools 
 can produce nothing better in that line at the present day. 
 I was myself far too young to emulate or appreciate any 
 such accomplishment, but I was quite old enough to be con- 
 scious of other discipline and severe deprivation. Whether 
 it was in consequence of the dietetic hygiene of Abernethy, 
 or whether it came from the observation of the lower animals, 
 I remember to this day that we were never allowed to drink 
 until we had finished the solid parts of our respective meals! 
 Worse than that, no drinking was permitted between the 
 meals, not even in respect of fluids non-alcoholic. The 
 consequences of this arbitrary regulation were natural and 
 unsalutary. In the first place, we resorted to an old and half 
 fetid rain-water barrel; and in the second, we contrived to 
 haul up bottles of water, procured out of the town, into our 
 bedrooms, at the hazard of a consequent flagellation. If the 
 mention of such trivial matters as these excites your surprise, 
 I pray you to call to mind the happier condition of the old 
 Clapham school life; and, if the contrast is evident, then I 
 would have you believe that it, and many other regulations, 
 owed their origin to the recollection of my own boyish 
 sufferings, and of many other illiberalities of which I was the 
 conscious subject. As another instance of this contrast and 
 of its origin, I may recall to mind the institution of the 
 Clapham swimming bath, from which so many of your- 
 selves derived advantages still probably in activity. I have 
 no doubt that the suggestion of this device originated in 
 some unpleasant reminiscences of mine in relation to the 
 River Colne at Uxbridge. The one-armed gentleman who 
 presided over our establishment was wont to attach a rope to 
 one of our arms, and then project us into ten feet of water by 
 the side of some floodgates on that stream. The effect of 
 this regulation, owing probably to a certain stubbornness of 
 
 *See p. 10. 
 
26 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 disposition, and a too sensitive appreciation of justice, was 
 exhibited in my case, in that I have never learnt to swim. 
 On the other hand, when my own turn came, I established the 
 gentler amenities of the bath at Clapham, with the result that 
 in due time the ' Old Boys ' of those days could all swim. 
 
 From my Uxbridge school I was removed, at about the 
 age of twelve years, to Merchant Taylors'. Here again I 
 was fated to be unfortunate. The aged preceptor of my own 
 form was possessed by an evil spirit of somnolescence, which 
 it seemed impossible to exorcise. He would habitually fall 
 asleep with a cane in his hands, or into a state of half-uncon- 
 scious doze, during lessons; from time to time he would 
 suddenly wake up, and the consequence was that a sharp 
 instantaneous crack was heard, proceeding from the collision 
 of the dread instrument with some luckless hand. If I failed 
 to make much progress in the studies of the place thus 
 administered, I fear I did attain to considerable proficiency 
 in the art of truant-playing, one effect of which was that I 
 gained an intimate acquaintance with the precincts and 
 topography of the Tower of London, my favourite haunt on 
 such occasions. Detection naturally followed, and ought I to 
 regret to say that the kind-hearted headmaster of that day, 
 instead of flogging me as I deserved, took the wiser course 
 and removed me into a higher form ? I wonder whether good 
 Mr Bellamy discerned in the erring boy traces of powers 
 which might come to a happier development in later years ? 
 
 If the class discipline thus described was unsalutary, very 
 different but much severer was another discipline to me in 
 another respect. In those hardy days the school-work in 
 Suffolk Lane commenced at seven in the morning. My habita- 
 tion was nearly four miles distant, at Brixton. For a year and 
 a half, or more, it was my fate to amble rather than to walk 
 to school through those weary miles, regardless of rain or fog. 
 
 I do not remember that I ever complained of this severe 
 arrangement : I was old enough to be aware that temporary 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 2/ 
 
 economical necessities were the cause, and I can never forget 
 that the words most frequently heard in my home were 
 ' Education/ * Education ' ; so I suppose I felt that I was 
 being 'educated. 5 
 
 In due time, 1822, I was removed from these untoward 
 influences to an admirable private school in the suburbs of 
 London. My new Orbilius was a man who, contradistin- 
 guished from my former mentor, slept but little, and never 
 in school-time. 
 
 He was a self-educated, energetic, practical man of very 
 considerable abilities. He possessed largely the art of inspir- 
 ing his pupils with the spirit of ambitious competition. The 
 best arithmetician, the best writer, the best reader of the 
 week, were all duly chronicled in our hebdomadal registers ; 
 and as I had within my own family been strongly imbued 
 with the spirit of Achilles, aisv dpiffr&vsiv, I in due course 
 became an adept in all sorts of arithmetical calculus, and I 
 acquired 'the art of reading, writing, and speaking, with 
 propriety/ Our chief read to us weekly some well-selected 
 piece of English literature, and we weekly learnt some thirty 
 lines out of Enfield's Speaker. Now, supposing this practice 
 were continued even for two years of forty weeks, the accumu- 
 lated result would be nearly 2500 lines of poetry, passing 
 through, and dwelling for a sensible time at least, in our 
 minds. Some of these excerpts from the poets I still retain, 
 to my great refreshment. The elder Struve, the greatest of 
 Russian astronomers, records that he was once stricken with 
 a malady, in the course of which there recurred to his 
 memory much of the literature which in various languages 
 he had learned in his early youth, but had subsequently 
 wholly forgotten. I am told that such maladies are by no 
 means unknown at the present day : if so, some of us may 
 have been visited with, so far, a not unpleasant surprise. 
 Apart from this, the practice, even to a much larger extent, 
 is assuredly salutary. Who of us, for instance, can ever 
 
28 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 forget the lines of occasionally poetic wisdom grotesquely 
 expressed in the syntax of the old Eton Latin Grammar? 
 Boys under modern education, I fear, in general miss this 
 pleasant advantage. We were, at this stirring school, in- 
 dulged also with the sight of a fine collection of working 
 models of such machinery as then existed, made and used 
 by the celebrated Ferguson, a name well known to all 
 English astronomers. The collection included telescopes 
 and quadrants, and suchlike instruments of antiquated build. 
 The mere sight of such implements is in itself an invaluable 
 incitement to the curiosity of youth, and (as in my own case) 
 probably has formed the turning-point of intellectual procli- 
 vities. I remembered all this when, about some twenty years 
 ago, I introduced a watering-engine into my garden in a 
 secluded parish of the Isle of Wight. Up to that day few of 
 the inhabitants had seen any form of machinery beyond a 
 spade or a plough. There have been, and I fear there still 
 are, forms of education where the intellectual environments 
 are bounded by what can be seen outside a tramcar, moving 
 within a very contracted area. Beyond all, our active 
 schoolmaster insisted on our acquiring the use of scales and 
 compasses and the art of geometrical drawing ; the delinea- 
 tion of maps and of architectural plans was also practised. 
 
 Very many of us could use the theodolite, and could 
 survey and plot an estate. Our practice ground was mainly 
 in the Isle of Dogs, at that time an all but unoccupied waste, 
 and I well remember how, at the age of less than sixteen, I 
 earned two guineas for indoctrinating an intending colonist in 
 the art of field-surveying. I did not leave him until we had 
 completed the plan of Kennington Common, and had calcu- 
 lated its acreage. Besides this, several of us contrived to 
 hobble through the (Edipus Tyrannus and other suchlike 
 forms of youthful and thorny jungle. 
 
 Now, I contend that this mode of education is pre- 
 eminently valuable, and its results adhere to the mind as long 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 29 
 
 as the mind retains its activities. Our great public schools 
 will one day learn to appreciate the value thereof. Some- 
 thing of this sort formed one of the many elements in the 
 scheme of education which I devised for yourselves at 
 Clapham : with this generic and important difference, that 
 I had enjoyed the inestimable advantage of a classical 
 and Cambridge education a boon denied to my most worthy 
 and indefatigable master. On the occasion of our recent 
 gathering, one of yourselves, a man than whom none is more 
 widely known or more highly respected in the city of 
 London, pulled out of his pocket an exquisitely arranged 
 chart of contemporaneous ancient history : ' There,' said he, 
 * there is what you taught me to do, and do it from memory 
 full fifty years ago.' I was also told, on authority not to 
 be questioned, that the first germ of what ultimately was 
 developed into that nobly useful Palestine Exploration, 
 was infused into the prolific mind of my dear old pupil, 
 Sir G. Grove, by some of our Saturday's imaginary travels 
 from Clapham through Palestine, illustrated by chalk-drawn 
 maps on the blackboard.* But that germ was in reality 
 previously sown in my own mind at Poplar. It was there 
 also that I first saw a retort and an air-pump, and an 
 electrical machine, used unskilfully enough, no doubt, but 
 used sincerely. A spark was thereby struck, which has been 
 fanned into abiding light and warmth in my own mind, and 
 subsequently in many others. 
 
 I wish I could also trace the origin of a higher moral 
 form of teaching, to the abiding impression of these my early 
 schooldays. I have often thought I could, at least by way 
 of antithesis. Many of yourselves and I wish I might with 
 sincerity include the thought of all of you many of you 
 can remember what occurred to your minds during the time 
 set apart at Clapham to preparation for Confirmation. My 
 
 * Cp. p. 72. 
 
30 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 own Confirmation (alas! it was only in conformity to the 
 general type of that day) was to me solely a matter of 
 ceremonious form, to be gone through as a thing of course 
 age and the time of life alone being, for the most part 
 the sole antecedents considered as necessary for the rite. 
 I well remember that in the naughtiness of my heart 
 I did not exhibit even the ordinary reverence due to a 
 decent rite. My punishment was grotesque, but it was 
 well intended ; I was not allowed to descend to the 
 bottom of the East India Docks in a diving-bell ! a 
 scientific privilege reserved for those who were better 
 behaved than myself. The rebuke was well intended, but 
 in my case it partly missed its aim ; for, inasmuch 
 as our mentor had previously explained that the denizens 
 of a diving-bell are usually beset by a notable singing 
 in the ears, it occurred to me that after all I was better 
 off out of the bell than in it. During the last half century, 
 much has elapsed tending to elevate the moral being of 
 the Englishmen of your generation. Peace and honour be 
 to the memory of my old schoolmaster, John Stock, of 
 Poplar, who did for me and for all of us ' what he could ' 
 and he did very much of it well. 
 
 My next removal was to a school again antithetical to 
 this last, but as I am not conscious that any impressions 
 were left on my intellectual or moral being which have 
 in any way borne fruit among my own pupils, I may dismiss 
 the record of it in few words. The headmaster of Christ's 
 Hospital was at that time (I am speaking of years ago) 
 permitted to take a limited number of private pupils, 
 who were placed in the classes under his own care at that 
 most benevolent and famous institution. For perhaps a 
 twelvemonth I was seated at the head of the Deputy 
 Grecians. I remember learning my classical work with 
 great diligence ; but the lessons themselves I was rarely 
 called on to ' say ' : no doubt some benefit was derived from 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 31 
 
 the performances of other boys, many of whom were gifted 
 with much ability. But here, again, I was involuntarily 
 enrolled among the peripatetics, and my fate was to learn 
 by rote a goodly number (some forty) lines from Thomson's 
 Seasons or from Homer, during a walk from St George's 
 Church, Southwark, over London Bridge to the Newgate 
 Street School. Perhaps a habit of abstraction was thereby 
 engendered ; for, very many years after, I have found 
 myself enjoying the poetry in Monge's Curved Surfaces^ 
 or Lagrange's Mecanique Analytique in Exeter Hall, while 
 the harmonies of the ' Messiah ' or the ' Elijah ' were floating 
 sympathetically around me. Who shall say which was 
 the truer music of the two that of Handel, or of the French 
 analysts? and was the habit acquired among the crowds 
 on London Bridge ? 
 
 The next two years* were to me probably less satisfactory 
 than most others in my life, and as I am not conscious of 
 much appreciable results from them on the proceedings 
 of our school life, they need not occupy much space in this 
 narrative. But even here is some exception. Economical 
 reasons, arising from the unfructiferous outcomes of a 
 manufacture of extreme difficulty, conscientiously but un- 
 successfully persevered in by my father, put a stop even 
 to the modest expenditure necessary for my schooling 
 at Christ's Hospital. The natural and imperative question 
 ensued, as to what to do with a lad between sixteen and 
 seventeen years of age, presumed to possess scholastic 
 knowledge, tastes and abilities beyond the average ? Fortun- 
 ately the advice and interference of an elder brother, 
 endued with an indomitable appreciation of intellectual 
 habits, prevailed, and it was agreed on that I should be 
 left to my own devices for study as best I could, and, as 
 best I could, prepare myself for an university life, under 
 
 * 1824-1826. 
 
32 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 the hope that from some quarter or another the means of 
 realising the project would come to hand. Progress in 
 purely classical studies for a boy left to his own resources 
 seemed to be beyond my hopes. If, in 1825, there had existed 
 one-fiftieth part of those aids and advantages which are 
 within the reach of aspiring boys at the present day, then 
 my course would have been comparatively plain : but 
 open scholarships and exhibitions at either university were 
 then as much the exception as they are now the rule, and 
 I was not 'in the running' for such restricted competitions 
 as then existed. So I was left to my own resources, and 
 happily a genuine love of knowledge of any and every 
 sort stirred within my intellectual frame ; and inasmuch 
 as the most attainable form of knowledge for the untutored 
 was, and still is, mathematics, so to mathematics I betook 
 myself with a will. Still there was nothing but my innate 
 love of it to keep me steadfastly and steadily at work. As 
 an instance of my utter want of guidance, I remember 
 well how, on meeting in Wood's Algebra with a reference 
 to Waring's Meditationes Algebraicce^ I teased my brother 
 to procure for me a copy. After a diligent search among 
 the second-hand book-shops, a copy was at last procured 
 at the exorbitant cost of two guineas. Alas ! the ponderous 
 old English analyst proved almost too much for even my 
 perseverance, and I gained but little or no light from his 
 writings, except a tendency to distrust learned references 
 for the future. I read, I think, Wood house's Trigonometry 
 and some of Lardner's Treatises on Analytical Geometry and 
 the Differential Calculus: they were the best expositions 
 in their day, but scarcely suited for academical examinations. 
 What pleased me most, and to me seemed as the revelation 
 of light, was the half-successful mastery of Lagrange's 
 modest volume on analytical functions : the book seized 
 on my youthful imagination, and sealed me for ever as a 
 lover of the concinnities of geometry and the exquisite 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 33 
 
 symmetry of its expressions when delineated by the hand 
 of a master. About the same time also I had the inestim- 
 able advantage of attending a course or two of lectures 
 on chemistry, given by Allen and Pepys at Guy's Hospital. 
 The hours were counted till the days of these lectures 
 came round, and ever after chemistry became to me, and 
 has remained, a passion. 
 
 But in all this pleasing desultory work I had no com- 
 panion of my own age, nor indeed of any age, excepting 
 my two brothers, who did their best to express their sym- 
 pathy, and whose kindness and encouragement have left 
 an impression of gratitude on my affection never to be 
 effaced. Of genuine boyhood, its games, and its generous 
 friendships, I had no experience. Often and often have 
 I looked down from the balcony on the roof of the University 
 Observatory at young England disporting itself in the beauti- 
 ful park beneath, and there by athletic labours preparing 
 itself joyously but unconsciously for such duties of manly 
 endurance as it may one day be called on to undertake : 
 the sight of the contrast with my own youth has excited 
 not envy, not grief, but rather delight in their happier lot, 
 and thankfulness at their enjoyment. 
 
 I had almost forgotten that about this time the ambition 
 of authorship had fired my young imagination, just as it 
 has often seized other students so soon as they fancy they 
 have mastered a new subject : they believe that they see 
 it in a clearer light than it has been seen in before, and they 
 long to communicate their discoveries to others. I doubt 
 not that it was in this way that the late Bishop of Natal was 
 impelled at the first to write his premature criticism on the 
 theology of which he had then commenced the study. My 
 own genius took a lower flight, and I succeeded in persuading 
 an adventurous bookseller in a provincial town to publish a 
 small brochure of mine * in the shape of an Introduction to 
 
 * Introduction to Arithmetic, published by Piper, Ipswich, 1825. 
 
 C 
 
34 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 Arithmetic. Looking at this little book in the light of the 
 present hour, I feel no shame at the contemplation. Even 
 now it is far ahead of most of the arithmetics of the present 
 day, inasmuch as every page of it teems with the attempt to 
 encourage thought. The elementary properties of numbers 
 are explained, and are demonstrated on the simplest prin- 
 ciples, and no arithmetical process is presented to the tyro 
 without the detail of the reason thereof. But, alas ! these 
 are just the very points that are useless in the modern form 
 of suicidal competition : the reasons of things do not in 
 general pay in the ' competitives.' I remember well how, 
 a few years ago, when I was examining the candidates 
 for certain valuable appointments, I put the rudimentary 
 question as to what numbers are divisible by eight? The 
 fact may seem astounding, but it is true, that out of sixty 
 candidates I did not get the question answered. It was too 
 simple, too practical, too much entering upon the reasons and 
 roots of things to have ever been pointed out by the ' coaches/ 
 or to have been elicited by the curiosity of the students. All 
 such simple and instructive matters are attended to in my 
 brochure of fifty years ago, and were well known to me when 
 fourteen years of age. I owed the first knowledge of them to 
 the * private adventure ' school of the zealous schoolmaster at 
 Poplar. 
 
 What joy was mine when at length I found that friends 
 were gathering round me, who agreed to furnish the funds 
 necessary for an university career. Among them were kind 
 relatives, some of them highly gifted and eminent clergymen, 
 who served God and their country in the generation before 
 your own. Two of these I cannot deny myself the pleasure 
 of mentioning. One of them was my uncle, Thomas Morti- 
 mer, the much-loved lecturer of St Olave's in the Borough, 
 and Vicar of St Mark's, Myddelton Square, one of the most 
 popular and useful clergymen in his day, specially among 
 young men. The other, also my uncle, was the Rev. William 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 35 
 
 Holland, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, 
 and Vicar of Swineshead in Lincolnshire. These excellent 
 men upheld me in my temporary low estate. One condition, 
 however, was attached to the accordance of this pecuniary 
 help : I engaged to refund the sums that should be neces- 
 sarily expended on my career at Cambridge, so soon as 
 I should acquire the means. Happily for me these means 
 were acquired in due time, and the debts were discharged. 
 From my heart I say, even at the present hour Deo 
 gratias. 
 
 In my choice of a college I was left, as in most other 
 things, pretty much to my own devices. I had read with 
 feelings of emulation the memoirs of Kirke White, and 
 with even greater sympathy those of Henry Martyn, and 
 my sentiments were impressed by the record of the kindness 
 shown to the latter at the hands of the much-regarded tutor 
 of St John's, Mr Catton. The poet Wordsworth also had 
 been a Johnian, and for his poems I had conceived a passion, 
 unpopular as they were at that day. These considerations, 
 inadequate enough in themselves, were operative in my final 
 selection of St John's. I do not doubt, however, that I was 
 also much influenced by the repute of the college as offering 
 peculiar encouragement to needy and promising students. 
 
 In this way, just after Easter 1826, I found myself at 
 St John's College, Cambridge ; and in recording the fact 
 I cannot avoid the association which recurs to my mind, that 
 just sixty years afterwards I find my name enrolled in the 
 closer relation of an Honorary Fellow. A solitary student 
 I was, but thankful then to be there on any terms. Not 
 that I had no introduction to the college tutors, but I 
 knew not a single person there of my own age, and happily 
 for me, I was plunged at once into the thick of the term's 
 work, with an examination impending before me within 
 six weeks. Nevertheless, I was not at the time painfully 
 conscious of loneliness, for there lay the work and the goal 
 
36 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 plain before me ; the work pleasant, though anxious enough ; 
 the goal, an honourable provision for life. I cannot truth- 
 fully say that no higher motives and hopes possessed me, 
 but the argumentum ad crumenam is absorbing in its appeal. 
 I believe that the more prevalent feeling of the moment was 
 connected with the consciousness that at length I was sur- 
 rounded by grand opportunities for learning, and that I was 
 at length in contact with minds highly cultivated, and 
 animated with many sympathies akin to my own. 
 
 For in those days some would now regard them as 
 antediluvian and sunk in Cimmerian darkness our lectures 
 were viva voce ; not truly lectures in the usual sense of the 
 term, but strictly catechetical, and on subjects for the most 
 part prepared beforehand. We sat on chairs ranged round 
 the walls of the room, with the tutor at a small table in 
 our midst. We had nothing in our hands excepting an 
 unannotated copy of some classical author, or were pre- 
 sented in our turns with a cardboard, on which diagrams 
 were drawn relating to the mathematical subject before us. 
 Then came the logomachies between the tutor and the 
 undergraduate ; often amusing enough, and frequently very 
 instructive to those who came seriously to learn : sometimes 
 they were tedious, the results varying with the skill of the 
 tutor and the capacity of the examinee. One consequence 
 of this arrangement was, that both tutors and students 
 became in due course well acquainted with the attainments 
 and mental capacities of the men in each year, and we could 
 always make a reasonable guess at each man's final place in 
 the Tripos.* All this is now changed, and, as I regard 
 it, changed for the worse ; for the college tutor now simply 
 reads his lecture for an hour, while the students take such 
 notes as suggest themselves to their inexperience. 
 
 Of formal college examinations at St John's, there were 
 
 - * This form of divination appears, in spite of the following sentence, to be not 
 wholly extinct at Cambridge. 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 37 
 
 two annually, in May and in December. The college sub- 
 jects were all planned beforehand with great forethought 
 and skill, arranged for a three years' course. They consisted 
 of a considerable portion of one Greek and one Latin author 
 selected for each biennial examination. To these were added 
 two or three definite mathematical subjects, progressive in 
 their character, a Gospel in the original Greek, and some one 
 moral subject, under which term were included in my day 
 Paley's Moral Philosophy , Locke on the Human Understand- 
 ing, a book on Logic, and Butler's Analogy in two portions. 
 These college examinations were conducted with as much 
 care and formality as those in the Senate House or for the 
 classical Tripos. The sum total of each man's marks in all 
 the subjects combined was added up, and our places were 
 publicly exhibited during the space of six months in the 
 college hall. Prizes of books were awarded to each man 
 whose name appeared in the first class both at Christmas 
 and Midsummer, and Exhibitions of greater or less value 
 were also assigned to such students as most distinguished 
 themselves, or who needed assistance, with the probability 
 of their making a good use of it. The amount of aid thus 
 accorded by this noble and bountiful college might, but for 
 the facts of the case, have been fairly deemed incredible ; 
 still it was never prodigal. A system of this sort was pre- 
 eminently adapted to elicit the intellectual powers of any 
 man, and to educate him all round ; for if the student desired 
 to stand well with the college authorities, the necessity of 
 accumulating marks in each and all of the several biennial 
 subjects of examination formed a very powerful stimulus. 
 
 Plunged thus suddenly into the midst of these new 
 activities, how was I to come out in this my first college 
 examination ? I had had no proper preparation beyond 
 what I could give myself in a general way before reaching 
 Cambridge. I entered the college also nigh to the end 
 of the half year, and was not expected to be examined in 
 
38 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 every part of the first year's subjects, I had never under- 
 gone a literary examination before, what then shall be the 
 issue of this first essay ? I shall never forget how, so soon 
 as the result was posted up in the college hall, I turned 
 to see my fate. I was conscious of a great obstruction in 
 my throat, the old sensation known to us all, and a flush 
 came over my face as I read the unexpected words : ' Prit- 
 chard highly distinguished himself in all those parts of the 
 examination which he attended.' Thus my first conquest 
 was assured, and I felt that I had ground for strong hopes 
 of ultimate success. I learned, also, from indirect but 
 reliable sources that from the results of this examination, 
 and almost equally from the daily tortures undergone at the 
 hands of the college lecturers, I had raised expectations that 
 eventually I might ' do the college credit. 5 Thereupon a Fel- 
 lowship began to loom in the future, while, for the present, I was 
 both encouraged and assisted by an Exhibition of some value. 
 Months passed away after my first attempts in a 
 college examination. I now was better informed as to 
 what I ought to read, and how to read it. At that time 
 the most important parts of the tuition were carried on 
 by private tutors. In general the pupil sat by his side 
 for one hour daily, and this time was mostly occupied by 
 the tutor himself ' writing out ' for his pupils, with a run- 
 ning comment, some propositions of special importance, 
 which were either contained in no English book, or else 
 seemed capable of a better development at the tutor's hands 
 than the books contained. And these books were few. I 
 am writing of the year 1827, when private tutors were not 
 designated by the expressively equivocal name of * coaches/ 
 At that day written instruction was contained in MSS. 
 originating in or endorsed by the college tutors, though at 
 the same time much of it was confined to the private MSS. 
 of the private tutor himself. In relation to this question of 
 private tuition and of its great importance to the student, 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 39 
 
 I must here mention that in due time the college authori- 
 ties inquired as to my pecuniary means for defraying the 
 cost of a tutor, under the view of supplying me with that 
 needful direction : a truly generous offer, involving as much, 
 in those days, as seventy pounds for the entire academical 
 year and the long vacation. Happily for me, my friends 
 advanced the necessary sum on the condition already 
 stated, that I should refund it when more prosperous days 
 arrived. The tutor I selected was Charles Jeffries, the 
 Second Wrangler in Airy's year, and his memory I hold to 
 this hour in affectionate reverence. The moments I spent 
 at his side were golden, felt to be such at the time; and 
 even now I occasionally look at his scrawls on pieces of 
 paper, relating to this subject or that, full of meaning. So 
 my progress was rapid, and my style of thought and of 
 expression daily improved. For lucidity of mind and 
 elegance of mathemetical conception I have not met with 
 his equal. The recollection of this man's goodness often 
 and often recurred to my mind when some of yourselves 
 sat at my side, and if I did not consciously imitate him, I 
 felt taught and directed by the memory of his example. 
 
 The time went on, but to me half unconsciously, 
 its intervals being marked out only by the recurrence of 
 the biennial examinations, in which it was essential for me 
 to maintain one of the foremost places : I was invariably 
 second man of my year, the first place being, it seems, 
 beyond my reach. The consequences of this success were 
 that year by year I was rewarded by prizes of books, and 
 the gradual accumulation of Exhibitions, ultimately sufficient 
 to defray all necessary expenses. Of course this generosity 
 was not confined to myself, but was extended equally 
 to other men deemed worthy of college encouragement. 
 
 I have already spoken of the varied curriculum of the 
 college system of that day as being by no means confined 
 to mathematical training. The study of divinity was 
 
40 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 exacted from us, and we were guided not solely by the 
 college lectures, but by the examination papers set at the 
 biennial examinations. In this way, among other subjects, 
 I was led to commit the major part of Butler's Analogy 
 to memory to me a possession stored up ever since among 
 my most cherished sympathies. And here it may not be 
 without some interest to relate that after an interval of some 
 thirty years and more, when in the vestry of a country 
 church, I met an old college friend, who told me that he 
 had just come from a visit to my most honoured college 
 tutor, Richard Gwatkin, from whose mind and goodness 
 I had learned so much at Cambridge. He told me that 
 I had been the subject of a recent pleasing conversation, 
 wherein Mr Gwatkin had narrated how, at Cambridge, in 
 years gone by, he had week after week in the college 
 lectures done his best to overthrow me at Butler's Analogy ; 
 but, said he, somehow I invariably failed. Did my revered 
 old tutor fail also to discern the causes ? I loved my 
 subject, I tried to understand it, and I knew it by rote. If 
 I mention this little matter in these brief Annals, it is 
 partly because Dean Bradley, in his article* on the Clap- 
 ham Education, refers to the Butler lessons, of which, 
 perhaps prematurely, he was made the recipient. Yet, in 
 point of fact, I think that all generic truth is essentially 
 simple, and that accordingly Butler's grand argument, 
 carefully expounded, lies within the reach of ordinary 
 intellects, and even touches ordinary affections. The 
 Analogy was effectually backed by many sermons from 
 that most learned and instructive preacher, J. J. Blunt, the 
 Regius Professor of Divinity of that day ; and you may 
 remember, some of you, how his Undesigned Coincidences in 
 the Old and New Testaments formed a part of your curri- 
 culum at Clapham. These I had listened to as delivered 
 from the university pulpit. Archdeacon Julius C. Hare 
 
 * Nineteenth Century, March 1884. 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 41 
 
 also by his inimitable sermons as select preacher, contri- 
 buted greatly to form the theological bias of my own 
 mind ; and if to these I add the writings of Coleridge, and 
 those of the accomplished and large-minded Isaac Taylor, 
 I think I should nearly exhaust the authors who during 
 my undergraduateship laid the foundation of my theological 
 predilections. I was induced by Isaac Taylor's remarkable 
 essay on ' Saturday Evening/ to clear away all secular books 
 on the early evening of the last day of the week, and 
 during three years of my Cambridge course I devoted it 
 and the Sunday to quiet thought, apart from academical 
 studies, and it is to this quietude and rest that I attribute 
 in part the prolongation of my life. Moreover, the abiding 
 influence on my mind and on my moral sentiments, arising 
 from the writings of the great authors above mentioned, 
 may, I am sure, be traced not only throughout the homilies 
 preached in our Clapham School Chapel, but in many of my 
 more public addresses at meetings of the British Association, 
 and in essays read before many a Church Congress. 
 
 The time at last came for the final trial of the Mathe- 
 matical Tripos.* Herein I was told by the college authorities, 
 who for three years had watched my career, that I had not 
 realised their expectations. Perhaps not ; but I had fulfilled 
 my own hopes, which a better knowledge of my deficiencies 
 led me to entertain. My degree, after all, was high enough 
 to secure a Fellowship, and the means of refunding the cost 
 of my education, and, better still, I knew that my reputation 
 extended even beyond my place in the Tripos. Three men 
 obtained higher marks than myself, my besetting infirmity 
 being a certain nervousness or uncollectedness, which pre- 
 vented my producing at the moment what in a cooler frame 
 of mind was well within the scope of my knowledge. As an 
 instance of this, I may mention that on one winter's midnight, 
 with the snow upon the ground, and within a week of the 
 
 * In 1830. 
 
42 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 examination, the most distinguished man of the year came 
 into my rooms to ask for the explanation of a knotty point in 
 the Lunar Theory; this I readily gave him. The question 
 itself was actually set ; my friend wrote it out I did not ! I 
 do not mention this to my credit, but it may remind some of 
 my l Old Boys ' of an idiosyncrasy of mine which they may 
 have noticed. 
 
 I was now landed on the road to competence is it affec- 
 tation to say to usefulness ? Private pupils, as usual, were at 
 once offered to me in abundance, for I had the reputation of 
 thoroughly knowing my work and for carefulness in the doing 
 it. I undertook but a very few pupils, only sufficient for my 
 maintenance, for I was desirous of devoting the greater part 
 of my time to classical studies. And this I did, partly be- 
 cause I was unwilling to risk the Fellowship examination, 
 which was wholly classical : partly also, I was led to it from 
 the love of the thing itself. Here, again, for eighteen months 
 I enjoyed the inestimable advantage of a tutor possessed of 
 a rare intellectual capacity : I refer to the late Sir William 
 Martin, then Classical Lecturer at St John's, and afterwards 
 Chief Justice of New Zealand. I had already, while an 
 undergraduate, enjoyed the pleasure of instructing him in 
 mathematics, and now he was to repay me in his own speci- 
 ality. He was a scholar deeply versed in the philosophy of 
 the Greek and Latin languages, possessing a singular insight 
 into the logical simplicity of their construction ; and it was 
 not long before he removed the haze in which the pedantry 
 and insufficiency of the existing grammars had involved what 
 was in itself transparently clear. Under his guidance, I read 
 the more salient and characteristic parts of many ancient 
 writers, and soon became enamoured with the charm of the 
 inimitably incisive character of the Greek intellects. Of this 
 clear insight into the majestic symmetry of the Greek 
 language, thus acquired, you were made the partakers at 
 Clapham : some of it was presented to your mental vision 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 43 
 
 in the shape of two or three leaflets entitled Notabilia 
 Qucedam* a brochure which attracted the notice of the 
 Dean of Westminster in his article in the Nineteenth Century.*? 
 It is still published by Messrs Bell & Son, and I think has, 
 even at this late day, lost nothing of its value. The Clapham 
 boys were without excuse if they blundered in the construc- 
 tion of the Greek or Latin moods or tenses, or in the mazes 
 of the Greek prepositions and their attendant cases, or in the 
 greater mysteries of the particle av. 
 
 Meanwhile, though chiefly engaged in imbibing and as- 
 similating the knowledge of other minds, I nevertheless 
 ventured to some extent on more original grounds. During 
 my undergraduateship, I had been greatly struck with certain 
 trigonometrical relations brought to light by Poinsot, especi- 
 ally as elucidated by the new ideas which had now begun to 
 dawn on the true interpretation of what had hitherto been 
 termed 'impossible quantities.' These speculations led me 
 to other writings of this great mathematician, specially to 
 Poinsot's doctrine of statical couples. I became so ena- 
 moured with the singular power and wide application of this 
 new idea, throwing a clear light as it did on much that had 
 hitherto been obscure in the theory of mechanics, that I 
 could not rest until I had simplified the subject and brought 
 my joy and my light within the ken of others. 
 
 The little treatise on Statical Couples was soon published : 
 it was adopted in the general university teaching ; it ran 
 through two editions, and was ultimately absorbed in other 
 treatises on mechanics, generally without acknowledgment. 
 To this publication I also added the product of my first essay 
 in original research ; it consisted in a simplification of the 
 
 * Notabilia Qttadam, or, The Principal Tenses of such Irregular Greek Verbs 
 and such Elementary Greek and Latin Constructions as are of constant occurrence. 
 G. Bell & Sons, London. 
 
 t * He took,' writes the Dean of Westminster, 'the bold step of flinging, not 
 without some words of iconoclastic ridicule, our Latin Syntax to the winds, and 
 substituting a few a very few rules, that he gave us on a blackboard.' 
 
44 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 final propositions in the mathematical treatment of the figure 
 of the earth, considered as heterogeneous. I had read it 
 before the Cambridge Philosphical Society, of which I had 
 become a member. 
 
 At length the long-wished-for Fellowship was gained in 
 March 1832, and with it suspense vanished as to pecuniary 
 competence and the repayment of the educational loans. 
 Pupils again flocked to me in superabundance ; of this run 
 of fortune I was now free to take full advantage, and judging 
 from the places attained by most of them in the Tripos, both 
 they and I had reason to be satisfied. It was soon communi- 
 cated to me that at a very early date I should be invited to 
 take an active share in the public tuition of the college, This 
 I had myself, perhaps not unnaturally, expected ; but it was 
 not to be. Looking back now through the vista of half a 
 century, I cannot wholly satisfy my mind as to all the motives 
 which impelled me, at so early a period of a successful aca- 
 demical career, to relinquish the natural hopes and ambitions 
 which must have legitimately presented themselves. 
 
 Three alternatives presented themselves : I might pursue 
 natural science, or divinity, or chemistry ; for each of them 
 I possessed, or I thought I possessed, the elements necessary 
 for future usefulness, perhaps I might even say, for distinction 
 in original inquiry. Then, again, I was fond of teaching 
 that is, I was then and still am pleased in making others the 
 sharers in the charms which result from the influx of fresh 
 light and the acquisition of new knowledge. But, notwith- 
 standing all these opportunities, which might in some points 
 of view be well regarded even as sacred, nevertheless I deter- 
 mined to quit the university life, just when it was dawning 
 brightly upon me, and seek my fate in the larger world out- 
 side it. 
 
 * Qui fit, Maecenas, ut nemo quam sibi sortem 
 Seu ratio dederit, seu fors objecerit, ilia 
 Contentus vivat ? ' 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 45 
 
 It might have been impatience : looking back through the 
 busy occupations of many subsequent years, I am inclined 
 to doubt if I could have occupied them more advantageously 
 in any other role of life than that in which I have actually 
 engaged. 
 
 ' There's a divinity that shapes our ends, 
 Rough-hew them how we will. 3 
 
 Now it so happened that about this time I am writing 
 of 1833 many new proprietary schools in connection with 
 King's College were in process of establishment in almost 
 all the suburbs of London, and here and there in the 
 Provinces. The main object in view was to secure for the 
 sons of the comparatively well-to-do residents in these 
 suburbs a better form of education than at that time was 
 procurable, except at a very few of the large and expensive 
 public schools ; and these new schools were to be brought 
 within easy distance of the homes of the boys. Nothing, 
 as I think, in the way of education, can be more desirable 
 than this arrangement. Granted that the home is favour- 
 able, what is wanted is a large school presided over by 
 masters of culture and ability, while at the same time the 
 boys are retained within the amenities and protection of 
 family life. This arrangement applies in my mind to all 
 boys up to the age of sixteen or seventeen. Most of these 
 are draughted off to active commercial or professional life ; 
 those who are intended for a university career, could at 
 that place find ample field for the cultivation of what are 
 regarded, and properly regarded, as manly and social virtues. 
 The schools should be large, say up to 250 or 300*; 
 sufficiently so for the formation of a healthy public 
 opinion; and the education arising from the conflict in 
 school games might be, and ought to be, provided for on 
 
 * Dr Arnold placed the limit at about 250. The headmaster, he thoughtj 
 should know something of all the boys personally. 
 
46 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 the same scale and in the same way as exist in the larger 
 public schools at present. Nothing, I think, can excuse 
 the general delegation of parental authority and influence, 
 so prevalent at present. The monotony of school habits 
 and of the forms of education, teeming in the present 
 generation, is neither healthy nor tends to elicit the virtues 
 of individual character. The expense too of education on 
 the modern system is grievously and unnecessarily enormous, 
 and entails trouble and anxiety on families possessing only 
 moderate pecuniary means. Schools such as I have just 
 hinted at should be broadcast over the land. Nothing in 
 this scheme would necessarily clash with the existence 
 and prosperity of the anciently endowed great schools, 
 which have long formed the pride and ornament of 
 England. They would still be open to the sons of the 
 wealthy, who preferred the discipline of a master's board- 
 ing-house to that of home and the .day-school combined. 
 
 Be this as may, it was something of this sort that was 
 aimed at by the promoters of the proprietary schools, 
 though for the most part they had no clear idea of either 
 what they really wanted or how to realise even their own 
 projects. The main principle which seems to have mastered 
 all others was parsimony, and thereby they miserably 
 crippled the income of the principals of these schools, 
 ungenerously forgetting that excellence even in commercial 
 ability is generally not to be commanded excepting at an 
 adequate cost. Besides this there was the perpetual inter- 
 ference of the governing bodies, or committees as they were 
 termed, consisting rarely of men of any adequate intellectual 
 culture, and no experience in school government. 
 
 Now it was at the head of one of these establishments 
 that I, in my inexperience, was contented to be placed : 
 my election was carried not without a considerable struggle, 
 and my supporters and myself were never forgiven by the 
 minority of the committee. I mention these things solely 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 47 
 
 for the elucidation of the consequences which soon arose 
 in the sequel, and which before long led to the establishment 
 of the school at Clapham under wiser and more liberal 
 conditions. 
 
 As I have already explained, my own experience of 
 two great public schools, at which for a certain term of 
 my life my own culture, mental and moral, were left to 
 run wild, was not impressive, excepting so far as it had 
 taught me what to avoid. I was in this way left to form 
 a plan of education for the new institution, out of my own 
 knowledge and reflection, untrammelled by any traditions. 
 This I did sincerely, and with all the thought and delibera- 
 tion that I could command. Accordingly, I embodied 
 my thoughts and the resulting plan in a somewhat elaborate 
 address, which I delivered in due form before the Pro- 
 prietary of the Stockwell Grammar School, on the occasion 
 of its opening.* This address lies before me at this 
 moment, and with all the experience of half a century 
 superadded, I can say with sincerity, that had I now to 
 form a scheme of education for a large school, it would be 
 on the very same lines as those enunciated in my inaugural 
 address. 
 
 This plan of education was based upon the study of 
 the Greek and Latin languages, for reasons not here and 
 now necessary to give. But then this education was by no 
 means to be confined to these ancient tongues, including 
 the literature expressed therein. I proposed a considerable 
 infusion of elementary mathematics, such as might be 
 well within the reach of boys of ordinary abilities; and 
 beyond all I proposed to introduce a systematic course of 
 instruction relating to the physical phenomena in the 
 midst of which we live and move and have our being. 
 I thought it then, and I think it now, preposterous to 
 regard any man as thoroughly or even moderately well 
 
 * August 1833. 
 
48 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 educated, unless he has some intelligent acquaintance with 
 the physical nature of the food he eats, the water he drinks, 
 the air he breathes, and of the general structure of the 
 heart which beats within him. Nor was I indifferent to 
 the duty of imparting to the boys some rudimentary 
 acquaintance with the great men who had lived before us, 
 and with the literature which some of them had left behind 
 them. Beyond all, and as the foundation of the whole 
 scheme, I laid it down as a maxim, that the main intention 
 of early education should be the development of the habit of 
 thinking, and the exhibition of the right mode of setting 
 about it. And here I gladly admit that the small problems, 
 within the reach of a boy's capacity, which constantly 
 occur in the groping out of the meaning of Greek and 
 Latin sentences, by the aid solely of dictionary and 
 grammar, form an invaluable element in the development 
 of the understanding. In addition to the foregoing con- 
 siderations, and as occupying an important part in the 
 educational scheme, I insisted on the necessity of pro- 
 viding ' resources for the leisure hours of maturer life' and 
 this provision was to be made by the removal of obstacles 
 which invariably intervene, and are often deterrent; in the 
 acquisition of the first rudiments of the knowledge of 
 natural phenomena a term now sufficiently abused under 
 the name of science. For instance, I had myself a lively 
 impression of the difficulties encountered in the mastering 
 of the first elements of descriptive botany : three times I 
 was foiled in my endeavours to overcome the difficulties 
 inseparably connected with the printed treatises; and I 
 was at length relieved, simply by the aid of some slight 
 personal elucidation in the field. So under these con- 
 victions I resolved that the boys in the new school 
 should in all such matters have the benefit of my 
 experience. 
 
 If it occur to any of you that what I here insist on is, 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 49 
 
 after all, nothing beyond the form of education adopted in 
 our ordinary modernised schools, then my reply is twofold. 
 First, the introduction of a well-furnished laboratory, and 
 serious instruction in natural phenomena at the hands of a 
 well-cultured instructor, were at that day a novelty ; and 
 herein I think I may fairly claim to have been a successful 
 pioneer in a most important branch of education. Secondly, 
 even when this introduction of science, as it is called, is 
 adopted in our modern great schools, it invariably holds a 
 very subordinate place in the curriculum, the learning thereof 
 is generally left to the choice of the boy, and the teaching 
 thereof is relegated to men of inferior education. This last 
 item is the more serious of the two, and is often fatal to 
 the mental development, of those who are subjected to it. 
 There is also, even at the present day, a serious obstacle to the 
 pursuit in schools of knowledge not classical, in the fact 
 that classical teaching is the only form of instruction in 
 England reduced to a system and a routine ; the form of 
 teaching mathematics or science depends on the individual 
 idiosyncrasies of the teacher : no system, so far as I know, 
 has yet been adopted or worked out ; and in most instances 
 the headmaster of the school has not made it his business 
 to acquire the requisite knowledge. With reference to 
 modern languages, although the importance thereof, both 
 for purposes of commerce and for social intercourse, is day 
 by day becoming better understood, there still exists a 
 very serious obstacle for English boys, arising from the 
 habitual eccentricities of the class of foreign teachers who 
 come to this peculiar island of ours. Herein I proposed 
 to do solely what I could. 
 
 Such, then, is an outline of that form of education 
 which I proposed to introduce into this new proprietary 
 school at Stockwell, and which I ultimately did fully carry 
 out at Clapham. I proposed that all boys alike should 
 be subjected to it, until about the age of sixteen ; at which 
 
 D 
 
50 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 age I conceived they might be advantageously drafted off 
 to instruction of a more special character, whether for the 
 universities, or for any other purpose. A boy thus taught 
 and thus intellectually disciplined, would be fit for any 
 pursuit. But here I have often heard an objection raised, 
 and the question is asked : Where is the time to be found 
 for such multifarious instruction ? I reply, in the systematic 
 accumulation of small increments : but it must be systematic, 
 and beyond all, it must be sincere and impartial. For 
 instance, take a modern language. Let anyone calculate 
 what would be the effect of learning ten or twelve new 
 words daily in its vocabulary, during a year of forty weeks : 
 this would not require half-an-hour per diem, and making 
 all due allowances for the burden of the accumulation on 
 the memory, at least fifteen hundred words would be learnt 
 an amount exceeding the practical requirements of the 
 case. This applies only to the vocabulary ; but then this 
 is the chief difficulty, and I would ask in what school is 
 any such system, or I fear any thoughtful system at all, 
 adopted ? The truth is that between the ages of twelve 
 and sixteen, the all-round system of education I proposed, 
 must, if sincerely followed, issue in results utterly beyond 
 those which are ordinarily achieved. In the observatory 
 under my direction at Oxford, in order to complete the 
 research for stellar parallax by the aid of photography, 
 upwards of seventy thousand careful measures must be 
 made of the distances between the images of stars upon 
 the photographic plate. The number, nay, the very mention 
 of it, seems appalling ; but by steady and systematic ac- 
 cumulation, the work will be completed without any stress 
 of mind in less than a year. So, as I have insisted, the 
 acquirement of the rudiments of an all-round education is 
 well within general reach, by the adoption of system and 
 sincerity, between the ages of twelve and sixteen. The 
 competitives stand in the way ; and the time will come 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 51 
 
 when the competitives will be found to be intellectually 
 and educationally suicidal. 
 
 So the Stockwell Proprietary Grammar School in con- 
 nection with King's College was duly established in January 
 1833 ; and, generically, on the lines explained above. But 
 the relations between me and a portion of the committee, 
 or governing body as it would now be called, were from 
 the first strained, and as time went on the tension increased. 
 They could not understand my rejection of the Eton Latin 
 Grammar : moreover, even a rudimentary knowledge of 
 nature was not necessary, they thought, for boys intended 
 either for commerce or for the university ; and neither I 
 nor my friends could be forgiven for placing our opponents 
 in a minority. Meanwhile, the school flourished numerically, 
 and in a few months the limit of number, one hundred 
 and forty, was reached : the committee declined the many 
 supernumerary applications, and as thereby both the ambi- 
 tion and the expansion of the stipend of the headmaster 
 were alike effectually curbed, the whole affair began to 
 ' work ' what the judicious Hooker calls ' sensible smart' 
 Still, my occupation in other respects was extremely pleasant 
 to me. A famous grower of auriculas, when questioned 
 by a friend as to the process he adopted for his eminent 
 success, replied as follows : ' Dear Sir, If you wish your 
 plants to thrive you must, by frequent presence and atten- 
 tion, teach them to know you. . . .' So my more immediate 
 classes learnt to know me, and they throve accordingly. 
 I had also the extreme good fortune of finding boys who 
 were possessed of far more than ordinary talents, and who 
 were ready to respond to the calls which I made upon 
 their attention. I may give the names of three of my 
 first Stockwell pupils, whose subsequent careers would be 
 considered ornaments in the roll-call of the worthies of 
 any school in the kingdom ; so I will mention the present 
 Dean of Westminster, Dr Bradley ; Sir George Grove, so 
 
52 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 well known in so many lines of accomplishment ; and 
 George Hemming, who subsequently became Senior 
 Wrangler, and is now the consulting Counsel to the 
 University of Cambridge. 
 
 For about a year and a half the strain and the jading 
 from a portion of the committee continued unabated : 
 these gentlemen, though no doubt amiable and honourable 
 enough in their own individual spheres, nevertheless, as 
 governors of a place of education, were wholly out of their 
 beat, and by a ceaseless interference and sundry small 
 annoyances, they made the headmaster's life unenviable, 
 antf at length I finally resigned my connection with them. 
 And yet the retrospect of those busy months at Stockwell 
 is even now grateful to me ; not alone from my close and 
 pleasant association with young boys possessing much 
 intellectual ability and moral excellence, but even the other 
 boys, not under my immediate tuition, seem to have been 
 reached and impressed by that sort of influence which pervades 
 every school directed with sincerity and ability. It is not 
 more than two years ago, that I received a letter from one 
 of the then youngest boys in the school, expressing the bene- 
 fits which he says he had felt through life from the good 
 influence described by him as having penetrated even to 
 his low position in the school. As to the elder boys, a 
 silver cup * usually stands on my sideboard as a memento of 
 ' their affectionate regard.' Other pleasing reminiscences also 
 
 * One of these elder boys, Mr Hemming, Q.C., describes the presentation 
 of this cup, the subscription for which had been kept a dead secret. ' Pritchard 
 had made a speech in presence of committee and parents and boys, explaining 
 his withdrawal,' when up marched unexpectedly the spokesman of the boys, and 
 gave him the cup with some words of appreciation and gratitude. ' Pritchard 
 was thoroughly taken by surprise, and without a moment's thought of what he 
 would say he sprang up and gave us a burst of genuine eloquence such as I hardly 
 ever heard from anyone.' 'He pointed to the committee who sat behind him, 
 and pictured the slights and scorn which he had met with there.' Then he 
 turned to the boys, dwelt on his pleasure in teaching and their merits in 
 learning, and finally 'concluded with "These are my witnesses," and lifting up 
 the cup, "This is my trophy,'" 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 53 
 
 I still possess of services said to have been rendered and ap- 
 preciated, during occasional ministrations in Stockwell Chapel. 
 So in June 1834 I left, sorrowfully but without hesitation, 
 the Stockwell Grammar School in connection with King's 
 College, London, with the intention of returning to the 
 more peaceful occupations of a university life. But, again, 
 this also was not to be. I remember well how, one day 
 shortly after my resignation, I sat down with my former 
 most excellent and able second master* (who, by the way, 
 was speedily treated more perversely than even I had been), 
 and we drew up together what we considered might be a 
 workable constitution for a proprietary school. It *was 
 drawn up solely for our amusement, but it was well conned 
 over on all its sides, little imagining at the time that it 
 would ever be adopted in fact. But the truth was, very 
 many of the parents among the proprietary took the same 
 view of the external management of the school that I did 
 myself, and a considerable number expressed their wish 
 that a new school, under better and more liberal regula- 
 tions, should be established elsewhere, and be placed under 
 my unfettered management. I told the gentleman who, in 
 the name of others, was deputed to make the proposition, 
 that I was ready to superintend such an institution, but, 
 if I did, its fundamental regulations must be almost anti- 
 thetical to those which had collapsed at Stockwell. I laid 
 before them the scheme which I had, under such singular 
 circumstances, drawn up, but it was accompanied with a 
 quiet feeling of despair and of indifference as to the view 
 to be taken of it. To my surprise it was accepted as reason- 
 able and hopeful. The main principles of the external govern- 
 ment proposed were as follows. The committee was to be 
 small ; the headmaster was to assist at all its deliberations ; 
 the pecuniary terms were to be arranged on a much more 
 
 *The Rev. William Hodgson, subsequently the much-respected Vicar of 
 Bratliay, ui the head of Windermere. 
 
54 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 adequate scale ; the committee was to take charge of 
 money matters alone, not interfering with the main plan 
 and course of the education, which were understood to be 
 framed on the same lines as those commenced at Stock- 
 well. There was also provision to be made for any possible 
 extension of the numbers admitted to the school, and the 
 arrangements for the boarding were to be left entirely in 
 the hands of the headmaster, subject to the condition that 
 the terms were not to be so excessive as to be beyond the 
 reach of the well-to-do inhabitants of the neighbourhood. 
 
 On this basis, then, what was known as the Clapham 
 Grammar School was established in August 1834. It was, 
 in fact, a proprietary school on a more liberal scale than 
 the kindred institutions round London ; it was also freed 
 from the element of interference, which had proved so dis- 
 agreeable in all these schools, and so fatal in the Stock- 
 well case. The new school progressed greatly year by year, 
 and as the numbers increased, so new class rooms were 
 added, and before long a lecture room with its contiguous 
 laboratory was established, and gradually furnished with 
 all apparatus necessary for the elucidation of chemical and 
 physical phenomena. Most happy was I in my work, for 
 I had unmistakable evidences that the young minds around 
 me were budding up into the promise of much fruit. After 
 the lapse of a few years, some seven or eight, the school 
 attained to unusual dimensions, specially in the number of 
 the boarders, and the committee of management became, 
 I suppose, alarmed or dazed, and conscious of their own 
 inexperience in the management of so formidable an in- 
 stitution. Excellent men they were, and to me most 
 excellent friends, but they were necessarily not men of 
 academical minds. They had, without due expectation, 
 established a great school, the dimensions of which they 
 had agreed not to curb, and they were becoming half- 
 frightened at the presumed ambition of their headmaster. 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 55 
 
 ' You will soon ask us/ said one of them to me, in friend!} 
 discourse, 'to build you an observatory.' That was said, i 
 presume, prophetically ; for, in a very few years, I actually 
 did add an observatory* to the other institutions of the 
 school ; and this, in due time, led up to the establishing 
 of the beautiful observatory belonging to the University 
 of Oxford. It is a familiar saying that we know not what 
 a day may bring forth : at the time in question I could not 
 dream that these efforts would ultimately land me in Oxford. 
 So the committee of management, seeing that their 
 original intention of establishing a good school in their 
 immediate neighbourhood had been realised even beyond 
 their expectations, suggested to me, in the most friendly 
 manner, that I might possibly feel more at liberty to pur- 
 sue my objects, if they handed the entire management, 
 funds and liabilities over to myself. In some respects it 
 might have been better if I had not accepted this generous 
 offer without reserve; I might, with the prospect of great 
 advantage, have sought for the aid of other minds more 
 experienced in the trusteeship and governance of public 
 schools, and have started afresh on enlarged foundations. 
 But the growing population of the place, and other cir- 
 cumstances, would soon have rendered a change of habita- 
 tion necessary for such an institution ; so I accepted the 
 freedom thus kindly offered, and with it all its responsibilities. 
 
 * Prof. Alexander Herschel, who, in 1895, made a pilgrimage to Clapham, 
 with the purpose of learning what had become of the old school buildings and 
 precincts, reports that this observatory is now destroyed, and a new street, St 
 Luke's Road, carried across its site. It contained a transit instrument, which 
 he describes as a ' very beautiful one, shown by Troughton and Simms as their 
 chef d* oeuvrc at that time in the Great Exhibition of 1851, and bought (for ^"200, 
 I used to hear him say) by Prof. Pritchard from the makers very soon after 
 the close of the exhibition.' Prof. Herschel, who was at Clapham in 1855 as 
 a pupil, and again in 1860 as an astronomical student, relates a somewhat curious 
 burglary at the observatory, of which a micrometer formed the principal spoil. 
 Sir John Herschel replaced this micrometer : what the thieves did with it 
 remains unknown. 
 
56 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 I at once added two new institutions to the establish- 
 ment ; the one in the shape of a swimming bath, and the 
 other was a school chapel, each of them implying a cor- 
 responding addition to the roll-call of the boarders. To 
 the school now flocked ever increasing numbers : they con- 
 sisted very much of the younger sons in families where the 
 elder brothers were sent to more expensive schools, such 
 as Eton, Harrow and Rugby, Another important element 
 was derived from the sons of men at the head of the 
 several branches of science and of the liberal professions. 
 The names of Airy, Darwin, Gassiot, Grove (Sir W.), 
 Hamilton (Sir W.), Herschel, Maurice, etc., became familiar 
 in the roll-call, and, in due time, we could number among 
 the ' Old Boys ' a Senior Wrangler, and many other men 
 distinguished at both the universities, and especially some 
 who eventually attained to rare distinction in the army. 
 Nor were we less advantageously known at Haileybury and 
 Addiscombe. Twice we furnished the head students of these 
 colleges. 
 
 Such, then, was the material and scholastic progress 
 of the school. As to the form of education, it was pre- 
 cisely on the lines already explained, with such modifica- 
 tions only as arose from the necessity of adapting it to 
 a large establishment of boarders. But I may here repeat, 
 that my great aim was to establish a habit of thinking ; 
 and another great aim was, as I have also said before, 
 to provide resources for the leisure hours of after life, by 
 removing those rudimentary difficulties which invariably 
 beset the commencement of the study of Nature in its 
 several aspects or departments. In the form of the in- 
 struction which I gave, I kept in view the principle so 
 admirably enunciated by Horace : 
 
 ' Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem, 
 Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus et quae 
 Ipse sibi tradit spectator.' 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 57 
 
 There was scarcely a boy in the upper forms of the school 
 who could not draw with reasonable skill a good diagram 
 of a condensing steam engine ; a chart of contemporaneous 
 history, ancient and modern, from memory ; and a genealogy 
 of the dynasties which have occupied the throne of Eng- 
 land, etc. Every boy in the school, with the exception 
 of the youngest, was expected to attend the weekly lectures 
 on chemistry, and some other branches of natural philosophy, 
 and subsequently to draw from memory the various ap- 
 paratus employed in the illustrations. These lectures I 
 invariably delivered myself, partly because I felt them to 
 be of serious moment as respects the subject-matter dis- 
 cussed, and partly because I held it to be a matter of 
 prime importance that the minds of as many boys as 
 possible should come into contact with the culture and 
 experience of my own. The tenet of the auricula-grower, 
 already explained, was at all times in my thoughts ; for 
 I wished these young minds to ' Know me ! ' Often and 
 often, in days not very long gone by, have I met in the 
 streets of London ' Old Boys ' who, after our mutual greet- 
 ing, have proffered their acknowledgments for this portion 
 of their school learning. 
 
 The teaching of the first rudiments of geometry I took 
 especially under my own auspices : I believe I was in- 
 duced to take this trouble from having heard that the 
 difficulties of geometry are regarded as insuperable to 
 some minds. My own conviction, on the contrary, was 
 and is, that our mental faculties are so constituted, that 
 every man responsible to his Maker for his reasonable 
 actions, is competent to master the rudiments of geometry. 
 Plato thought so, some twenty centuries ago. On the 
 other hand, it is possible, and it is not unfrequent, for a 
 pseudo-teacher to disgust his pupils, and alienate them 
 for ever from a knowledge and a discipline priceless in 
 their character. I fear this is often the case in those great 
 
58 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 schools where the cultivation of Greek and Latin is re- 
 garded as the one thing needful. I believe that a part 
 of the truth lies in this, that the teaching of the classical 
 languages has been in the course of ages reduced to a 
 communicable system, and can be taught as a routine; 
 whereas instruction in the rudiments of mathematics is 
 left to the haphazard of the teacher. My own method, 
 some of you may remember, was as follows : so soon as a 
 class of some fifteen to twenty boys, about the age of fourteen 
 to fifteen, could be got together to commence geometry, 
 I began my pleasant work. The first question I put was, 
 'What is Euclid?' Various notions were elicited, but the 
 reply I wanted lay with me alone, and this reply was to 
 be repeated by each of the tyro-geometers : ' Euclid is that 
 which is not to be learned by heart.' This part of the 
 lesson being secured, I proceeded to the second part, namely, 
 to the promise of a half-holiday to the whole school, if, in 
 the course of the next fifty minutes, six boys could de- 
 monstrate logically and satisfactorily to their own minds 
 and to mine, that there cannot exist more than five regular 
 solid figures, that is, solid figures, all of whose plane faces 
 are regular polygons. This, in fact, amounted to taking 
 the end of the whole subject by storm. To effect this, all 
 that was necessary was skill on the teacher's part, and 
 intelligent attention on the part of the pupils.* The 
 demonstration, which was strictly logical, was performed 
 with the aid of a small lath of wood and the black-board, 
 and specially by avoiding all definitions not required for 
 the express purposes in view. In itself the thing was 
 essentially simple, and required nothing more than an 
 appeal to the common sense of boys' minds. I never 
 on any occasion failed in my object ; or rather, the young 
 minds before me never failed to secure the half-holiday 
 
 * A good deal of stress, some of us may think, must be laid on the first of the 
 two conditions. 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 59 
 
 for their companions. It is generally the pedantry of the 
 mode of teaching which makes geometry distasteful : from 
 the very necessities of our environments, all men are, more 
 or less, born geometers, and every tolerable carpenter finds 
 that to be the case. 
 
 I may mention here that when I came to the Greek 
 definition of Proportion I was for years put to a feeling 
 of intellectual distress. No modern geometer that I knew 
 had succeeded in explaining the true thought which lies 
 at the bottom of the apparently complicated character of 
 this most important definition. Even De Morgan had 
 tried and had failed. On one occasion, however, of this 
 recurring mental distress, the beautiful simplicity of the 
 Greek thought flashed into my mind. In a moment, while 
 walking up to the black-board, I asked myself if ' Propor- 
 tion is the equality of ratio ' and if * ratio is the comparison 
 of magnitude/ how is that comparison to be made? The 
 answer is obvious, viz., by the comparison of multiples of 
 the magnitudes to be compared. Here then was elpfaa, 
 and the marvellous incisiveness of the Greek mind was 
 revealed. 
 
 Every alternate year, we took elementary botany in 
 hand a science of incalculable benefit in any scheme of 
 education which embraces mathematical study ; for, whereas, 
 the latter branch of learning depends on the formal pre- 
 cision of the definition of the things meant, descriptive 
 botany, on the other hand, calls into play the rapid 
 appreciation of minute differences, and an ultimate appeal 
 to the balance of contrarieties. It is in this way supple- 
 mental to, or corrective of, the mathematical habit of mind, 
 and more nearly resembles the consideration of those pre- 
 sumptive evidences on which, for the most part, the 
 conduct of life is determined. Botany was made pleasant 
 by walks into the country, and by the old inducement of 
 the promise of a general half-holiday so soon as at least 
 
60 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 six boys could bring back to school specimens of wild 
 flowers, illustrative of twelve natural orders ; the distinc- 
 tive characteristics of which they were individually to 
 demonstrate to me. I do not doubt that my eminently 
 distinguished old pupil, George Darwin, now holding the 
 post at Cambridge corresponding to that which his ante- 
 diluvian tutor holds at the sister university, remembers 
 how he asked me one day to read with him certain 
 portions of his illustrious father's book on The Fertilisa- 
 tion of Orchids. More than gladly I did as he desired, 
 and in clue time we succeeded in fertilising and ripening 
 the seeds of Oncidium Papilio ; but we did not succeed 
 in our attempts to induce the seeds to germinate, as 
 his father challenged us to do : the necessary environ- 
 ments were wanting. 
 
 Of the school sports, there is little need that I remind 
 you : these engrave themselves on all our memories ; 
 pleasant hours, good fellowship, generous young friend- 
 ships. If ever I felt gratification, or even a possibly 
 pardonable pride, it was on the many occasions when I 
 saw some thirteen or more of you mount the drag, 
 looking just what none but educated English boys could 
 look; and I had no misgivings that the honour of the 
 school would be jealously guarded even in the midst of 
 exuberant youthful spirits. There was no one but your 
 boyish selves in those jubilant drags to restrain any 
 possible forgetfulness of propriety ; for of old time, the 
 rule of the school had been the inculcation of a sense of 
 honour. The pledge of the word was in those days 
 implicitly relied on ; yet there was no weakness felt or 
 imagined in the powers that be, but an old experience 
 of a heavy hand and a retribution, if ever the case 
 demanded it. The successful inculcation of this sense, 
 this rule of honour, made the government of a large 
 school not possible only, but generally pleasant for me, 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 6 1 
 
 and for yourselves it carried with it a large access of 
 liberty. The chapel holiday, as we called it, on the 
 anniversary of its opening, you can never forget ; the 
 whole school let loose for the day, in parties for whatever 
 destination each selected ; Richmond, the River, the 
 Crystal Palace, almost anywhere : and no evil that I 
 knew came of this well-disciplined sense of honour, and 
 my trust thereon. But I am wrong here; for a mishap 
 did once occur, and I was called to order by a well- 
 meaning clergyman in "an affair of honour," which issued 
 in a disaster. I believe that in order to check a dis- 
 orderly outbreak in a bedroom, I gave the inmates thereof 
 an alternative, either that I should establish a " sneak- 
 hole" and spy out the delinquents, or take the individual 
 word of honour not to repeat this destructive pastime. 
 The latter alternative was, as usual, accepted and relied 
 on, and so I was at peace, as I thought. But not so ; 
 for an early post brought me a somewhat angry remon- 
 strance from a clerical friend, to the effect that I had 
 administered an oath to two of his sons. I confess I 
 was utterly astounded ; and on meekly requesting en- 
 lightenment as to what course he would himself have 
 desired me to adopt, I in due time was informed that 
 I ought to have requested a promise that ' by the grace 
 of God, the boys would endeavour not to be disorderly 
 in future ! ' I admit this was too much for my serenity, 
 and after a short correspondence, I requested to be relieved 
 from the example of boys subjected to such hotbed and 
 insalubrious culture. 
 
 These recurrent holidays remind me also of the method 
 adopted to teach your young ideas how to swim. The 
 school swimming bath was, I believe, among other institu- 
 tions indicating a novelty in that day, and a pioneering 
 in a new direction of education. In order to secure that 
 effective pressure which boys know so well how to apply, 
 
62 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 it was instituted that so soon as six new swimmers could 
 accomplish about a hundred yards, the school was to be 
 assembled to witness the feat ; and if, amidst the general 
 shouts, the hundred yards were completed, then there was 
 to be an adjournment for cricket. In this way, and with 
 patience, it was a rare occurrence to find any boy who at 
 the end of the season was unable to swim. 
 
 Having written thus far on the subject of the school 
 sports, it may be well to make some reference to the school 
 punishments, for in a large society offences must come. 
 These all that is, the sports and some of the punish- 
 ments were chronicled in the school journal, printed 
 monthly, for the due handing down of the traditions of 
 the place. One of these little volumes that for 1858 
 now lies before me, and I therein find that the mode of 
 punishment which I occasionally adopted had made the 
 desired impression on the school at large. It seems from 
 the record that some five or six young boys had contracted 
 debts at a confectioner's, which they were unable to pay. 
 An adjudication of bankruptcy followed, with a consequent 
 sale by auction of such valuables as the young bankrupts 
 possessed; but, inasmuch as the proceeds of the sale were 
 insufficient to meet the debts, it was necessary to take 
 their coats in pledge, in order to make up the deficiency, 
 It so happened that the transactions occurred in winter, 
 and for a boy to be coatless incurred the risk of a cold, 
 thereupon each of the young delinquents was provided with 
 a blanket, and ever afterwards the name of Esquimaux was 
 attached as a soubriquet to their names. Relief came on 
 the arrival of the proper remittances from home. Mean- 
 while, the more faulty tradesman was, to his dismay, 
 subjected to the inconvenience of receiving payment by 
 the same driblets, and at the same intervals, as he had 
 permitted in the contraction of the debts ! I remember 
 also that the practice of bolstering, which appears to have 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 63 
 
 been occasionally a fashion, was for a time put a stop to, 
 by appealing to the boys' practical sense of justice; they 
 had injured the bolsters, and had put them hors de combat 
 for the benign purpose intended ; it was therefore but fair 
 that the combatants should replace them, they in return 
 receiving the no longer effective furniture. But I was 
 partly caught here in my own device, for the school 
 environs abounded for some time thereafter with feathers ! 
 The fact is that there are few things more difficult in 
 the government of a school* than the selection of deterrent 
 punishments : all such are things to be avoided where 
 possible, and all of them become ineffectual when often 
 repeated. Some of you became great adepts at long cube 
 roots with six figures in the roots : some of you also 
 exhibited considerable ingenuity in abbreviating the pro- 
 cess : anyhow, your handwriting was not crippled by the 
 old and barbarous practice of writing out ' lines.' Cor- 
 poreal correction, provided it is not regarded as disgrace- 
 ful, appears to me to be the readiest and least objectionable 
 mode of punishment for a young boy, say under sixteen : 
 it should not be either excessive nor insufficient ; neither 
 should it be frequent. I generally offered the alternative 
 of an equivalent in cube roots, the former being in almost 
 all cases accepted ; but if so, there was also an intermediate 
 condition to the effect that the culprit should not exhibit 
 his sense of inconvenience by any concurrent sound. The 
 penalty thereof being a slight addition to his sufferings. 
 A moral offence, on the rare occasions when such occurred, 
 I never regarded as corrigible by such means : the offence 
 was regarded as a disease, and treated in a more serious 
 way. 
 
 Having thus disposed of the sports and punishments 
 incident on the school life at Clapham, I proceed to that 
 
 * Sir Wm. Herschel, who had opportunities of studying this question from the 
 opposite side, admits that 'Pritchard's castigations were sometimes clever.' 
 
64 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 which formed a very distinctive and important element 
 in the educational discipline; I refer to the school chapel 
 and its accessories. The origin of this institution lay in 
 many causes, and sprang from many motives. The school 
 had in fact become too large for occupation in a single 
 parish church, and, moreover, I was not comfortable in 
 altogether divesting myself of my functions as a clergy- 
 man. I had, indeed, already not unfrequently called the 
 school aside on a Sunday afternoon to the lecture room, 
 and there addressed a few words on the things that 
 remain, while all other things fail ; but I soon felt that 
 this practice was inadequate. In accordance with boy- 
 nature, a somewhat irreverent name was at once invented 
 for these addresses they were profanely called ' Ebe- 
 nezers ! ' that word having formed my text or motto at 
 our first assembly. I am glad to express my entire for- 
 giveness to the dear c Old Boy ' who was the author of the 
 humorous term, specially as, on the occasion of the ' Ebe- 
 nezer' which I addressed to you all on the memorable 5th, 
 he actually reminded me of the first text selected for dis- 
 course in the new chapel. Even I had forgotten it. So, 
 having obtained the necessary consent of good Dr Dealtry, 
 the Rector of Clapham, and of the Bishop of Winchester, 
 the Diocesan, I set to work upon the new edifice, thus to 
 be erected as a memento and a beacon in the very midst 
 of you. This beautiful little chapel, for intrinsically 
 beautiful it soon became, was bountifully provided with 
 several painted windows of exquisite workmanship and 
 material at its first opening on Feb. 7, 1846. So soon 
 as I learnt the kind intentions of the boys and their 
 parents, I made it my duty to become acquainted with 
 the history and art of ecclesiastical glass painting, and 
 for that purpose I took a journey to the cathedrals at 
 Canterbury and Bourges, wherein were to be found the 
 best specimens of the craft; nor was the result of the 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 65 
 
 journey unsuccessful. In due course of time all the win- 
 dows of the little chapel, ' to the extent of fifteen, were 
 very satisfactorily filled with painted glass after the best 
 models ; and the chequered play of subdued colour added 
 no little to the reverential solemnity of the place. I had 
 no technical knowledge of music myself, but I was well 
 aware of what its effect would be on a community of men 
 or boys, and I betook myself to Bishop, the great organ- 
 builder of the day. In thus providing our place of daily 
 worship with these and other costly adjuncts, I was actuated 
 by the conviction that we are all of us greatly influenced by 
 our daily surroundings, and I wished that the boys should 
 silently but effectually feel that the chapel arrangements 
 suggested on all sides a reverential and loving care.* 
 
 If I interpret your feelings and those expressed in the 
 Monthly School Journal aright, no part of the school economy 
 was at the time, or in its subsequent memory, more highly 
 cherished than the chapel music. The only part which I 
 could take therein was secondary, but I made it my duty 
 rarely if ever to be absent from the choir practice, and to 
 this expression of care and sympathy I attribute some part 
 of the success. I know not how the whole of this success 
 was effected, but with all my experience, I have rarely or 
 never heard anthems and hymns more touchingly and 
 effectually rendered, whether in cathedrals or colleges, 
 than was frequently the case in our own lovely little chapel. 
 In this way Handel and Mendelssohn, and the great English 
 writers of cathedral music, became familiar to the choir, and 
 to us all. Among the many other benefits derived from this 
 
 * Prof. Alexander Herschel wrote in 1895 : ' The pretty school chapel is spared, 
 and its old playground entrance enters now into the street. But the chapel itself 
 is converted into a " Reform Club speech-room," a raised platform filling up the 
 chancel ; but the painted windows all remaining, and some marble memorial 
 tablets in the walls being hung over with baize, and African and Indian 
 "trophies." ... In interior appearance the chapel now, as is natural from 
 the turbulent uses that it serves, is as dirty as a poultry-house or mouldering 
 barn compared to its once organed and benched ornateness.' 
 
 E 
 
66 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 institution, there was one which I was particularly gratified to 
 hear from the lips of an ' Old Boy,' to the effect that the 
 Psalms of David were in some cases learned by heart as the 
 result of the chanting. Then, there were the choir suppers 
 and the school concerts, under the guidance of our much- 
 valued choir-master, Mr Boardman. Another result of the 
 practice issued in this, that two from your number obtained 
 musical scholarships at Oxford ; and this record reminds me 
 that I have entirely overlooked the fact, that the school 
 was at times well represented in the University Elevens, 
 and also in the University Eights honours not lightly 
 esteemed. 
 
 But that which has left on my mind the most pleasant 
 and abiding impression is the annual Confirmation in the 
 school chapel. It was the result of the Bishop's own 
 spontaneous suggestion, and for eighteen years in succession 
 he came to us on Whitsunday mornings (the day also was 
 selected by himself) ; he addressed the boys from the pulpit, 
 and then administered the rites of Confirmation and the 
 Holy Communion. I find that about four hundred boys 
 must have been confirmed in the chapel altogether. The 
 Bishop* called it his ' happy day ' : I am sure it was also 
 mine. 
 
 The memory of the orderly decorum not alone on those 
 special occasions, but the memory also of the reverential tone 
 pervading the place on ordinary days, is still to me most 
 refreshing. I hardly know how it was effected ; partly it 
 must have been due to the surroundings, and partly owing, 
 it may be, to the maxim implied in ' si vis me flere, dolendum 
 est ipsi tibi ' ; but it was such as to strike the strangers 
 who came to join in our services. I may here mention that 
 on one occasion the Principal of King's College, Dr Lonsdale, 
 came to see with his eyes what he had heard of with his 
 ears. At this moment I recall the expression of eager 
 
 * Sumner. 
 
WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 67 
 
 surprise marked on his countenance, as he looked on the 
 scene before him. ' Tell me how you do it/ said he, after 
 the service. ' Do what ? ' was the reply. * Why, what I 
 have seen; how do you do it?' 'By doing nothing/ I 
 rejoined; and then I explained that it was spontaneous 
 and the habit of the place, and could not have been effected 
 by any previous authoritative arrangements. On another 
 occasion, I observed that two elderly ladies frequented our 
 short daily morning service for a considerable time, and 
 I was curious to know the motive. After some little trouble, 
 I succeeded in ascertaining it : ' Oh ! it is so quiet/ was the 
 explanation given. Yet there were at the time more than 
 a hundred boys in the chapel. 
 
 Such, then, were some of the institutions amidst which 
 th v e boys of the Clapham Grammar School were educated. 
 On reflection, I think they were such as may naturally 
 account for the desire on the part of the ' Old Boys ' once 
 again to shake their old schoolmaster by the hand, after the 
 experience and the trials of life, extending in some cases 
 over fifty years. It was in view of this experience and of 
 these trials, that I, of set purpose, devised that plan of 
 education, and devoted very many of the best years of life 
 to the carrying of it out in steadfastness and sincerity. I 
 remember asking one of your number to what he attributed 
 his remarkable position in official life ? The reply was, 
 that it was chiefly owing to his application of a maxim, 
 impressed upon him by reiteration at school. That maxim 
 was : ' Whatever you do, do it as well as you can.' I re- 
 member also capping the old excuse : ' Please, sir, I did 
 not intend it/ by the remark, ' No doubt, you did not intend 
 that, but you ought to have intended the reverse! And 
 there is one of the secrets of the success of the Clapham 
 education. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 HIS WORK AS A SCHOOLMASTER 
 Reminiscences of Pupils and Others 
 
 GREAT as is the power of self-deception in man, it may be 
 doubted whether any schoolmaster ever believed himself to 
 have been successful in his profession unless he had really 
 succeeded. The boys, if no one else, would have enlight- 
 ened him on the point. But in my father's case there 
 exists much corroboration on the part of the pupils to 
 prove that his methods of teaching really produced, not 
 only the kindly feeling attested by the 1886 meeting, but 
 the educational results which he expected. In the words 
 of Mr Hemming, 'he was a stupendous fellow, and the 
 making of me, and no doubt of many more.' One of his 
 earliest scholars, the present Dean of Westminster, in an 
 article appearing in the Nineteenth Century of March 1884, and 
 entitled ( My School Days from 1830 to 1840,' has described 
 at length the methods of his old teacher, then a young man 
 ' fresh from high mathematical honours at Cambridge, full 
 of fire, enthusiasm and original ability.' 
 
 'He, first of all,' writes Dr Bradley, 'at a time when 
 the real study of comparative philology was almost unknown 
 in England, gave us some glimpses into what I may call 
 the science of language; he taught us to try to group 
 together facts for ourselves, and to form laws from what 
 we observed and met. And he did more. He taught us 
 something, at the same time, of the beauty and charm of 
 
 68 
 
REMINISCENCES OF SCHOOL LIFE 69 
 
 literature, old and new. We were still very young boys, 
 even those who formed his "first class," and quite unfit to 
 read continuously such an author as Tacitus. But yet I 
 still remember how, quite early, almost at the outset of 
 our career, he had the courage to introduce us to the 
 magnificent passage that closes the Life of Agricola, 
 made us laboriously translate it into English, and I presume, 
 for I can still repeat it almost verbatim, commit it to 
 memory ; he revealed to some of us for the first time that 
 Latin authors are something more than puzzling sentences 
 in an unfamiliar language. I recall, too, the manner in 
 which, every Saturday, instead of a dull reading lesson, he 
 would summon seven or eight of us to read one after 
 another, in the presence of a roomful of our schoolfellows, 
 some stirring or pathetic passage from the Old or New 
 Testament, or from English poetry or prose, and how we 
 coveted above all things the distinction of being reported 
 at home as the best reader of the week. It was a simple 
 expedient, but at all events it cured us for life of either 
 practising ourselves, or patiently enduring in others a lifeless 
 and mechanical style of reading aloud. Every Saturday 
 also, for a time, we drew without copy, from previous study, 
 a map of Palestine. Physical geography was then in its 
 cradle, the author of Sinai and Palestine a schoolboy at 
 Rugby, and of the real configuration of that historic land 
 I fear we, perhaps our teacher, knew little ; but the interest 
 which the study of its history and geography inspired laid 
 in one at least of his pupils the seed of a future harvest. . . . 
 ... I think that Sir George Grove would date the first 
 germ of his articles on the "Geography and History of 
 Palestine " . . . perhaps the origin of the Palestine explora- 
 tion enterprise to these Saturday maps and Saturday 
 studies. . . . But this was not all ; no week passed and 
 this, it will be remembered, is a period separated from the 
 present by full half a century, during which science has 
 
7O CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 been slowly winning its way towards obtaining a partial 
 admission into the regular course of an English schoolboy's 
 education no single week in which we did not receive and 
 eagerly look forward to at least one lesson in natural 
 science. Heat, elementary hydrostatics, mechanics and 
 optics, electricity, and above all chemistry to something 
 of the elements of all these we were introduced in turn. 
 There was not one among us at least in our teacher's 
 own class who could not at that time draw with sufficient 
 accuracy, not merely the proverbial common pump, but a 
 low pressure steam-engine of the day. What is more, we 
 learned, if not any very large amount of scientific knowledge 
 limited pocket-money and domestic objections to turning 
 our bedrooms into laboratories restrained and froze the 
 genial current of nascent science in our souls yet a sense 
 of the greatness and importance of the world of science, 
 whose door was at least set ajar for us, a sense that once 
 given us nothing could efface. It became impossible for 
 any one of us to look henceforth on science as a foe. Our 
 favourite literature in our homes was for a time two manuals 
 then in vogue, long since superseded, Mrs Marcet's Conversa- 
 tions and Joyce's Scientific Dialogues, together with Philosophy 
 in Sport made Science in Earnest. Our favourite indoor 
 recreation was the manipulation of a really excellent elec- 
 trifying machine (as it was then called), manufactured for 
 us by an elder brother, and the reproduction of the chemical 
 experiments which we had seen at school. 
 
 ' Meantime we were led through stage after stage of the 
 severe discipline of mathematical study. I really dare hardly 
 say to what dizzy heights we had been conducted by the time 
 that the writer of these pages had reached the age of fifteen 
 years. ... I felt then, as I feel now, that even the study of 
 mathematics was coloured with the warm glow of the activity 
 and originality of the teacher's mind ; and though, from the 
 day in which he wisely and trustfully allowed one of his 
 
REMINISCENCES OF SCHOOL LIFE /I 
 
 pupils to give those mathematical hours to reading by him- 
 self, in his own very sorry method, Homer and Thucydides, 
 I never did an hour of voluntary mathematical work, yet I 
 have never felt that any of the time I spent on these studies 
 was wholly wasted. I may add that our teacher, though he 
 must, I fear, have suffered much in the process, read with us, 
 with no inconsiderable effect on our minds, before we had 
 reached the average age of the fifth form at modern Rugby, 
 not only the Natural Theology and Evidences, and Horce 
 Paulina of Paley, but at least the first half of Butler's 
 Analogy ', a copy of which I still possess, with the date 
 of the year in which I laboriously read and re-read it for 
 him.' 
 
 Sir George Grove writes : 
 
 ' I had the good fortune to be under Mr Pritchard 
 from 1832 to 1835, an d was, therefore, at both Stockwell 
 and Clapham schools. After the latter date circumstances 
 took me into other parts of the world and of this country, 
 and though I am happy to say that I maintained my 
 acquaintance with him to the last, we did not come again 
 into that close and constant contact that I had before 
 enjoyed. I had been at two other schools which were 
 considered good of their class ; but with Pritchard the atmo- 
 sphere was very different. The master was younger and 
 more sympathetic, and full of a wider knowledge than I had 
 before dreamed of ; also, he had a great power of explanation 
 and illustration, and took constant interest in his boys. 
 One or two things I had not met with before, and they made 
 a great impression on me. First, the mathematics and the 
 natural philosophy. These were taught in a practical and 
 interesting way, and as connected with common life not 
 with the abstract world which made them always fresh. 
 Some of his precepts and examples recur to me almost daily. 
 I never see a lighted candle without recollecting how we 
 were taught that the flame was hollow, and that, therefore, the 
 
72 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 place to light a match at was the apex of the flame, where 
 the sides came together, and there was most fire. 
 
 ' The teaching of Euclid, too, had a practical turn which 
 was entirely new, and made the propositions realities and 
 not mere abstract things which might be learnt by heart. 
 Impossible with his demonstrations ! 
 
 'Another thing was the reading aloud stories from the 
 Bible or passages from English poetry on Saturday mornings. 
 I can never read the story of Naaman the Syrian or of 
 Jacob's dream without feeling the reality of it all, and 
 recalling the tones of Pritchard's voice. So, too, in our 
 Latin and Greek translating. He made us render the 
 passages as well as construe them ; and thus we felt that 
 they were about real transactions and people, and reflected 
 the same emotions as our own literature. The passage in the 
 Agricola Si quis piorum manibus locus will be remembered 
 by many of the fellows at school with me, in this connexion. 
 
 ' A similar practical lesson was given us by the maps we 
 had to draw, or the diaries or travels we had to write. 
 Geography became a reality, and an interesting reality too. 
 Considering how much I have done since, in connexion with 
 Palestine, it is curious to remember that one of my best 
 efforts at school was a diary of a journey through the Holy 
 Land, with divers incidents got out of a book and thrown 
 into narrative form. 
 
 * In fact, Pritchard had an extraordinary power of teaching, 
 and though other masters in public schools possibly had as 
 much of it, yet in schools of our class it was a great novelty, 
 and has resulted in the high place occupied by many of 
 Pritchard's pupils/ 
 
 In Dr Bradley's and Sir George Grove's days it is clear 
 that the master's ideas of what a school should be were 
 already sufficiently developed, but there had not yet been 
 time for them to take the visible shapes of swimming bath, 
 observatory and chapel. Sir William Herschel, a pupil of a 
 
REMINISCENCES OF SCHOOL LIFE 73 
 
 later date, mentions the 'never forgotten pride' created in 
 him and his schoolfellows by the possession of 'what was 
 in those days a simply lavish provision of fives-courts, 
 swimming baths, gymnasia, a laboratory,' etc. Of these 
 Clapham schooldays Sir William writes : 
 
 'The schoolmaster life of Charles Pritchard has been written 
 by himself in the very " manner which made the man," to 
 use the phrase which often pleased him as a Fellow of New 
 College ; and to his old pupils it is delightful to find there 
 described the personal causes which, through him, prepared 
 their " environment " for them, as well as the part they, as a 
 school, took in the growth of modern England. His intense 
 desire was not so much to teach a stock of facts as to put 
 his boys into possession of clear ideas, which should make 
 the facts inseparable parts of their intelligence for ever 
 after, so that the ideas set the imagination working in safe 
 directions, while facts were abundantly supplied by way 
 of food. 
 
 ' In a letter to the father of one of them he says : 
 
 * " One day I was showing the boys some of Faraday's 
 beautiful experiments for the establishment of the funda- 
 mentals of electricity, and the lad shouted for joy. The 
 contagion spread and his young companion broke forth also." 
 
 ' It was this joyous grasp of a demonstration which it 
 was his chief delight to impart, since it was indeed the very 
 secret of his own large mastery of science, and of his 
 familiarity, not quite so great, perhaps, with classical litera- 
 ture. It certainly lent power to his apprehension of the 
 divine truths of theology, and to his instructions in them, 
 though to us boys he was always in his gravest and, perhaps, 
 most dignified attitude when engaged in sacred subjects. 
 
 ' From a self-made man of his stamp the doctrine of 
 Perseverance was naturally made much of. It was one of 
 his favourite subjects, especially in relation to genius. It is 
 curious to see how the mathematical mind expresses its 
 
74 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 conception of the interaction of moral qualities. He put it 
 once thus : 
 
 ' " I believe it is a law of God that success varies as 
 Perseverance | m x Genius | n t (in) being considerable, and 
 (ri) being unity. It is glorious to see how the knowledge of 
 truth dawns out of a dim twilight into brightness in an 
 atmosphere of perseverance." 
 
 ' Nevertheless, if Pritchard's system had any distinctive 
 fault it was in making the fruits of knowledge accessible 
 without quite enough of climbing. That, however, was 
 the unavoidable result of the excitement then working 
 in men's mind, who, to their own surprise, found them- 
 selves in possession, as it were, of the mountain passes into 
 territories of hitherto inconceivable beauty and fertility. 
 It would not have been human for an enthusiastic nature 
 like his to treat his subjects in the cold statistical manner 
 which marks so many modern, as the vague didactic manner 
 did almost all the older schools. His was, in fact, the 
 happy time for any teacher who could grasp the situation 
 and throw himself into it con amore. It is his great 
 merit, greater even than anything he did for pure science 
 in later days, that he seized the opportunity and turned 
 it to account with a practical shrewdness all his own. 
 He lacked, indeed, that rare gift, the crowning glory of 
 the ideal English schoolmaster, by virtue of which he 
 becomes the hero and the model of his boys ; but he came 
 very near attaining even this blue ribbon of his profession, 
 by a certain disregard a disregard which was anything but 
 contempt of all personal considerations of the kind, in 
 his earnest pursuit of any object. Some of us may 
 
 remember how we heard one day of his having met Z 
 
 coming back from an exeat to Putney with a cigar in his 
 lips, against all promises to the contrary ; and how we also 
 heard with no surprise, but without much sympathy with 
 the master, that he had plucked the cigar out and smudged 
 
REMINISCENCES OF SCHOOL LIFE 75 
 
 the ashes on the offender's face in a passion of righteous 
 indignation. We did admire the courage of the act, for 
 
 Z was a giant ; but it was acts of roughness like this 
 
 that just lost him the prestige which we were always on 
 the verge of conceding to him. It was not ill-temper, but 
 sheer energy overleaping itself, a kind of boisterousness 
 that showed itself in many ways, even in his delivery of 
 his laboratory lectures. Here he had the habit of 
 tempering it with a touch almost of penitence, when, with 
 some slow words of unmistakable sincerity, he would carry 
 us with him into a tribute of admiration and gratitude for 
 the wisdom which had ordained what he was only dis- 
 playing to us. It was this unaffected consistency, with 
 the natural inconsistencies of humanity, that after all 
 made us love him and makes his memory a common 
 pleasure to us. 
 
 ' He could not, of course, endure " railing accusations " 
 against science from any quarter, least of all from his own 
 theological friends. So far back as. 1863, writing to Sir 
 John Herschel, who was just bringing out a new edition of 
 his Outlines of Astronomy, he says : 
 
 ' " The had an article singing ' jubilate ' over the 
 
 astronomical error (just then determined) regarding the 
 sun's distance. ' Four million miles out! Astronomers 
 guess, after all. Down goes astronomy ! ' Now, in your 
 note on this emendation of the sun's parallax, can you 
 add a word to remove such nonsense? I have measured 
 the thickness of one of my hairs, and find that the 
 correction now made in the angle means one hair at 
 (a distance of) 125 feet, or a sovereign at eight miles!" 
 
 ' The suggested illustration appeared in the new edition 
 of the Outlines, and has ever since served as the typical 
 illustration, in popular lectures, of the relative minuteness of 
 astronomical errors. 
 
 ' An instance of this way of looking at scientific things 
 
76 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 from a religious standpoint occurs in a letter he wrote 
 (October 1846) at the time of the discovery of Neptune : 
 
 ' " I remember well how your words about the new planet 
 thrilled through me at South(ampton). In the words of a 
 better man than either of us, and on a better subject, ' I 
 thanked God and took courage.' ..." 
 
 ' I have already spoken of his constant reference, as a 
 man of science, to the Giver of all knowledge. The great 
 struggle between science and faith, to which he devoted so 
 much of his zeal and eloquence in later days, had not 
 acquired its prominent importance while he was teaching 
 at Clapham. The change in this respect has probably been 
 endured by few of our generation more robustly than by 
 Pritchard's pupils, trained as they were, by his method and 
 personal example, to trust themselves fearlessly to the 
 delights of research, while their religious faith has been 
 preserved warm, vigorous, and even militant like his. For 
 he enjoyed the combat as a soldier does, full of faith in 
 his leader. Assuredly, he does not over-estimate the 
 " abiding impression " of the Confirmation service, or of the 
 usual worship in chapel.' 
 
 It was not only upon the inexperienced minds of the 
 boyish worshippers that the school services produced a deep 
 impression. Mr James Knowles, editor of the Nineteenth 
 Century, writes as follows (2/th May 1894) : 
 
 * Although, when I was " little more than a boy," your 
 father admitted me to his friendship in the old time of his 
 Clapham Grammar School days, I was never his school 
 pupil (I wish I had been !). I came to know him from 
 attending that pretty little school chapel which he had 
 built, and of which he was so fond, and out of that pastoral 
 relationship grew my acquaintance with him in his obser- 
 vatory and garden, and ultimately my friendship with him 
 of so many years' duration. 
 
 1 The chapel, the garden and the observatory, each and 
 
REMINISCENCES OF SCHOOL LIFE 77 
 
 all of them he made * full of voices,' which I have never 
 forgotten to be grateful for. Even now, I can almost see the 
 pictures which Sunday after Sunday he painted in words so 
 vivid and yet so simple, that we were carried back in the 
 spirit to the very places and times he was reviving. He had 
 a marvellously strong and embodying imagination, which 
 made the Bible stories actual facts and not mere ancient 
 records, and set us, as it were, back into the real presence 
 of even the greatest of the actors in them. Then again, 
 I remember how he would pace for hours up and down the 
 walks of his garden, bordered on each side by all sorts and 
 kinds of plants and flowers, whose names and qualities and 
 virtues he made texts for endless illustrations of mental and 
 moral questions such as he loved to discuss without end, and 
 always without cant or boredom or affectation and in perfectly 
 common sense, wholesome and yet enthusiastic ways. Again, 
 and especially, I recall the nights in his observatory when he 
 brought all the wonders of his material heaven into one's mind 
 
 o 
 
 and heart as well as to one's eyes, his enthusiasm carrying one, 
 as in a chariot of fire, up to and beyond the highest.' 
 
 Still more striking is the testimony of Dr Perowne, now 
 Bishop of Worcester, who thus describes the effect produced 
 on him by the school services and their founder: 
 
 * It was here (at Clapham) that my acquaintance with him 
 began, some forty years ago, when I was residing in King's 
 College, London, where I held at that time a theological lecture- 
 ship. It came about in this way. Happening to see in a book- 
 seller's shop in Fleet Street, much frequented by Cambridge 
 men, that he wanted a clergyman to help him by preaching a 
 sermon on Sunday afternoons in his little school chapel, I 
 offered my services and was accepted. So began a friendship 
 which ended only with his death. That chapel was the pride 
 of his life. He had built and embellished it. Every detail 
 was studied with loving care. The windows were filled with 
 stained glass, the design and execution of which he super- 
 
78 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 intended himself. The organ was constructed under his 
 direction by one of the best builders of the day. The choir 
 was carefully trained. Beside the masters and pupils of the 
 school, there was a small congregation gathered from friends 
 in the neighbourhood, who came there attracted by the 
 reverent beauty of the service, and by the broad and manly 
 utterances of the headmaster, rooted himself in the faith, but 
 able to sympathise with the doubts and perplexities of others, 
 and especially of the rising generation. 
 
 ' One Sunday in the year was always a great day at 
 Clapham. Every Whitsunday the Bishop of Winchester 
 (Sumner), at his own desire, held a Confirmation in the little 
 chapel. It was a day much to be remembered. The solemn 
 hushed stillness of the service, the wise and loving words 
 of the Bishop, the reverent and devout demeanour of the 
 candidates during the administration of the rites of Confir- 
 mation and the Holy Communion impressed all who wit- 
 nessed them. The Bishop called it his " happy day." " I am 
 sure," adds Pritchard, in speaking of it, " it was mine." As 
 I learnt to know more of my friend, I observed with what 
 diligent care he prepared his pupils, praying, as one of them 
 bears record, " for and with each one " before he presented 
 them for Confirmation. To many it was the turning point in 
 their history. 
 
 1 Those days were to me very precious. Sunday by Sunday 
 I attended the service, and every Sunday for some years I 
 remained after the service for the night. In the summer 
 evenings Pritchard would take me into his garden, for every 
 flower of which he had an individual regard and that 
 was one link of union, for like him I loved flowers and 
 there, walking leisurely to and fro, or lying on the grass, he 
 delighted to speak of the beauty and the wonder of Nature, 
 and the marvels of Divine order in creation ; or he would 
 discuss the great problems that lie at the roots of all life ; and 
 the freshness and originality of his mind were a healthy and 
 
REMINISCENCES OF SCHOOL LIFE 79 
 
 bracing stimulant to thought. At other times, on bright, 
 cloudless nights, he would show us in his telescope the moon 
 and the stars, and tell us the fascinating tale of their history 
 and structure. 
 
 * The winter evenings were spent in his study ; and there 
 he would take down some book from his shelves, and we 
 read together Plato's glorious myths in the Republic and 
 the Gorgias, or his Phcedo or Second Alcibiades, or we turned 
 a page of Cicero or Augustine; or some modern author 
 beguiled us, Coleridge, or Wordsworth, or Tennyson, or Julius 
 Charles Hare ; for we were both of us Cambridge men, and 
 had the same sympathies and the same tastes in literature, 
 and the same convictions in theology, though he was many 
 years my senior. We both had the greatest admiration for 
 the broad and masculine theology of men like Julius Hare 
 and Thomas Arnold, and Thirlwall. We both of us recoiled 
 from what appeared to us to be the retrograde movement 
 and the un-English disingenuousness of the Oxford Trac- 
 tan'ans. We venerated Luther and thanked God for the 
 Reformation, and we regarded the avowed attempt " to undo 
 the work of the Reformation " as nothing short of treachery 
 to the Church. Pritchard's love for Cambridge, and especially 
 for the noble college where he had received his training, 
 was a passion. Long years after, in spite of his adoption 
 by the University of Oxford, and though fully alive to all 
 that Oxford had done to show her sense of his eminent 
 services, and though truly grateful for the recognition, his 
 heart would go back to his Cambridge days, and of all the 
 honours he received in later life, none, I verily believe, was so 
 dear to him as the Honorary Fellowship conferred on him 
 by his old college. 
 
 * His wonderful power of inspiration as a teacher has 
 been testified by several of his pupils at Stockwell and 
 Clapham. No teacher ever surpassed him in the clearness of 
 his methods. He would make the most abstruse subjects 
 
8O CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 intelligible and full of interest. I used to say to him some- 
 times, " If I had had you to teach me, I should have under- 
 stood mathematics, but Cambridge mathematical books 
 inspired me with nothing but aversion." He said he was not 
 surprised, and did not hesitate to declare that certain well- 
 known university text-books were disfigured by the most 
 extraordinary blunders. For men naturally disposed to mathe- 
 matical studies, the teaching ordinarily given might suffice, 
 but for those to whom the very elements of mathematics 
 presented difficulties there was very little help. The books 
 were badly written, the diagrams badly drawn. In the 
 lecture rooms we were expected to understand mechanics 
 without ever seeing a system of weights and pulleys, hydro- 
 statics without even the model of a pump, optics without a 
 microscope, a telescope, or even a lens. As for natural 
 science, it never came within the possible range of our studies 
 in my day. Pritchard's method of teaching was the very 
 reverse of all this. One of the first things he did when he 
 became master of the Clapham Grammar School was to 
 establish a laboratory, and gradually furnish it " with all 
 apparatus necessary for the elucidation of chemical and 
 physical phenomena." In a few years after an observatory 
 was added to the other institutions of the school. I heard 
 him once say that he hoped the day would come when every 
 manse would have its microscope in the study and its 
 telescope on the lawn. This was his method, the only 
 rational method of teaching by helping the understanding 
 through the eyes. In a letter to me he says : 
 
 ' " A lecture last night from Sir H. Roscoe on technical 
 education, or rather on the introduction of the study of 
 Nature into all education. Voild ! what I did sixty years ago. 
 Things must come to this when mediaevals die ofT, if ever they 
 do. Certainly children of six months begin to draw ; savages 
 are great at imitative arts. My boys were compelled to 
 draw for two hours weekly till the age of seventeen. The 
 
REMINISCENCES OF SCHOOL LIFE 8 1 
 
 change required, or a change required in education is to insist 
 on boys (and girls) learning intelligently, and learning to 
 express intelligently the great elementary principles in a 
 branch of Nature knowledge or language. I could give you 
 Latin subjunctive and heaps of such things in a few lines 
 not to be mistaken or forgotten. I could give you the whole 
 of elementary optical formulae in words and ideas never to 
 be misunderstood or forgotten. All algebraic or symbolical 
 expressions ought to be translated into words in the mind." 
 
 ' His many-sidedness was remarkable, and the breadth of 
 his mental grasp. At Cambridge, it is true, he devoted 
 himself almost entirely to mathematics, his only excursion, 
 as an undergraduate, into theology being the study of Butler's 
 Analogy, which then formed a part of the examination at 
 St John's, and which he thoroughly mastered. He often 
 expressed to me his sense of the great value of this study, 
 and his regret that Butler was no longer a text-book in his 
 college. It had so wrought itself into the texture of his 
 mind and thought that it coloured all his way of looking at 
 theological questions. I have sometimes thought that the 
 strong conservatism of some of his opinions, notwithstanding 
 the reverent freedom with which he handled most questions, 
 was due to the influence of Butler. He knew pages of the 
 Analogy by heart, having learnt them ensconced in the 
 branches of a weeping willow which hung over the Cam. 
 He has also expressed his indebtedness to the sermons of 
 Professor Blunt, afterwards gathered into a volume on the 
 Undesigned Coincidences of the Old Testament; and to 
 the sermons of Julius Hare, which contributed greatly to 
 form the theological bias of his mind ; and " if to these," he 
 says, " I add the writings of Coleridge and those of the 
 accomplished and large-minded Isaac Taylor, I think I 
 should nearly exhaust the authors who, during my under- 
 graduateship, laid the foundation of my theological pre- 
 dilections." 
 
 F 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 LIFE AT FRESHWATER, 1862-1870 
 By his Daughter , Rosalind Pritchard 
 
 INTENSELY interested as my father was in the training 
 and development of youthful minds, which had been his 
 pleasant task at Clapham, the time had come when he 
 found that a pause was necessary. His life hitherto had 
 been one of almost unceasing occupation, and the trammels 
 of routine in paths, however congenial, began to be burden- 
 some. 
 
 The management of the school at Clapham had been 
 a pleasant but an absorbing task, and one that did not leave 
 sufficient time for the pursuits towards which his aspira- 
 tions and tastes inclined. A visit to the Isle of Wight 
 inspired a longing for a time of quiet enjoyment of the 
 country, and of uninterrupted study. Accordingly, the 
 school at Clapham was transferred to other hands, and, 
 in 1862, my father lodged his belongings in a house owned 
 by the Rev. Mr Bowen, father of Lord Justice Bowen, at 
 Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, during the building of his 
 own house, Hurst Hill, which was to become his residence 
 during the seven following years. 
 
 An admiration for Nature, so enthusiastic and spon- 
 taneous as to be inspiring to those around him, enabled 
 him to appreciate and rejoice in his beautiful surroundings. 
 The view from his library windows, overlooking the Solent 
 and Hurst Castle, was his especial delight. He gloried in 
 
 82 
 
LIFE AT FRESHWATER 83 
 
 the luxuriant vegetation of a country where climate and 
 soil alike combined to render aid from human hands 
 scarcely necessary. He watched the planting of every 
 tree and shrub, and was never tired of rioting their rapid 
 growth to beauty. 
 
 But the seven years in the Isle of Wight were not years 
 of leisure. The pleasure he experienced in his garden and 
 in the natural beauties of his surroundings formed only an 
 agreeable accompaniment to a life full of many intellectual 
 occupations. The best of my father's theological work was 
 accomplished during this period. His scientific studies were 
 pursued, and he was able to ascertain in what direction 
 his life's work most usefully tended. There is no doubt 
 that his inclinations led him, as will presently be shown, 
 towards theology. A longing to testify to men his deep- 
 rooted faith and convictions was the mainspring of his 
 desire to join in the work of Christian teaching. But 
 while an opening in this direction had yet to be sought, 
 his scientific career was already begun. In the year of 
 his leaving Clapham he became secretary to the Royal 
 Astronomical Society; and with the duties of this im- 
 portant post, and the optical researches on which he had 
 for some years been consulting with his old friend, Sir John 
 Herschel, he might have been thought to have provided him- 
 self with occupation amply sufficient for a man well past 
 fifty, who had been hard at work, without intermission, since 
 boyhood. All through his life the study of astronomy had 
 formed one of the chief occupations of my father's leisure 
 hours. The astronomical instruments which had been in 
 constant use at Clapham were transferred to Freshwater, 
 where two small observatories were equipped, and obser- 
 vations pursued by him with great zeal. He very fre- 
 quently attended the meetings of the Royal Astronomical 
 Society, of which he was a fellow, and as I have said, 
 secretary, and subsequently vice-president and president. 
 
84 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 His repute as an astronomer was well established, although 
 he professedly was but an amateur. So absorbed was he 
 when at work in his observatory that meals would fre- 
 quently pass by unheeded, and the reminding messenger 
 was only regarded as an irritating interruption, to be 
 forgotten as soon as the reminder had departed. 
 
 Chemistry, too, had always possessed great fascination 
 for him. He formed a small laboratory, in which he 
 interested himself in experimenting. My own remem- 
 brance of these experiments is vivid, as he occasionally 
 held demonstrations for our benefit. These were frequently 
 of so explosive a character that we children took up our 
 position behind a curtain, ready to withdraw our heads 
 when operations became alarming. 
 
 But scientific pursuits alone could not long content 
 my father. Soon he entered into the field of active dis- 
 cussion on questions of religion, when Bishop Colenso, in 
 1863, struck consternation into the hearts of many church- 
 men by his book on the Pentateuch, which questioned the 
 veracity of so much narrated in this part of the Scriptures. 
 Dr Colenso's reputation as a man of science, and as a 
 distinguished theologian, made the refutation of his con- 
 tentions no easy task, but one which my father felt it his 
 duty to undertake. 
 
 The facts that Colenso had been a member of the same, 
 college at Cambridge as himself, and that his career, up 
 to a certain point, had been similar to his own, were of 
 special force in inciting my father to answer arguments 
 which he regarded as unworthy of an education at Cam- 
 bridge, and more particularly at St John's College. He 
 therefore set himself the task of refuting the contentions 
 of the Bishop, and proving them to be untenable by the 
 light of science and theology. His arguments, written in 
 the form of a letter, were published by Bell & Daldy. 
 
 In the introduction to this pamphlet he thus ex- 
 
LIFE AT FRESHWATER 85 
 
 plains his reasons for undertaking the defence of the 
 Scriptures : 
 
 1 Our career in life for some time ran nearly parallel ; 
 both of us gained very nearly the same academical dis- 
 tinctions; both of us have written books once, more or 
 less adopted by our university, and we both of us attained 
 to the honour of a Fellowship in the same noble college. 
 It is this last circumstance which, perhaps, has weighed 
 with me more than any other ; not so much in my deter- 
 mination to sift your arguments as best I may, as in the 
 adoption of the present form of communicating the result 
 of the investigation. I have spoken of our college, for no 
 loyal member of that ancient and religious foundation can 
 forget how it trained, and still cherishes the memory of 
 learned and good men, such as Henry Martyn, and Blunt 
 and Selwyn ; men who have devoted or hazarded their 
 lives in defending at home, or in preaching abroad to the 
 heathen, that faith which, to our great amazement, you 
 now teach as resting on no secure and historical basis. 
 Not that I would arrogate to myself the office of defend- 
 ing the fair fame of the venerable society to which we 
 belong, but I have set myself the task of exposing what 
 I believe to be the fallacies of your book, partly from the 
 impatience which all men feel while a stigma remains upon 
 any object of their deep regard, and partly under the hope 
 that I may incite some other men of greater ability to extend 
 and complete the arguments which I have here briefly, and 
 with intentional brevity, commenced. 
 
 'Then there is another motive which has induced me 
 to come forward. I greatly fear that, through an infirmity 
 common to minds half informed, your book may still further 
 encourage the belief or the suspicion that there is some 
 necessary but ill-defined connection between mathematical 
 or natural science and scepticism regarding the historical 
 value of the Sacred Record. For it cannot be forgotten 
 
86 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 that Dr Colenso is, or has been, a man of science, and it 
 cannot be unknown that the Bishop of Natal teaches very 
 large portions of the Pentateuch to be historically false. 
 As one, therefore, who has passed much of his life in 
 the pursuit of scientific learning of various descriptions, 
 I wish, so far as in me lies, to vindicate the compati- 
 bility of scientific acquirements, with a devout but in- 
 telligent belief in the historical veracity of the Sacred 
 Scriptures.' 
 
 The argument ran to forty-two pages, and its convincing 
 nature called forth expressions of gratitude and admiration 
 from men of science and churchmen, both known and un- 
 known to the writer. One of the testimonies he valued most 
 came from the Bishop of Winchester, Dr Sumner, who, 
 writing from Farnham, says : 
 
 ' MY DEAR MR PRITCHARD, I have read your pamphlet 
 with the deepest interest. I know not whether I ought to 
 speak so plainly in writing to you, but I cannot refrain 
 from saying that, in my judgment, it is incomparably the 
 best production which Bishop Colenso's book has yet called 
 into being. In tone and spirit, as well as in the manage- 
 ment of details, it leaves nothing to be desired. And this 
 is the more observable as by far the larger number of the 
 many replies to that unhappy book which I have seen, 
 although not wanting in talent, are greatly wanting in the 
 calm and serious spirit which you have maintained through- 
 out. The subject is too grave for sarcasm and light treat- 
 ment, however the offender may have merited them. The 
 publication of such a volume by such a man is to me a 
 greater wonder than any of those to which he refuses to 
 give credit. I am, my dear Mr Pritchard, yours ever, 
 
 <C. WlNTON.' 
 
 Bishop Sumner was an old and abiding friend of my 
 
LIFE AT FRESHWATER 8/ 
 
 father's, who never failed to find his way to Hurst Hill 
 when his duties led him to the island. The Colenso 
 incident also led my father into correspondence of gigantic 
 proportions with persons of all classes and opinions. One 
 interesting discussion was with the Astronomer Royal, one 
 letter of whose ran as follows : 
 
 ' ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH, 
 ' June IQ/^, 1867. 
 
 ' MY DEAR PRITCHARD, As you are engaged in subjects 
 which may lead to one to which I have given much attention 
 the character and results of Colenso's work would it at all 
 interest you to see some notes which I drew up to assist 
 my own memory eighteen pages of MS. ? Pray make no 
 scruple in rejecting this. 
 
 ' I send by book post the MS. which I mentioned to you 
 review of Colenso on the Pentateuch. You will perceive 
 that it is a part, in fact the end, of a longer essay. It is 
 perhaps a little more finished than the earlier parts, and it 
 embodies my leading ideas on the formation of the Pen- 
 tateuch. If you wish to see any more of the series, you 
 shall have it. 
 
 ' Now as to your question on the scientific difficulties 
 attending a literal interpretation of the earlier chapters in 
 Genesis, I say without hesitation, and shall always be ready 
 to say, when it seems needful, that they are insuperable. 
 I say also that the two accounts of creation are irreconcilable. 
 And I am very confident that nothing will explain this 
 except the supposition that they have been derived from 
 two different countries, say Egypt and Assyria. 
 
 ' How legends of this class can have arisen, I can hardly 
 say. But certainly with a reverential and religious feeling, 
 and looking at them as an educated modern, I yet regard 
 them with much reverence. 
 
 ' Several weeks ago, when I met Dr Miller on Blackheath 
 
88 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 he asked me if I had seen an Oxford book reconciling 
 modern astronomy with the Bible. I told him I had not, 
 but the writer had undertaken a risky task. 
 'This, I think, meets .your general questions. 
 
 ' Now as to your case of A and B. 
 
 * I state that the Christian religion (the only one that 
 I recognise) is in no danger from the investigations of 
 science. 
 
 ' There I stop. If anybody chooses to append to 
 it "belief in every word of the Hebrew Scriptures," on 
 him be all the attendant difficulties. I quote (inemoriter) 
 from Paley, "To make Christianity answerable with its 
 life for the obscurities of the Hebrew Scriptures is to 
 load it, I will not say with great, but with unnecessary, 
 difficulties." 
 
 ' If you think that there is in Dr Miller's mind a mis- 
 understanding sufficiently serious to require it, I will write 
 to him a very few words, explanatory, not controversial. 
 
 ' I have Herschel'o Schiller's Spaziergang, but have not 
 read it. I will take it off its shelf. I am, always, yours 
 very truly, G. B. AlRY. J 
 
 Not satisfied to serve the cause of religion only in 
 controversy, such as that which the correspondence with 
 Colenso called forth, my father, full of active zeal, observed 
 with regret the want of religious facilities in the surrounding 
 community, too scattered for the ministrations of the one 
 parish church at Freshwater, many miles distant from the poor 
 homes at Totland and Alum Bays. Possessed of a meadow 
 within reasonable distance of both these places, my father 
 felt that here was a spot which might be utilised as the site 
 of a place of worship, with great benefit to a large number 
 of the population. In imagination he saw the little church 
 
LIFE AT FRESHWATER 89 
 
 already erected, and affording a pleasant prospect before 
 the windows of his library. The idea was no sooner con- 
 ceived than he hastened to put it into execution, and a 
 church of simple but effective design was projected on 
 paper, my father undertaking to raise the money himself, 
 and to superintend the completion of the scheme. 
 
 In 1869, as quoted by Sir William Herschel, he wrote: 
 ' I am about to imitate the^Dld German students in a peri- 
 patetic lecture on the sun's constitution and the (recent) 
 eclipse, going from town to town to collect money for a new 
 church. The people are in gross darkness, and I have pro- 
 mised a good round sum, which I must collect in this way, if 
 I can.' 
 
 He laid the plan before the Bishop of the Diocese and 
 the Rector of Freshwater, who gave their consent ; and 
 very speedily the necessary funds were almost collected. 
 It was, therefore, a matter of much disappointment that the 
 cherished plan had finally to be abandoned owing to diffi- 
 culties which arose relating to the proposed incumbency; 
 difficulties which had to be faced again and overcome some 
 years later, when the petitions of an increasing population 
 could no longer pass unheeded. Then a little wooden 
 church was erected in which my father took much interest, 
 helping in the simple services and with the music, himself 
 sometimes attending the choir practices, and encouraging 
 his family to assist. 
 
 He was indeed ever ready to help those around him, as a 
 letter from Mrs Cameron, counting on his co-operation in a 
 scheme to extend intellectual light amongst the people, shows. 
 She wrote : 
 
 ' MY DEAR MR PRITCHARD, I did not know, until I 
 heard last evening of some children having been made happy, 
 that you were now amongst us, or I should have written 
 earlier to claim of you your hearty co-operation in the work 
 
9O CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 now ready to bear fruit our Freshwater Reading-Room and 
 Literary Association, as it will endeavour to be. ... Now 
 all our people spend all their leisure hours in the public-houses 
 which abound to entice and to ensnare ; whilst there is not one 
 reading-room, one spot of rest, where they can, after their 
 work is over, find innocent repose and turn their leisure to 
 account. ... I think a reading - room is a lay church. 
 ... I hope you will seal the success of the rooms by your 
 personal presence. I hope you will speak and lecture speak 
 often, lecture by way of a great treat. We can but hope. I 
 trust we shall open on Saturday next Yours always truly, 
 
 ' JULIA M. CAMERON.' 
 
 Mrs Cameron, so well known to fame through her photo- 
 graphy, lived at some little distance from Hurst Hill. She 
 was a quaint personality, full of intelligence and originality, 
 and a very great admirer of our neighbour Tennyson, of whom 
 she made several admirable portraits, despite the fact that he 
 was somewhat embarrassed by admiration at close quarters, 
 especially when it emanated from one of the gentler sex. 
 Farringford, Tennyson's residence, was the nearest habita- 
 tion in constant occupation, and between the poet and my 
 father there grew up a very sincere friendship and regard. 
 Both devoted much attention to the study of contemporary 
 thought and the tendencies of the times, and they found 
 interchange of conclusions and opinions very interesting. 
 
 During my father's residence at Freshwater, he fre- 
 quently occupied the pulpits of neighbouring churches, and 
 occasionally acted as locum tenens for one of the clergy. 
 It was during this period of unofficial life that he preached 
 those sermons at Cambridge and before the British Associa- 
 tion which gave him a recognised place amongst leading 
 theologians. 
 
 The sermon delivered at Nottingham before the British 
 Association, in 1866, was considered by himself, and I think 
 
LIFE AT FRESHWATER 91 
 
 truly, to have established his position as a preacher. Indeed, 
 it accomplished more than that for him. It was an epoch in 
 his career. Writing to my brother Eric some twenty years 
 later, and after the award of an honour received in his latter 
 days, he says : * I owe my position now to my sermon at 
 Nottingham.' Strangely enough, it was published only at the 
 request of one of the congregation present at St Matthew's, 
 Nottingham, where the sermon was delivered. The gentle- 
 man in question gave his own account of the incident in a 
 local paper. I have the cutting of this little article, which is 
 marked, in my father's handwriting, ' sent by I know not 
 whom ' : 
 
 ' But the sermon that was one indeed ! Mr Pritchard 
 took rank in it as one of the reconcilers of the largest and 
 profoundest scientific thought of the age with soundest ortho- 
 doxy. The deepest doctrines that scientific men in the pulpit 
 used to avoid, and the non-scientific preachers used to bewail 
 as denied or destroyed by science, were treated of in a manner 
 most clear, earnest and eloquent. So excited was I, that, 
 though an utter stranger, I sidled through the departing 
 crowd at the close, up to the chancel, in hopes of " accident- 
 ally on purpose " meeting the preacher, and did so ; and there 
 and then, as a stranger, yet friend by Freemasonry of the 
 British Association, expressed a hope that it might be printed. 
 Of course there was hesitation. " It wanted a good deal do- 
 ing to it." " The thoughts were in everybody's head." " Well ! 
 I will do what I can with it." So it is to be done, and I trust 
 my readers will peruse it, and see what the British Association 
 does on a Sunday.' 
 
 Sermons thus printed f at request' too often, it is to be 
 feared, find no readers, with the exception, it is to be hoped, 
 of the persons at whose request they are printed. Very 
 different was the fate of the Nottingham sermon. Its effect 
 on two earnest and influential minds is thus described in a 
 letter from Dean Hook, written several years later, nth Feb- 
 
92 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 ruary 1870, on my father's election to his Oxford Professor- 
 ship : 
 
 ' You, a perfect stranger to me, send me a printed sermon. 
 Why you should even have thought of me would perplex us 
 if we did not see the convergence of a chain of circumstances 
 leading to the present happy result. I send your sermon (as 
 I send books that interest me) to the Chancellor [Hatherley]. 
 He is wonderfully struck with it ; alludes to it in a publica- 
 tion* of his own, and determines that the author ought to 
 have a locus standi in the Church but where? He feels, 
 even more strongly than I do and I feel very strongly the 
 impolicy of placing a man of middle age in a parish if he has 
 not been habituated to pastoral work. . . . The Chancellor 
 commissioned me therefore to tell you that, although he made 
 no promises, he had you on his list for a stall.' 
 
 The last part of the letter alludes to the anxiety which 
 my father had expressed, at least as early as 1866, to apply 
 himself, after his few years of comparative repose, 'to the 
 permanent duties of some pastoral charge.' To this project 
 he long clung, in spite of the persuasion of his new friends, 
 who assured him that he was meant for other work, that, 
 in Dean Hook's words (2Oth November 1866), 'we can get 
 preachers and pastors, but not philosophers.' Out of the cor- 
 respondence thus begun, there grew up between my father 
 and Dean Hook a warm and constant friendship, the more 
 remarkable when it is considered that the friends never met 
 till one was approaching seventy and the other sixty. 
 
 ' I rejoice to find,' Hook had written, commenting on the 
 Nottingham sermon, ' that my mind has often run in the same 
 groove as yours set agoing by Butler.' The influence of 
 Bishop Butler, the object of my father's lifelong reverence, is 
 indeed apparent throughout the sermon, which had for its 
 subject, ' The Continuity of the Schemes of Nature and of 
 Revelation,' and which was noticed by others besides divines. 
 
 * The Continuity of the Holy Scriptures, 1867. 
 
LIFE AT FRESHWATER 93 
 
 In its published form there were notes appended to it, one 
 dealing with the subject of Darwinism, then in the thoughts 
 of everyone. My father laid stress on two arguments, as to 
 which much more has since been said ; * first, that so compli- 
 cated a structure as the human eye could not have been 
 improved to its present shape by any series of accidental 
 variations ; and, secondly, that there are conclusive physical 
 reasons for thinking that the earth cannot have been in a con- 
 dition to support the life of organised beings for anything like 
 the hundreds of millions of years demanded by geologists and 
 by Darwin himself for the denudation of the one district of 
 the Weald. On this point, he used a somewhat curious argu- 
 ment, to the effect that if, as physicists have asserted, the 
 length of the day is increasing at a calculable rate, owing to 
 the friction of the tides, then, within the limits of time re- 
 quired by Darwin for the evolution of present forms, we shall 
 find that the day must have been less than a second long. 
 To the pamphlet, Mr Darwin replied in the following 
 characteristic letter : 
 
 'DOWN, Oct. I2//2 (1866?). 
 
 'Mv DEAR MR PRITCHARD, I have read with much 
 interest your sermon, with its appendices, and I thank you 
 sincerely for having sent it me. 
 
 * I should be a very cross-grained man to object to a 
 single word that you have said. You pay me the most 
 elegant compliments, and attack me with much spirit and 
 force. Even if I could you would not thank me for making 
 a long defence ; but I may make two remarks. When I 
 refer to the extremely simple eyes of the articulata (i.e., 
 insects, spiders, etc.), you translate this into the human 
 eye*. Should there be a second edition, I hope you will 
 correct this, for I have always spoken of the human eye as 
 the pinnacle of difficulty. 
 
 * See page 183. 
 
94 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 ' You speak of the necessity of various parts of the eye 
 changing simultaneously in order that it may become 
 adapted for even slightly changed work ; but many a 
 short-sighted person can see an object distinctly at a 
 distance which renders the image confused to others. 
 
 * What a very curious case about the increasing length 
 of day ! I have that profound respect for mathematics 
 which profound ignorance gives, but I cannot help observ- 
 ing that when applied to uncertain subjects, such as 
 geology, it gives as uncertain results as geologists arrive 
 at by other means ; for instance, how Thomson and others 
 differ about the thickness of the crust of the earth and the 
 rate of cooling. 
 
 ' My son George has been much interested by your 
 sermon, and begs to be very kindly remembered to you. 
 With my best thanks, pray believe me, yours very sin- 
 cerely, CH. DARWIN. 
 
 ' That is a very foolish episode of mine about the Wealden, 
 and was struck out in the later editions.' 
 
 Another eminent man of science, to whom the sermon 
 was sent, Professor J. C. Adams, the discoverer of Neptune, 
 wrote, * I cordially agree with most of your remarks ; ' but 
 dissented, for reasons which at the present day need not 
 be repeated, from my father's conclusions as to the change 
 in the time of the earth's rotation. 
 
 In the following year, 1867, mv father was invited to 
 deliver the Hulsean lectures at Cambridge. During the 
 time of their delivery he took up his residence, with his 
 family, at Cambridge, where he much enjoyed renewing 
 old friendships, and being in the midst of intellectual life. 
 What he thought of his performance may be gathered from 
 a letter to Mr Huggins. His subject, it may be remarked, 
 was ' Analogies in the Progress of Nature and Grace/ 
 
LIFE AT FRESHWATER 95 
 
 ' I have just sent off the last corrections of the proofs of 
 the four Hulsean lectures. I have done and produced my 
 best, and let any man who has so done thank God for health 
 and strength, and will and opportunity to do it, whatever 
 that best may be. I have greatly enjoyed my sub- 
 ject . . . ' 
 
 He received so much kindness during his stay at 
 Cambridge that he looked back on this time as one of his 
 happiest memories. 
 
 Despite the reputation he had by this time attained as 
 a preacher, my father himself still hoped to fill no higher 
 office than that of parish priest. A letter from Sir 
 Frederick Pollock shows, however, that those who knew 
 his powers felt that he was fitted to adorn a more in- 
 fluential position. 
 
 * HATTON, HOUNSLOW, W., 
 
 ' Ttiesday, \bth Oct. 1866. 
 
 * MY DEAR SIR, I wish I had the custody of the " great 
 seal" for a few days. It would give me such pleasure to 
 ask you to choose from the vacant livings in the gift of the 
 Crown in that department. There was a clerical astronomer 
 in Ireland of whom it was said he might thank his stars for 
 a bishoprick. I think your stars ought to command more 
 than you own to be aiming at. As I am out of office I may 
 venture (though November be hastening here) to ask you to 
 come and see me. It is manifest (to me, at least) that we 
 have much to talk about. . . . Most sincerely I am more 
 obliged to you for a copy of your sermon than I can express. 
 I write at once. ... I entirely agree with you on the 
 
 subject of 's remark and Darwin's book. It seems to 
 
 me gratuitously to assume that any form of created being 
 may be gradually changed into any other, provided you 
 give time enough for the metamorphosis; and as you have 
 unlimited time before you, and behind you also, you may 
 
96 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 take as much time as is required to change an elephant into 
 a cassowary, or rather to derive both from a common origin 
 and cell. There are solid and deep-rooted objections to this 
 theory, derived from considerations too large to be more 
 than alluded to here in this present letter, but there is no 
 fact in Nature which affords it the least encouragement. 
 Natural history has been the subject of observation for above 
 3000 years, and of study above 2000 years, and nothing is to 
 be found as a fact in favour of it ; species become extinct, 
 but no new ones are discovered. Darwin would say the 
 observation of ten or even 100,000 years goes for nothing ; 
 nature takes one of these steps only once in a million 
 years. 
 
 1 It is possible that my philosophical views may be 
 prejudiced by the notion that Darwin's theory (though 
 not atheistically} is entirely opposed to any form of revela- 
 tion which the actual physical discoveries of any kind, I 
 think, are not. No Christian takes his notions of astronomy 
 from the Bible, nor of natural history (for, no doubt, hares 
 and rabbits do not chew the cud !), and I should not 
 quarrel with anyone for doubting whether we ought to 
 take our notions of archaeology or even cosmogony from 
 the Bible. 
 
 ' It may be that revelation is intended to teach only what 
 cannot be known without it, and leaves the ignorance of the 
 world on other matters just as it found it ... indeed, 
 sometimes adopting it as the only mode of becoming at all 
 intelligible to us. Forms are used suited to our ignorance 
 and giving us a notion, no doubt true, as far as it goes, but 
 not giving the whole truth, which at present is beyond our 
 comprehension. If Joshua had used language that would 
 have satisfied the Inquisition that Galileo was right, he would 
 have been utterly unintelligible to the people of Israel, and 
 to be understood must have put forth Herschel's Outlines of 
 Astronomy. . . . Take the mightiest and most sublime of 
 
LIFE AT FRESHWATER 97 
 
 physical creations which our senses can perceive or our 
 imaginations grasp where is the "continuity" between one 
 nebula and another in the heavens. (See Herschel's Outlines, 
 sec. 868.) Look at the Dumb-bell Nebula the great Spiral, 
 the great Nebula of Orion and say what continuity is to be 
 found among them. Do they come from a cell? It would 
 take a man's life for light itself to go from star to star. We 
 see them by a salvation of light that left them ten or 20,000 
 years ago. Where can I find most readily anything about 
 the altered length of day? It is new to me quite. Your 
 sincere friend, F. POLLOCK.' 
 
 Dean Hook, writing on I5th April 1869, questioned his 
 wisdom in wishing for pastoral employment. Yet in this 
 wish he persisted, even after his friend, Lord Hatherley, 
 had actually promised him a canonry, should one fall 
 vacant. 
 
 While immersed in special studies, my father always 
 took the keenest interest in contemporary events, keep- 
 ing touch with all that stirred the minds of men in his 
 generation. One of the most interesting episodes during 
 this period of his life was the formation of the Metaphysical 
 Society. 
 
 Of my father's share in this movement, Mr James Knowles, 
 writing on 2/th May 1894, says : 
 
 'When he came to stay with us at Clapham Common 
 from the Isle of Wight we used to resume our old talks of the 
 school days about theology, physics and metaphysics, and it 
 was on one occasion, in 1868, when he was fellow-guest at 
 "The Hollies" with Tennyson, that the bard joined in so 
 often and so much that we made a sort of triangular duel, 
 and that the thought occurred to us of getting up a society to 
 discuss such questions formally and scientifically, which re- 
 sulted in the formation of the Metaphysical Society. It was 
 the fact of your father, as a great scientific man, agreeing to 
 
 G 
 
98 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 join the great poet and " a man in the streets " like myself, 
 which gave me the courage to get together that remarkable 
 assemblage of men of which you have heard so much. Your 
 father did not come much, indeed, scarcely at all, to the 
 meetings, though he took great interest in following the pro- 
 ceedings. This was, I think, partly because of residence 
 so far off from London, but partly also because, although 
 admirable and delightful in a dialogue, I do not think he 
 was ever so much at home or at his ease in a talk with 
 several people. He was always a wonderfully shy and 
 modest man, and rather hermit-like in his social relations 
 with the world. Moreover, I think, the main subject of 
 interest with him, at any rate one of his most frequent 
 subjects of talk with me, and of much of his writing, was 
 the reconciliation of science with the Bible. It was for 
 the light it might possibly throw upon this that I think 
 he joined in the formation of the Metaphysical Society, 
 which, as a matter of fact, did not go much at any time 
 into that question, except quite indirectly.' 
 
 In the Nineteenth Century ', August 1885, Mr Knowles has 
 given a similar account of the foundation of this celebrated 
 society, which included among its members men of such 
 diverse opinions as Cardinal Manning, Professor Huxley, Mr 
 Froude, Mr R. H. Hutton and Sir John Lubbock. It lasted 
 nearly twelve years, in spite of Mr Froude's saying that, ' If 
 we hung together for twelve months, it would be one of the 
 most remarkable facts in history.' 
 
 Attendances at the meetings of this society and those of 
 the Royal Astronomical Society called my father to London 
 at irregular intervals. These occasions proved not only in- 
 tellectually refreshing to him, but afforded opportunities he 
 very much enjoyed of visiting Covent Garden Market. From 
 thence he usually secured some novelty in horticulture, and 
 never left without one of the Covent Garden sorted salads, 
 which he always regarded as unequalled. He was quite a 
 
LIFE AT FRESHWATER 99 
 
 well-known character amongst the old ladies who plied their 
 trade in the market, and was always greeted with a smile, in 
 anticipation of the banter which invariably accompanied the 
 purchases. 
 
 We children always looked forward to the return from 
 London. We were never forgotten. The remembrance 
 sometimes took the form of some new mechanical toy, or small 
 trinket, but sweetmeats were most usual. Astonished in- 
 deed would those only acquainted with the graver side of his 
 character have been, could they have witnessed the perfor- 
 mances which marked the bestowal of these dainties. Com- 
 petitions of the most varied nature, but always grotesque or 
 fantastic, marked the occasion, and I have seen tears of mirth 
 roll down my father's cheeks as he awarded the prizes to 
 the eager little competitors. When he gave himself up to 
 our amusement, no better playfellow was to be found, and 
 sadly did we lament the occasional interruption of our cus- 
 tomary morning romp. He would recount fairy tales to us 
 full of the wildest flights of fancy, sing us extraordinary 
 rhymes, and illustrate nursery tales by means of the magic 
 lantern, with an interest of his own in the performances so 
 keen as to be infectious, and cause us endless amusement; 
 and thus although, through the loneliness of our situation, 
 we had no child companions, our lives were filled with 
 interests. 
 
 For our parents greater facilities for society existed, 
 especially in summer, and pleasant acquaintances dwelt 
 within possible distance for occasional intercourse, although 
 of neighbours there were very few. But with one such neigh- 
 bour as Tennyson, social life could not be devoid of incidents 
 of interest. Our quiet corner of the island received many 
 visitors of note. At one time the scarlet of Garibaldi's attire 
 would be seen disappearing amongst the trees up the drive at 
 Farringford ; whilst at another a curious throng of villagers 
 collected to gaze at Queen Emma of the Sandwich Isles. 
 
100 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 But the occasions of these ceremonial visits were not those 
 on which my father sought the society of his friend. He 
 summons him on a quiet autumn evening to view stars in 
 particular beauty, writing : 
 
 1 Sept. 10, 1868. 
 
 'DEAR MR TENNYSON, You expressed a wish to see 
 some double stars. Four of the finest, the best cluster, the 
 Dumb Bell Neb. and Jupiter are all now at their best, if 
 the night is fine, from not later than 8.15 II P.M., and 
 Hercules gets low after 8.30, but wind E. is not propitious. 
 To-night, if not to-morrow, if you will be alone, but bring 
 only one for your own sake, to gaze quietly. Yours very 
 sincerely, C. P.' 
 
 Or Mrs Tennyson invites those at Hurst Hill to join the 
 family in the hay field : 
 
 ' Will your little children like to join us in the hayfield 
 this afternoon at four o'clock? Should Mr Pritchard and 
 yourself also feel disposed to come, we shall, of course, be 
 very glad to see you.' 
 
 ' Professor Pritchard,' writes Miss Weld, a niece of Lord 
 Tennyson, ' loved to dwell upon the many conversations on 
 science and religion he and Tennyson had together when 
 they were neighbours at Freshwater. He said he never 
 should forget the deep impression made upon him when, 
 sitting one day at Farringford with the Laureate and a 
 scientific friend, the latter expressed his disbelief in the 
 existence of a Supreme Being. With sudden vehemence 
 down came Lord Tennyson's hand upon the table, as 
 he exclaimed with the solemn earnestness of one who 
 
 knew the truth of what he was asserting, " T , there is a 
 
 GOD ! " ' 
 
 Walks in each other's society were a pleasure to both. 
 The favourite resort on these occasions was the Bacon Hill, 
 
LIFE AT FRESHWATER IOI 
 
 the highest point in the long stretch of downs which here 
 fringe the island. A simple black wooden erection, wherein 
 a lantern was slung, marked the spot, and proved a most 
 effectual landmark for many miles round. Here, where the 
 wanderings of the poet so often led him, now stands a far 
 more imposing beacon, erected to his memory, a memento 
 most appropriate. 
 
 Tennyson shared other traits in common with my father 
 besides his habit of earnest thought. I allude to his love of 
 fun, which was quite as little suspected by those who knew 
 him slightly, as in my father's case. I had occasion once, as 
 a child, to admit him into the garden, when about to visit 
 my parents. N"ot knowing that I recognised him, he invented 
 a lengthy and impossible name for himself, and told me to 
 inform my mother of this gentleman's arrival. I could hear 
 him laughing to himself as I closed the door upon him. No 
 one was more amused than he was when a laugh was raised 
 against him on one occasion for absence of mind. He had 
 promised my mother the choice of two little puppies, our 
 watch-dog having died. On the day appointed he arrived, 
 but when he turned to show the dogs to my mother, he found 
 no dogs were there ; indeed, they had not accompanied him 
 beyond the confines of Farringford. 
 
 Although in winter the Tennysons might be regarded 
 as our only neighbours, summer brought many friends, old 
 and new, to the island. Dean Bradley, Dean Hook, Dr 
 Butler of Cambridge, Lord Hatherley, Mr James Knowles, 
 the Pollocks, Mr Sant, the artist, and many others afforded 
 society which was appreciated the more highly after the 
 quiet winters. Years afterwards, Dr Butler, writing to my 
 father, reminds him of this pleasant intercourse : 
 
 ' Your kind words lead me to (i consider the days of old 
 and the years that are past." They make me remember the 
 microscope, and the Analogy and Herschel, and throughout 
 the great poet was a common tie between us. He was a 
 
IO2 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 great man, and I thank God that it was my privilege to 
 know him.' 
 
 When time seemed to be rolling most quietly on, and 
 when prospect of the possible Canonry was too indefinite to 
 be actually anticipated, the Professorship of Astronomy in 
 Oxford fell vacant. The news was instantly brought by a 
 friend with the object of urging him to become a candidate 
 for the post. My father's extreme modesty and diffidence 
 caused him to regard such a candidature on his part as pre- 
 sumptuous, and he refused to listen to the suggestion. His 
 friend, however, would not take a refusal based upon such 
 reasons as final. He interested himself in bringing other 
 influence to bear upon my father, the nature of which may be 
 gathered from the following letter of Dean Hook's : 
 
 ' CHICHESTER, 26 Nov. 1869. 
 
 ' MY DEAR PRITCHARD, Heart and soul will fight for 
 you. Why, it is the very place cut out for you. I entirely 
 disagree with you that an eccles(iastical) appointment would 
 be preferable. Any pious man with a very small headpiece 
 will do for livings, deaneries, canonries, etc., but a man must 
 be a man to occupy such a post as that in which I hope 
 your friends will place you. 
 
 ' It is of the greatest importance to have a religious man 
 in a lay position. The amount of indirect good you may be 
 employed in doing will probably be as important as your 
 immediate work. 
 
 ' I write at once to commit myself to you. Other friends 
 may be in the field, but I feel so sure that no fitter man than 
 you can be found, that I violate my rules and do not say, 
 " Wait till I see what names are in the field." ' 
 
 In another letter, dated loth December 1869, Dean Hook, 
 writes : 
 
 ' How clever is that first Satire of Horace (it is the first 
 
LIFE AT FRESHWATER 1 03 
 
 isn't it ?) We are all of us under the notion that under a 
 different calling we should be happier men. / should like to 
 be an astronomer ! Ycu, being an astronomer, think that 
 you would like to be a pastor ! N.B. Any man of piety may 
 be a good pastor, but not one in a thousand could be a good 
 astronomer. So thinks my Lord Chancellor [Hatherley], who 
 turned a deaf ear to your application for a living, but will 
 fight to the last gasp for your professorship.' 
 
 Yielding at last to such kind and encouraging counsel, my 
 father applied for the post, and was elected, to his own sur- 
 prise. But that the election was regarded by others as 
 natural and proper, is shown by the many letters of congratu- 
 lation he received from all quarters. Dean Hook, who had 
 taken so active a part in advocating his claims, wrote on 
 1 1 th February 1 870 : 
 
 ' MY DEAR PROFESSOR, I congratulate Oxford, I con- 
 gratulate the Church, I congratulate you on the appointment 
 of the fittest man that England could produce to the Savilian 
 Professorship.' 
 
 After speaking of the great interest and activity displayed 
 by Lord Hatherley in the election, Dean Hook continues : 
 c I was done up, tired and frozen, when I got back to 
 Chichester, and I had recourse to my usual remedy. I 
 popped into bed at eight o'clock, and was just in my first 
 sleep when there was a tap at the door a telegram from the 
 Professor which gave me a good night's rest, and enabled 
 me to rise for work at five this morning.' 
 
 And thus the quiet life at Freshwater ended. Ended 
 with some regrets that a beautiful home, almost the work of 
 his own hands, must be given over to others, and that the 
 trees and shrubs he had watched from year to year would 
 grow on under less loving eyes, but with more of anticipation 
 and interest in the new work before him. He had learnt to 
 
IO4 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 realise that a larger pulpit was about to welcome him than 
 the narrower one from which earlier he had hoped to preach 
 the lesson he ardently believed in, when he said : * Nature 
 and grace as I see them are not in conflict, they are in 
 continuity.' 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 FIRST YEARS AT OXFORD, 18701881 
 By his Daughter ; Ada Pritchard 
 
 THE Savilian Professorships of Astronomy and Geometry were 
 founded in 1619 by Sir Henry Savile, provost of Eton, and 
 once Greek tutor to Queen Elizabeth, who in the following 
 year, septuagenarian as he was, delivered the first lecture in 
 geometry himself. By this foundation his name, says Wood, 
 will be made < honourable not only among the learned, but 
 the righteous for ever, even till the general conflagration 
 shall consume all books and learning.' Professor Turner, 
 who has made some interesting notes as to the position of 
 astronomy at Oxford in yet earlier days, gives a list of the 
 Savilian professors of this science from the beginning. It 
 does not include the name of Edmund Halley, who, though 
 a Savilian professor, was not a professor of astronomy ; and 
 the most famous, astronomically, of my father's predecessors 
 is, no doubt, James Bradley, who was elected to the Chair in 
 1721. But to those who know my father's devotion to archi- 
 tecture, an art in the practice of which he would even main- 
 tain that his powers would have found their fullest scope, it 
 is interesting to observe in the list of professors the name of 
 Sir Christopher Wren. 
 
 My father's election took place early in 1870, and late in 
 the autumn of the same year the family left the Isle of Wight. 
 We ourselves were then too young to remember those early 
 days at Oxford at all distinctly, but letters written in his hand, 
 
 105 
 
106 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 which have been sent to me since his death, show how 
 dominant in his mind was a characteristic sense of gratitude 
 for the honour which had been conferred on him. ' As a 
 security against any undue sense of elation/ he writes to his 
 brother from Freshwater, immediately after receiving the news 
 of his appointment, ' I resorted early to the house of God.' 
 1 I am, indeed, full of a deep sense of humility ' ; and this feel- 
 ing rather increased than diminished as years went on. The 
 work was always held in honour by the worker. From letters 
 of this date we learn also my father's high appreciation of the 
 place in which his lot was now cast. It was late in the year 
 when he arrived, and the beauty of Oxford, enhanced by her 
 garment of autumn foliage, awoke in his mind an enthusiastic 
 response ; indeed, the first dim memory we have preserved 
 of our introduction to the city was a walk he took us to see 
 the colour of the creepers on the Founders' Tower at Mag- 
 dalen College. Years afterwards, his own * ampelopsis ' on 
 the observatory in the parks almost outrivalled that at 
 Magdalen. In those days houses were difficult to procure, 
 as the Oxford of 1870 had not attained the proportions it 
 displays at the present day. North Oxford was more or less 
 a builder's castle in the air, and within the city there was not 
 much more accommodation than was required by those whose 
 work was connected with the university. Life wore a more 
 serious and thoughtful aspect before the quiet country 
 meadows surrounding the old city were turned into long labyrin- 
 thine rows of suburban villas. The place, as my father first 
 knew it, was nothing if not academic ; but this state of things, 
 however respectable, presented certain difficulties to the new- 
 comer, the greater, as his occupation lay strictly within the 
 enchanted circle. Two suitable houses only were procurable 
 when we arrived, and of these one was to be pulled down in a 
 year's time, while the other, demonstrably lacking in accom- 
 modation, was also confessedly badly drained. At last we 
 decided upon No. 8 Keble Road, and while it was being 
 
FIRST YEARS AT OXFORD IO/ 
 
 enlarged by the addition of several new rooms, took up our 
 abode hard by in apartments in St Giles'. Keble Road, then 
 newly built, being just beyond the college after which it was 
 named, was conveniently close to the scene of the new profes- 
 sorial duties, the tiny building at the back of the Museum, 
 then dignified by the title of the * University Observatory.' 
 As a matter of fact, this observatory was smaller in dimensions 
 than either of the two which my father had built for his own 
 private use in our garden at Freshwater. It consisted of one 
 room, with a small dome, of which Mr Plummer,* writing to 
 me, says : 
 
 'When I went to Oxford in 1874, your father's ten-inch 
 silver or glass reflector occupied and fitted that dome fitted it 
 to such an extent that it was almost impossible to move about.' 
 
 But more than the restricted space allotted to him, my 
 father bewailed the want of enthusiasm for astronomical 
 studies displayed by the younger generation of Oxford men. 
 He himself, as far back as he could remember, had been a 
 student of the exalted science ; and the absence of even one 
 inquiring mind on such a subject was to him almost incredible. 
 Perhaps the thought that his election had been probably due, 
 in some measure, to his reputation as a teacher, made it the 
 more painful to him to experience so great a difficulty in 
 finding anyone to teach. But, in fact, he had before him at 
 Oxford, work which was to make him, as no tutorial suc- 
 cesses could have done, a true successor to that ' incomparable 
 Bradley/ of whom he had spoken so enthusiastically in his 
 inaugural lecture on May loth. ' He must,' said my father 
 on that occasion, ' be a gifted, not to say an ambitious, man 
 indeed who cannot be contented to sit in the shadow of such 
 a memory ; and he must be unworthy of his office who has 
 not resolved to be within the limits of his power loyal to 
 the example and the traditions which such a man has be- 
 queathed to his successors.' And indeed, as it is the glory 
 
 * My father's much esteemed assistant. 
 
IOS CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 of the illustrious discoverer of the aberration of light to 
 have imparted an accuracy, previously undreamed of, into the 
 celestial measurements of his successors, so it was certainly 
 a task not unworthy one of them to demonstrate the pos- 
 sibility of applying photography to the detection of that 
 stellar parallax which had eluded Bradley. 
 
 Letters of my father, which are almost the only record 
 we have of these years, show plainly with what energy he 
 set himself to instil something of his own enthusiasm into 
 those around him. His ambition to do some work that 
 should be worthy of Oxford grew as his delight in Oxford 
 itself increased. On one occasion we find him writing : 
 
 ' But it is not in these tokens of architectural genius 
 and munificent benefactions that is to be found the true 
 source of the fascination of the scene. The enchantment 
 comes from the memory of famous men who, gifted with 
 the highest and brightest types of cultivated intellect, 
 through centuries have given life and animation to those 
 material fabrics which so delight and instruct the eye. 
 And then, around all this fair scene, so suggestive of mental 
 energy and social progress, there seems to hang an atmo- 
 sphere of repose and dignified prosperity. It may well 
 remind us, in this place of ancient learning, of that spec- 
 tacle of national magnificence wherewith the Athenian 
 orator and statesman sought to allure his countrymen 
 away from mere passive admiration and animate them in 
 practical act, spy^ faupevws. The perceptions must be dull, 
 and the emotions cold, if, at the sight of all this sugges- 
 tive grandeur, it be easy to repress the struggle ready to 
 break forth into a shout of joy and thanksgiving and hope.' 
 
 In Oxford, then, my father found much to do, and 
 did it with an energy peculiar to himself. But in the 
 midst of his varied occupations he could always find time, 
 as in the old Isle of Wight days, for the claims of his 
 wife and children. I do not think that he ever went to 
 
FIRST YEARS AT OXFORD 1 09 
 
 London without bringing a present for our mother and for 
 each one of us. A certain sweetshop in Covent Garden 
 knew him well. There he would spend a small fortune 
 on the family, and a flower stall in the market was often 
 bereft of its best contents for our mother. 
 
 In 1872 his latent (if one may so use the word) love 
 of clerical work suggested a scheme to his mind for the 
 long vacation months. He decided upon taking a foreign 
 chaplaincy, that he might be enabled to carry out some 
 favourite theories as to the right method of 'expanding 
 the minds of his young children.' 'Geography should be 
 impressed in a practical form/ he often said to us, and 
 he was no less emphatic in his resolution that, besides 
 geography, we should learn German in Germany. He 
 always felt it a serious omission in his own education 
 that he had never been taught German. 
 
 He had made very serious attempts to learn it during 
 the early years at Clapham, often going abroad for the 
 summer holidays with that intention, but we are told that 
 he gave it up, declaring 'it was harder than Greek/ and 
 that he never could get more than one word into his head, 
 which was ' Schloss ! ' No doubt languages are harder to 
 learn in mature life than in youth, but he might have 
 achieved it had not his attention been distracted by other 
 subjects. Another deficiency in his education which he 
 lamented too late was the want of skill to play on any 
 instrument. This being an art, can certainly only be 
 acquired by early practice; but his taste and judgment in 
 music were excellent, and in this, as in other things, 
 nothing short of the best would content him. The .music 
 in the chapel services at Clapham was worked up to a 
 very high pitch of excellence ; and he delighted in the 
 popular concerts at St James's Hall, where, he tells us, 
 he used, while listening to the music with my mother, to 
 enjoy working out mathematical problems. 
 
IIO CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 This apparent incongruity seems not unknown to a 
 modern writer, Mr Conan Doyle, who makes his detective 
 hero, Sherlock Holmes, work out a perplexing case while 
 listening to a performance by Sarasate. 
 
 With respect to German, he went so far as to attribute 
 the success of two of the best known English philosophers 
 of the day to the fact that, at a time when it was not, as 
 now, considered essential to an Englishman's education, 
 their knowledge of the language had brought them into 
 touch with the greatest minds in Germany. 
 
 At Carlsbad, which he had selected as the scene of his 
 chaplaincy, he was as supremely happy in his pastoral work 
 as he could have hoped, the more so as he found himself 
 surrounded by many interesting people. His sermons filled 
 the little English church to overflowing ; and after organis- 
 ing a choir and making the services at once hearty and 
 responsive, he proceeded to busy himself with plans and 
 collections for its enlargement. A motley congregation it 
 was which assembled there in the fierce heat of those 
 Austrian Sundays. They came, for the most part, out of 
 pure curiosity to hear the English astronomer, persons of 
 all nationalities and all opinions. In a letter written at 
 that time, my father says : 
 
 * An abominably dishonest Jew banker said to me here, 
 " You are an astronomer ? " " Yes ; at least ought to be." 
 " And a clergyman ? " " No doubt." " You can't believe what 
 you are preaching ? " " Friend, you don't believe what you 
 are saying." This fellow,' proceeds the letter, ' made a bar- 
 gain with me and a great Armenian banker to sell a bit of 
 land for the new church, and told me to go and get the 
 money. I did so. When got and offered, the man would 
 not sell it to me, and when referred to his repeated promise, 
 he said, " Das vas only words." ' 
 
 The new church, nevertheless, was built. It was said of 
 my father that he was never happy unless he had some build- 
 
FIRST YEARS AT OXFORD III 
 
 ing scheme on hand (here his architect predilection was 
 practically evinced), but the completion of this particular 
 scheme did not leave him long unoccupied. He returned to 
 England to set about the erection of the new University 
 Observatory, a building which has since been described as 
 'the enduring memorial of the spirit in which Professor 
 Pritchard interpreted the duties of his office.' Its story is 
 authentically told further on in this volume by Professor 
 Turner : ours is only the memory of childhood. But it 
 serves to recall very clearly the energy with which my father 
 threw himself into the work. 
 
 After quitting Carlsbad he left us all in Germany, still 
 little students of the language he expected us eventually to 
 master. 
 
 We were in a hotel at Wiesbaden, with our mother, a 
 governess and a nurse throughout that winter, father coming 
 and going at each month end. He thought little or nothing 
 of the journey, and each day, as was his custom when separ- 
 ated from her, he would write long, detailed, characteristic 
 letters to our mother. These letters were full of the progress 
 of the observatory, so bound up were his thoughts with the 
 beloved building which it was his pride to be raising ' in this 
 queer place, full of greatness and narrowness both at their 
 maximum,' as he wrote to her once, * where I have asked for 
 nothing not granted.' And he asked, it may be added, for a 
 great deal. 
 
 It is in accordance with my father's entire simplicity and 
 modesty that evidently none of his letters were intended to 
 be quoted or even kept. They were, indeed, for the most part, 
 penned on odd sheets of paper, generally the ordinary MS. 
 paper he used for writing his lectures. Always written on 
 the spur of the moment, they were all the natural outcome of 
 a mind entirely free from self-consciousness. 
 
 The handwriting of these quaint, original notes was, for 
 its beauty, a never-failing source of admiration to his corre- 
 
112 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 pendents : strong, characteristic, legible to the last a hand- 
 writing which had its own little band of imitators. All 
 persons who worked with him or under him would assimilate 
 their style of writing more or less to my father's. He 
 tried to instil into his family an ambition to write well ; 
 urging us all to sign our names 'not conceitedly, but as if 
 you were proud of them.' Once a niece sent him a copybook 
 of the new-fashioned, upright mode of teaching handwriting. 
 He immediately wrote back, ' I am a convert/ and covered 
 sheet after sheet with absurd imitations of the new style. He 
 often illustrated his sentences with grotesque pen-and-ink 
 drawings. If anything in public affairs had excited his feelings 
 of disapprobation, a gallows with the political offender hang- 
 ing therefrom was not unfrequent among these decorations. 
 Otherwise, I do not think he took any strong interest in politics, 
 thereby avoiding the rock on which his father's fortunes in 
 Shrewsbury had been wrecked. Perhaps some tradition of 
 that catastrophe had made an early impression on his mind, 
 and helped to inspire the strong aversion he always expressed 
 to anything \\keparty spirit 
 
 Life in Oxford is a busy enough one during Term time to 
 a professor who works up to his academical requirements ; 
 and my father, by all accounts, did not confine his work to 
 the actual sphere prescribed to him by the university canon. 
 Besides the observatory work proper, all that could be done 
 to interest his fellow-citizens in his own particular science he 
 certainly tried to do. He would show the stars himself, and 
 spare no trouble to explain away any difficulties which were 
 present to people's minds. How many times he would go 
 over to the observatory after dinner, late in the evening, for 
 this purpose, cannot be numbered. There was a private door 
 to the Parks near our house, and through this he and his man 
 Mullis, lantern in hand, would go, at the request of anyone 
 who wished to see the moon through the big telescope in the 
 De la Rue dome. It is certain that people thus coming and 
 
FIRST YEARS AT OXFORD 113 
 
 going occupied no inconsiderable share of the precious hours 
 of each day ; but he gave his time willingly, ungrudgingly 
 4 to the inquiring mind ' which concerned itself either with 
 science or religion. He often presided at the meetings of the 
 Oxford Bible Society and the Christian Evidence Society, 
 sparing no pains with his addresses on such occasions. On 
 this subject Canon Liddon writes, in 1877 : 
 
 * I am very glad indeed that you are at liberty to give 
 the address suggested by the Christian Evidence Society, 
 Whether any of my colleagues have been applied to by 
 the society, I do not know ; but certainly, as far as I 
 am concerned, I rejoice to think that you are in my place. 
 Physical science has great advantages over divinity on. 
 an occasion of this kind ; its witness is certain to be more 
 accurate, and be generally believed to be more disinterested 
 than that of a Professor of Theology. ... I had some hesi- 
 tation as to handling such a subject in a popular way in a 
 place like Oxford, which your knowledge of the state of 
 minds in this place would suggest to yourself. But pro- 
 bably this is not the best way of looking at the matter. 
 Indeed, whenever you are so good as to call, I should 
 think it a great honour to have a talk with you over these 
 things.' 
 
 I remember long after this my father saying to some 
 friends who were calling : ' A celebrated scientist, who is 
 now dead, said to me on my appointment to the Savilian 
 Professorship, " Do not mix up theology and astronomy at 
 Oxford. Times have changed ; they like these matters kept 
 distinct. You are there as a Professor of Science, and not as 
 a Theologian ; " and yet,' added my father, ' I have never 
 attempted to separate the two.' 
 
 Looking back now on a life so varied, so many-sided, 
 it is hard for us to transfer any just impression of it to 
 others through the medium of pen and ink. Passing, 
 as he did, in a single day through a hundred shifting moods, 
 
 H 
 
114 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 he was by nature ever ready to sympathise with his sur- 
 rounding friends, to weep with those that wept, and laugh 
 with those who laughed. And how he could laugh ! 
 
 It needed but the shortest of acquaintance with my father 
 to discover his sense of humour, love of fun a quality, 
 indeed, which was apt to manifest itself somewhat unex- 
 pectedly, alike in his conversation and letters. His horror 
 of any suspicion of posing for effect had something to do 
 with this habit. He often threw off the effect of an emphatic 
 and pathetic sentence by quoting the speech of an old 
 Shropshire market woman which had seized on his early 
 childish fancy, " ' Ah, well, you see, things bees as they am,' 
 or, as Bishop Butler in his Analogy puts it less elegantly, 
 ' Meanwhile, things are, what they are.' " He was very fond 
 of quoting this speech, though its theory of non-resistance 
 was not perhaps much in keeping with his own more vigorous 
 philosophy. 
 
 When, after a year's absence abroad, we returned to him 
 at Oxford, we found his interest in the progress of the new 
 observatory at its height. But in his rare holiday hours 
 he would delight to wander about the beautiful home of 
 his adoption, and point out to his family what struck him 
 most. And so many new thoughts and fancies did strike 
 him, that a walk or drive with father was always more or 
 less of a revelation to those who were his companions. 
 Nothing was lost on a mind attuned like his, to love 
 Nature in her every phase and mood, and as we listened 
 we used to catch something of the enthusiasm of the 
 speaker ourselves. For not only had he the gift of a deep 
 sensibility to the beauties of Nature, but the rarer gift of 
 expressing it in a manner both unique and impressive. He 
 early taught us to study Nature, to love and admire her. 
 He was our instructor in botany, and our half-holidays were 
 devoted to searching for specimens out in the meadows and 
 ditches beyond the river at the end of the parks. We 
 
FIRST YEARS AT OXFORD 115 
 
 thought a great deal about the loss of those half-holidays. 
 I don't think we half appreciated what was bestowed upon 
 us by the father who so indefatigably worked to enlighten 
 our lesser minds. 
 
 He would say to us that it was our duty to appre- 
 ciate the beautiful a duty, as he would lament, too often 
 neglected. Many there are who still remember how, by day and 
 by night, he would exclaim in his home on the hill at Fresh- 
 water, ' How beautiful, how beautiful, and how beautiful ' ; 
 and to us he would say it long afterwards when, in his 
 old age, seated in the Oxford garden, with his eyes facing 
 his flowers and the city spires, behind him the observatory, 
 and above him the firmament and the stars, ' How beauti- 
 ful, how beautiful, and all are of GOD and point to GOD.' 
 Indeed, his passionate delight in the beauties of Nature was 
 ever present in his speech, and found expression in his letters. 
 After a visit to the New Forest, he writes to Dr Perowne 
 (then Dean of Peterborough) : 
 
 * Till you have seen that> when the trees put on their new 
 clothes, with the birds, you have seen nothing of woodland 
 scenery. It is the glory of GOD selected and appointed. 
 We saw a mile of conifers, thirty years old. It was like the 
 Nebula of Orion or the Alps seen for the first time. Les 
 Alpes, les Alpes ! Ah, it is a beautiful world, and He who 
 fashioned it is good ; yes, good to all His children. Sua si 
 bona norint. Glory from the little chionadoxa or the daffo- 
 dils, up to the cedars of Lebanon.' 
 
 The allusion to 'the birds' in this letter reminds us that 
 we cannot pass over without mention his great love of them. 
 One of his greatest pleasures was the possession of the large 
 aviary which he added to the observatory. It was full of 
 singing birds, and to their music he worked, as he did 
 (mentally) to that in St James's Hall. Ruskin, who had 
 also a great love of birds, used to go over to see them, 
 and in this way he and my father often met. 
 
Il6 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 Then in the same letter he goes on to speak with 
 enthusiastic admiration of his own garden, where he had 
 his tulips, 500 or so (early and Gesneriana), daffodils a 
 thousand, and where wall-flowers, yellow alyssum, white 
 and yellow candytufts and tulips were ' all aglow like 
 the meteorites without collision.' 
 
 It was during the first ten years of life in his adopted 
 University, and when he really wanted rest and quiet, that he 
 settled upon a small cottage in the Malvern Hills to which 
 he could repair and ' think.' The garden of the cottage ran 
 up the mountain side, and his study, built on by himself, 
 commanded a view of the plain stretching away in front to 
 a far distant horizon. Here, nominally resting, he, in fact, 
 worked hard. He wrote a number of sermons, afterwards 
 preached in Westminster Abbey, Salisbury, Hereford and 
 Worcester Cathedrals, and in the Abbey Church at Great 
 Malvern. Here it was, too, that he prepared his lectures 
 on his much-studied Butler's Analogy. 
 
 1 Good, kind Mr Ffoulkes,' he proudly wrote, * has given 
 me now carte blanche for four sermons or lectures on Butler's 
 Analogy ', to be delivered in the University Church at 
 Oxford. Somehow, this has been one of the desires of my 
 later life.' 
 
 Here also he gave his children lessons in Greek and 
 algebra and botany. In after years he often talked of the 
 happiness the quiet life at Malvern had brought him. When 
 the lease of the cottage was up we spent most of the Oxford 
 vacations abroad. He had himself a large acquaintance with 
 the Continent, which he much wished his wife and family to 
 share with him. And what we saw on these tours has ever 
 remained indelibly impressed upon our minds, so much 
 interest did he manage to infuse into the scenes and 
 places we passed through. 
 
 It always seemed to us, his children, that he had an 
 extraordinary knack of giving broad general facts in a 
 
FIRST YEARS AT OXFORD 
 
 specially interesting manner; to a child's mind he paid 
 the invaluable compliment of crediting it with an intelli- 
 gence equal to his own. In 1878 he took abroad with him 
 his son, Eric who thus describes the wonderful month he 
 had alone with his father : 
 
 'A FEW REMINISCENCES OF A JOURNEY TO CENTRAL 
 FRANCE WITH MY FATHER (1878).' 
 
 By Eric Pritchard 
 
 'In 1878 my father made up his mind to visit for the 
 second time the volcanic districts of Central France. 
 
 1 Once before, I believe in the year 1859, he had made this 
 expedition, and partly as the result of a conversation with 
 Sir Joseph Prestwich, then Professor of Geology at Oxford, 
 partly as the result of a re-perusal of Scrope's Extinct 
 Volcanoes of Central France, he determined to refresh his 
 memory by a second inspection of this interesting locality. 
 It was a principle he always acted upon himself, and never 
 failed to impress upon others, that to remember a thing 
 you must see it; in fact, one of his favourite quotations 
 was Horace's enunciation of this principle. 
 
 * Although only twelve years of age at the time, I can 
 well remember my father explaining what a magnificent 
 object lesson it would be for me to accompany him on this 
 journey : " Travel," he used to say with Bacon " in the 
 younger sort is a part of education." Indeed, the entire 
 neglect of my education in some other branches during 
 this period of my life inclines me to think that he looked 
 on it as the chief part. 
 
 * It was indeed a proud moment of my existence when 
 it was finally arranged that I was to be my father's com- 
 panion. Never shall I forget the preparations that were 
 made for this journey. As an old traveller he had very 
 decided ideas as to how such an expedition was to be 
 
II 8 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 conducted : no detail was to be left to the occasion, all 
 was to be thought out and arranged beforehand, written 
 in black and white. As I write now I have before me on the 
 flyleaf of Scrope's Geology a full itinerary of our expedition 
 from start to finish, from the train by which we were to 
 leave the Oxford station until our return to the same about 
 six weeks afterwards. As an instance of the minuteness 
 and accuracy with which such itineraries were arranged, 
 my sister reminds me of an entry which he once made for 
 her benefit, before starting on a journey to Switzerland. 
 It was to the following effect : " Half-an-hour at the 
 Devil's Bridge for Rosie and Ada to sketch." 
 
 ' My father had a theory of disposing of his travelling 
 impedimenta in such a way that everything was packed 
 in a multitude of small bags and parcels, to the exclusion 
 of larger and more convenient receptacles. " We must not 
 take anything we cannot carry in our hands," was the regular 
 formula on such occasions ; and as I was quite a small boy 
 at the time, and the weight which I could carry proportionate, 
 our baggage finally resolved itself into about twelve separate 
 packages. These small parcels were my bugbear during 
 the journey. I could not carry more than three or four 
 at a time, and this necessitated repeated journeys to and 
 fro between carriage and carriage, or between waiting-room 
 and train. I was in constant fear of being separated from 
 my father by the train moving out of the station and 
 carrying him with it whilst I was returning to the central 
 depot for a further load. My father never carried anything 
 himself except his umbrella and his small handbag, the 
 latter containing our tickets and money, which " must have," 
 he said, " his undivided attention." The fact was, he was 
 just then beginning to feel a diminution in strength and 
 activity, owing to increasing age and corpulency, and he 
 was very reluctant to own to it ! 
 
 1 He once wrote : " I have a great love and admiration 
 
FIRST YEARS AT OXFORD 119 
 
 for youth. I do not love old age, and I don't want to 
 grow old a day before I must." He further insisted on 
 taking with us two or three spare canvas bags. He made 
 rather a mystery about their subsequent employment, but 
 persisted that we should find them useful. Later on I 
 discovered their use, when they came home full of minerals, 
 lava, volcanic cinders, fossil remains, and other lithoidal 
 mementos of our journey. This collection proved a con- 
 siderable stumbling-block to the Custom House Officers, 
 and in spite of our protestations the contents of our sacks 
 were shot out on to the floor and submitted to the rude gaze 
 of the officials and our fellow-passengers. They have since 
 been presented to the Oxford Museum. 
 
 ' My father made me a present of a small diary, and 
 insisted on my taking full notes of what I saw ; and though 
 I have long since lost what would now be a useful record 
 of our doings, it is doubtless owing to the fact that I did 
 keep such a memorandum that I can still recollect much 
 of what took place so long ago. 
 
 * On our way to Marseilles we made but one break in 
 the journey, and that was at Paris, where we stayed the 
 first night and following day. My father, who had not 
 visited France since the days of the Commune, was much 
 interested in the changes which had taken place since his 
 last visit. He frequently stopped at the corners of the 
 streets and pointed out to me how easy it would now be 
 to put down a riot by placing artillery in the centre of the 
 squares, and thus commanding miles of street in all direc- 
 tions. During the day he took me to see Notre Dame, 
 then decked in deep mourning for the death of Pope Pius 
 the Ninth. The entire Cathedral was draped with black 
 cloth hangings from the ceiling to the floor, constituting 
 as dismal a picture as it is possible to imagine. It was 
 highly characteristic of my dear old father that he should 
 improve the occasion by making me calculate how many 
 
120 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 yards of cloth were hanging on the walls, and at a rough 
 estimate how much it would cost the ecclesiastical authorities. 
 
 ' He was exceedingly fond of chaffing any of his fellow- 
 tourists, and I can remember on this occasion he acted as 
 a sort of self-constituted guide to a small party who were 
 making the tour of the cathedral. I don't know what 
 nonsense he did not tell them, but I believe they implicitly 
 accepted all his statements. On one of these occasions, 
 when he was chatting to a large tourist detachment, some- 
 body asked him if he were one of Mr Cook's party. " No," 
 he replied, " I am Gaze." 
 
 ' At Marseilles, where we stayed a couple of days, I 
 was encouraged to pick up a few colloquial expressions, 
 and was allowed to buy whatever I could ask for myself. 
 In this way I soon knew how to become an extensive 
 purchaser of oranges, fresh dates, French pastry and creams. 
 I can vividly recall my poor old father sitting in a chair 
 in a tempting patisserie shop, talking to the shop girl, 
 and making jokes about me as I tried to eat gracefully a 
 marvellous cream tart, the contents of which escaped on 
 all sides at every mouthful. 
 
 'From Marseilles we travelled to Hyeres, and took up 
 our quarters at a most delightful hotel, by name " Hotel 
 des Isles d'Or." According to the tariff in our guide-book, 
 my father had discovered that we could obtain board and 
 lodging at 7 fcs. 50. The proprietor, I remember, made a 
 great demur at thus taking us in at the minimum rate, but 
 my father, by threatening him with " exposure in the English 
 Times!' obtained his point, and secured rooms on the top 
 floor. Although it was a great exertion to him to clamber 
 up so many stairs, he submitted to the discomfort rather 
 than "be done," as he put it. 
 
 * Although seventy years of age, and very stout, my 
 father was still exceedingly active, and every day he took 
 me for a long walk in the country. A keen botanist, he 
 
FIRST YEARS AT OXFORD 121 
 
 took great interest in the almost tropical vegetation of the 
 surrounding neighbourhood. He wrote on his return home : 
 " I now have some idea of the East, for I have seen a 
 palm tree growing out of doors." He liked nothing better 
 than to wander through, the market gardens and inspect 
 the early vegetables for the Paris and London market. 
 
 * He liked me to be able to put my hand to anything, 
 and it was always a joke against him that on one occasion 
 he made arrangements with our family baker at Oxford 
 to teach me how to make flaky pastry and three-cornered 
 puffs ; I don't know whether anybody else appreciated the 
 results, but he himself declared them to be excellent. 
 He often used to say that when he was a boy the house- 
 hold word was " Education, education " ; he certainly never 
 forgot the lesson he then learnt, for my education, up to 
 the time I went to school, was, I should say, the most 
 heterogeneous that ever boy received. 
 
 ' From Hyeres we made a few excursions down to the 
 sea, which was only a few miles off. A considerable 
 industry was carried on along the shore in the removal of 
 sea-weed for manure, and for the subsequent preparation 
 of bromine and iodine. My father explained to me the 
 process, and described to me the uses and chemistry of 
 these two elements. He had a remarkable facility for 
 putting even dry matters in an interesting form, and what 
 he told me then made a far more permanent mental 
 impression than what I heard subsequently at lectures. 
 We also saw the preparation of crude salt, which was 
 effected by the evaporation of salt water in large tanks 
 placed a small distance above high water mark. 
 
 ' One of our walks led us to the church of Notre Dame, 
 situated in a most picturesque spot on the top of a 
 neighbouring hill. On our way thither, we came in 
 contact with a pilgrim procession, which was slowly wend- 
 ing its way in the same direction. For some reason or 
 
122 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 other, I wanted to get to the other side of the road, and 
 in so doing, I had to pass through the ranks of the 
 procession. I made a dash through the first appearance 
 of a gap; a stout peasant, however, barred the way, and 
 a volley of abuse was hurled at my head for a sacrilegious 
 infidel. My father was very angry with me, and told 
 me that I ought to have known better, and that these 
 fervent catholics were very touchy at any disrespect for 
 their superstitions or observances. 
 
 'Before reaching the Auvergne district, my father had 
 arranged to visit Toulon, Nimes and Aries, all places of 
 interest ; and at the former he made me arrange with a 
 boatman for a sail in the wonderful harbour, and at the 
 two latter towns he showed me the old Roman remains. 
 At Aries we spent a long time wandering about the 
 amphitheatre. For many years the huge building, with a 
 diameter of nearly 500 feet, was filled up with a dense mass 
 of miserable hovels, which afforded shelter to some 2000 
 of the poorer inhabitants ; more recently this rookery has 
 been cleared away, and the amphitheatre remains much 
 as it was in the time of the Romans. It now affords 
 shelter to innumerable lizards, which we found sunning 
 themselves on the stone and marble slabs. The outer 
 masonry is in a wonderful condition of preservation, and 
 remains almost as complete as the Coliseum at Rome. 
 Near Aries there is a curious plain covered entirely with 
 large boulder stones; it has a mythological interest as 
 the battle-field of the combat between Hercules and the 
 Ligurians. My father was very anxious to show this to 
 me. He showed me a passage in our guide-book which 
 described the battle, telling how Hercules ran short of 
 arrows and would have lost the day had not Jupiter 
 intervened and afforded him a heaven-sent reserve of 
 stones. These he hurled at his enemies, and hence his 
 victory and the stony plain. He added that, as a matter 
 
FIRST YEARS AT OXFORD 123 
 
 of fact, the true explanation was that this was one of the 
 original beds of the River Rhone. 
 
 * The town of Clermont is surrounded by mountains, 
 forming a series of volcanic chains, the highest apices 
 of which occasionally rise to a considerable height. The 
 Puy de Dome is the highest of them, being nearly 5000 
 feet above sea level. At the top of this latter mountain 
 there is a small meteorological station in telegraphic 
 communication with Paris. Towards this so - called 
 observatory my father used to cast longing eyes, and 
 bitterly complained that he was not so active as he had 
 been. He told me that it was on this mountain that 
 Pascal made his original determination of the weight of 
 the atmosphere, and 1 suppose it was this fact that made 
 him insist on my taking a few practical lessons in the use 
 of the aneroid, and measuring the height of the different 
 mountains we ascended. I believe it was the Puy de 
 Pariou, a mountain of less ambitious height, that he made 
 an attempt to climb. We took a carriage, drove as far as 
 the road would allow, and then secured the services of a 
 guide. I remember his chaffing the good - natured 
 mountaineer, and telling him that he also was of his 
 fraternity and a guide of Mont Blanc, a statement which 
 must have been received with doubt, when after about 
 half-an-hour's climb he refused to go any further, and 
 left me to complete the ascent by myself. As we neared 
 the top of the volcanic crater, my excitement became most 
 intense, for I had only vague ideas of what I was going 
 to see. I thought, however, that there was some element 
 of danger connected with it. I expected to find at the top 
 the orifice of a bottomless pit, and I had visions of having 
 to lie on my stomach and carefully peer over the edge 
 into the darkness below. My astonishment was, however, 
 great to find merely a bowl-shaped hollow, like an enormous 
 pudding-basin, the steep sides of which were thrown into 
 
124 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 regular ridges, covered with grass and a few low bushes, 
 and right down at the bottom some half - dozen sheep 
 quietly grazing. 
 
 * I had been told to descend into the crater as far as I 
 could, and measure, with my aneroid, the depth of the 
 depression. According to my calculation I had descended 
 about 300 feet. As I stood at the bottom the sensation was 
 peculiar; the air was motionless and warm, not a sound to 
 be heard, and nothing to be seen except grass and blue sky 
 and the grazing sheep. I felt so lost in the solitude that I 
 was quite relieved when I clambered up again and joined the 
 guide, who had wisely waited at the top. I certainly was 
 much disappointed at not being able to find a hole at the 
 bottom, if only to indicate whence the fire, smoke and lava 
 had originally issued. Grass and sheep were not what I had 
 expected to find in the interior of even an extinct volcano. 
 
 ' On joining my father at his halting-place, I found that he 
 had been spending his time in tracing out with his eye the 
 course which the lava streams from the various volcanos had 
 originally taken. That from the mountain on which we 
 stood could be easily recognised as a distinct and isolated 
 ridge elevated slightly above the level of the surrounding 
 ground, and presenting a distinctive and rugged surface. 
 
 ' On our way down to our conveyance he produced one of 
 his empty canvas bags and began to select various specimens 
 of lava, cinders, pumice, etc. Two particularly interesting 
 specimens, by a curious coincidence, we found side by side ; 
 one of them, for which we had been hunting for some time, 
 was what my father called a galvanic bomb. It was a doubly 
 conical-shaped mass of lava. The other specimen which we 
 found lying alongside was a piece of iron which had splin- 
 tered off an altogether different kind of bomb, namely, a 
 modern shell which the artillery, in their practice, had thrown 
 on to the mountain side. My father was as pleased as a child 
 with this discovery, and both specimens were subsequently 
 
FIRST YEARS AT OXFORD 125 
 
 preserved side by side in his cabinet and shown to all 
 comers. 
 
 ' Of Le Puy, our next halting-place, I have very distinct 
 recollections. In the centre of the town stands a lofty and 
 imposing rock, keeping watch over it like a solitary sentinel, 
 and it was explained to me how this extraordinary mass 
 came to be situated in the midst of what is otherwise a 
 considerable plain. On the summit of the rock is a huge 
 metal statue of the Virgin, hollow within, like the Trojan 
 horse, and containing an iron staircase by which one can 
 mount into the head. It is made with the cannon taken 
 from Sebastopol about 212 pieces. My father insisted on 
 climbing to the top of this structure, and from the oc- 
 casional chinks in the iron he prospected the neighbouring 
 country. 
 
 ' We made numberless excursions into the neighbourhood, 
 and in a few days completed our sojourn in Auvergne, 
 returning to England by Lyons and Paris.' 
 
 This picture of our father, as he appeared on his travels, 
 may here be supplemented by the following quaint letter from 
 himself, showing that advancing years robbed him neither of 
 his power of enjoyment nor of his pleasure in arranging for 
 the enjoyment of others : 
 
 'CHAUDE FONTAINE, 
 
 'June 2.ist (I think), 1881. 
 
 ' Anyhow, Tuesday, 4.30 P.M. 
 
 ' MY DEAR WIFE, Having nothing better to do, I took 
 a return ticket here a place I have long wished to see. It is 
 more lovely than ever I expected, in a valley basin sur- 
 rounded by wooded hills. From fir woods at the top, where 
 I have been, is a grand amphitheatre view. You must come 
 and spend a long day, and you will be delighted. Woods, 
 water, hills. Behind me, about ten yards, are sixty-five 
 people at a marriage feast. I saw the whole party disem- 
 
126 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 bark from about twenty carriages. There they go 1 Not a 
 beauty among them ! but such tons of bouquets. Some 
 well-to-do people from Liege. 
 
 * You might have sent me a post-card daily. Nothing for 
 me at the post to-day at 11.30. Please do write someone, if 
 not too late. 
 
 * Bring everything you want to make you comfortable. 
 (Studs for me, Mullis will get them.) You may bring my 
 favourite kettle it will be useful. 
 
 ' I will try to meet you at Antwerp. If I don't, you must 
 appeal to the steward to help you. On the quay close by 
 are cabs. The real fare is one franc, but you may be asked 
 five, or even six ! Demand quietly the tariff. There is 
 a new station half-a-mile from the quay. Your train leaves 
 at a quarter-past one, mind that, else you will have to wait 
 at Malines if you go off earlier ; you can go and see the 
 pictures and the cathedral again. But should you arrive in 
 time for the nine o'clock train (and you may) then get off by 
 that. But I expect to be there. If I miss you by chance at 
 Spa, then Hotel Britannique. To-morrow, Wednesday, I send 
 to General Steam Navigation to have on board the steamer 
 return tickets for all of you. 
 
 * Ask Mullis to get Mr Plummer to send me a report of 
 the Obs. by you. Mullis is to devote himself to you all 
 Thursday and Friday, mind that. 
 
 * I hope I have given you all directions. I have said all, 
 but I do so wish someone had written me, even a penny post- 
 card daily. Love to all. Your affectionate husband, 
 
 <C P.' 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 LIFE AT OXFORD, 1 882- 1 886 
 By his Daughter ; Ada Pritchard 
 
 IN the year 1879 the Radcliffe Observatory was placed under 
 my father's control during the interregnum caused by the 
 death of its director, his friend, Mr Main. It was a pleasure 
 to him to find time for the working of two observatories 
 at once, and he went so far as to express the sentiment 
 that ' we are never so happy as when we have a little too 
 much to do, and do it' 
 
 I have many letters about this, but the following to 
 Dr. Acland seems best worth quoting : 
 
 ' UNIV. OBSERVATORY, 
 'June loth, 1878. 
 
 ' MY DEAR DR ACLAND, I well know the lively interest 
 which you take in all that appertains to Oxford, and not the 
 least to the astronomical branches of it. 
 
 * I have now been for a few weeks in temporary charge 
 of the Radcliffe Observatory. It is a very noble establish- 
 ment, and contains the elements of an institution which 
 I am convinced might, without great difficulty, be one of 
 the very first in Europe. There are, however, details and 
 arrangements within it which I feel convinced are not 
 fully within the cognisance of the trustees, but which seem 
 to me to require their consideration, and this, I think, 
 
 127 
 
128 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 can only be given effectually before a successor to Mr 
 Main is appointed.' 
 
 In this spirit (of delight in ' too much work ') he gave 
 his aid to a project for the establishment of a series of 
 'City Lectures' in 1880, himself lecturing in the Town 
 Hall on ' The Life and Discoveries of Sir William Herschel/ 
 perhaps in the hope of arousing in the town that interest 
 which he had found wanting in the University. * The 
 man himself, William Herschel,' he said, 'was a romance, 
 and a very noble one, and so are his wonderful discoveries. 
 But I must guard myself against misleading you into the 
 thought that astronomy, in its other branches, is a romance 
 or merely an intellectual treat, to be enjoyed or avoided 
 as the taste suggests. Let me remind you that men have 
 mouths as well as minds, and that it is owing to astronomy 
 that the produce of the East and West is brought to our 
 markets ; by the aid of astronomy that the Atlantic cables 
 are laid and can be found again at the very spot where they 
 need repair. By astronomy we maintain our intercourse 
 with our countrymen throughout our empire, on which the 
 sun never sets.' It was not in Oxford alone that he was 
 ready to help in any public spirited scheme ; and, two years 
 later, a more formidable task was undertaken, when, in 1882, 
 the Rector of St Edmund's, at Northampton, in conjunction 
 with several other clergymen, wrote and asked my father 
 to address an assembly of Mr Brad laugh's adherents on 
 certain difficulties which, it was alleged, stood in the way 
 of their acceptance of Christianity. 'The project seemed 
 at first to be beset with perils, and to offer but little prospect 
 of eventual good/ he remarks, but finally, despite some mis- 
 giving as to his self-ascribed lack of ' readiness,' he agreed to 
 do as he was asked in this matter. 
 
 His sceptical opponents he thought 'little enough 
 versed in the real drift and strength of their own assumed 
 
LIFE AT OXFORD 129 
 
 opinions. They followed, as it seems to me, the dicta of 
 the more vivacious leaders whom they have selected, 
 whether from conviction or from fashion, and have per- 
 sonally but little worked out the causes or the consequences 
 of their own objections.' 
 
 After the address a discussion was invited, and, in my 
 father's words : 
 
 4 There rose up, amidst considerable applause, a gentle- 
 man, who seemed to be a corypheus among them. He 
 said that one result of his own studies had been the con- 
 viction that the form of religion in any place very much 
 depended on its latitude and its longitude, and he there- 
 fore wished to ask the learned lecturer whether in any 
 place it might be lawful to worship a crocodile. He sat 
 down amidst applause even greater than that which oc- 
 curred when he rose to put this presumed annihilating 
 question. I remarked that I so far agreed with my 
 ingenious friend that it did seem a fact that locality 
 and surrounding circumstances modify the purely external 
 forms of religion, and that if my friend lived in a country 
 abounding with crocodiles, and if nothing within his own 
 mind and spirit, and if nothing external to them, suggested 
 a different form of worship, then he had better worship 
 a crocodile than nothing at all ; but inasmuch as my friend 
 lived in the beautiful town of Northampton, where I had 
 failed to find either zoological gardens or an aquarium, 
 if he in Northampton elected to worship a crocodile, in 
 lieu of any other object of worship at all, then the responsi- 
 bility rested with himself.' 
 
 No doubt my father's prolonged enjoyment of work de- 
 pended largely on his power of enjoying leisure to an equal 
 degree. His holiday spirits at this time were still exuberant, 
 overmastering, infectious ; and those were red-letter days to 
 us when he would go with our mother and ourselves up 
 the river, or away for the day on some longer excursion, 
 
 I 
 
130 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 leaving his books with their grim array of figures be- 
 hind. 
 
 To understand father in his ' computing ' room was 
 not by any means to understand him on a holiday, unless 
 you had previously grasped the fact that whatsoever he 
 did, he did with his whole heart and soul. He had a happy 
 knack of throwing off his work, and this it was that I 
 think kept him so young, for, up to the last, he was 
 positively youthful in his power of appreciation and enjoy- 
 ment. He often said of himself that he had been the most 
 'juvenile' guest at a dinner party, and Mr James Knowles, 
 revisiting him in these Oxford days, writes of him that he 
 was 'always the same man, or rather almost boy, in his 
 enthusiasm and curiosity and courage.' 
 
 A striking proof of these qualities was now to be given. 
 In the course of the preparations for the great work on 
 the comparative brightness of the stars to which the 
 resources of the Oxford Observatory were being applied^ 
 it had occurred to him that the question of atmospheric 
 absorption might be profitably studied by comparing results 
 obtained in the Thames Valley with others obtained in 
 the 'proverbially transparent atmosphere' of Egypt. To 
 Egypt, therefore, at the beginning of 1883, he betook him- 
 self, with my mother as his companion. Mr Jenkins, his 
 second assistant at the observatory, went too, and the 
 big telescope accompanied them at least, it looked very 
 big when it was packed. A letter direct from Lord 
 Granville protected this unusual piece of luggage against 
 any undue custom-house interference. 
 
 Before they started on their journey, father, with his 
 customary insistance on such matters, said to us, ' You must 
 write every day. I have left a memorandum of where we 
 shall be on such and such a day, and we shall expect to 
 hear daily. In the same way a report will be forwarded 
 from the observatory.' 
 
LIFE AT OXFORD 131 
 
 At Alexandria, the Khedive's barge was despatched to 
 convoy ' L'Astronome,' who installed himself with my mother 
 at Shepheard's Hotel. 
 
 ' My own first view of the Pyramids/ he writes later, 
 
 1 was from the top of a roof over the side of my telescope, 
 the oldest and the grandest specimens of the art of to-day.' 
 
 * The day after we arrived/ he wrote home, ' your mamma 
 and I and Mr Jenkins, and a nephew of Mahomed Pasha 
 Fallaki, started to arrange for Mr Jenkins to go and live at 
 Abasseyah. The observatory, as you know, has been placed 
 at my disposal. The building is terraced, and has as lofty a 
 tower as the Radcliffe. The instruments are small, but 
 adequate for moderate purposes ; a small elaborate T. C, 
 
 2 inches in aperture, and 12-15 inches about, and a small 
 Theodolite. Mr Jenkins has Arab servants who can't speak 
 a word of English, but signs do the work of language. We 
 chose a capital room with sofas all round it; and after 
 enjoying the prospect we left, regretting, too, that we were 
 not going to live there ourselves in the sun and the solitude/ 
 
 Mr Jenkins relates a rather curious incident in connection 
 with his sojourn at this place. Feeling, when the sun was 
 gone, the solitude extolled by my father somewhat oppres- 
 sive, he remembered with pleasure that a box of stores had 
 been despatched to him by my parents from Cairo, con- 
 taining all creature comforts calculated to sustain a living 
 Englishman left without company in the land of the dead. 
 Turning, therefore, to a large box at his side, he applied 
 himself to the task of tearing out nails and forcing up the 
 lid with a zeal sincerely regretted when it became evident 
 that his labour was mis-directed, and that by way of 
 enlivening his solitude, he was interrupting the repose of 
 a mummy ! 
 
 My father's letters from Cairo were filled in turn with 
 bright thought, deep reflection, humour and pathos. Every 
 day, according to his wont, he wrote to us at some length, 
 
132 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 keeping us in close touch with his surroundings. He entered 
 into the social life with a curious new zest, which our mother 
 declared was quite unlike anything she had seen in him 
 before. Cairo was described then as being at the zenith of 
 its social brilliancy, and Shepheard's Hotel was filled to 
 overflowing with interesting people. 
 
 ' Under the verandah we all meet,' they wrote home, 
 ' a motley crew the Duke of Sutherland, Lord Napier of 
 Magdala, Sir Evelyn Wood, Sir Archibald Alison, Sir 
 Charles Wilson, the Brasseys and ourselves. It is very 
 entertaining here, inside ; and outside, the bright panorama, 
 passing constantly before our eyes, under the vivid blue sky, 
 is hardly less remarkable.' 
 
 Conversations with many of these people intersperse the 
 letters. 'They are all so cordial in their welcome to the 
 wandering astronomer,' we hear, ' and most kind.' . Into 
 the political problems presented by Egypt at that time 
 father threw himself enthusiastically. 
 
 ' Our Government,' ran another letter, ' has given Sir 
 Evelyn Wood carte blanche to choose his own officers for 
 the re-formation of an Egyptian army. He has chosen 
 men of prudent enthusiasm for right, and these- men (one 
 of whom, Col. Duncan,* I know) tell me much about the 
 affair. They are trying to raise the character of the Fella- 
 heen conscript soldiers by treating them with justice and 
 truth for the first time in Egyptian (the world's) history ; 
 then, in due time, letting them go home to their villages 
 and tell their brethren what things they have seen and 
 heard, how their pay is good, and regularly given, to their 
 utter astonishment, which they do not fail to express : then 
 they .are not allowed to be beaten by their officers, f indeed, 
 
 * Late M.P. for Finsbury. 
 
 t Curiously enough, Lord Salisbury, speaking on this subject (May 1896), 
 corroborates the anticipatory remarks made by my father thirteen years 
 previously. "There were persons who told us, relying on experience I may say the 
 
LIFE AT OXFORD 133 
 
 their officers have been arrested already for striking them. 
 . . . They always prefer English officers over them. Our 
 general is bent on raising the character, if possible. His 
 mind is set upon it ; I heard much concerning this vital 
 question at the Commander-in- Chiefs dinner the other 
 night.' 
 
 Another letter of a more personal nature, dated 6th. 
 February 1883, runs thus: 
 
 'I had accepted the offer to go with a young artilleryman 
 to the Mocattam Hills, to the place where Newton* and- 
 Company, in 1874, observed the transit of Venus. This is 
 the highest ground of Cairo proper, close to the grandest 
 Mosque of Mehemet, and all Cairo and the Nile lies before 
 you. . . . We got out of our carriage, and, like mad people, 
 commenced our ascent by zig-zag winding roads, amidst 
 sand, rocks and quarries ; no real road it was. After three 
 miles I gave in. I lay down, tired out, with a bit of rock 
 for my pillow, sun 140, on my back. I had no umbrella, 
 no " nothing," and we had madly gone on a journey no 
 sane people attempt save on donkeys. Still, there was 
 a delicious breeze, as there almost always is here, and 
 I resuscitated in half-an-hour. The view is an amphi- 
 theatre, complete. All Cairo, as I said, at your feet, the 
 Nile, Egypt ; a view unique in the world. ... By dint of 
 perseverance we got down to the carriage, drove to the 
 artillery mess, had lunch, and got home.' 
 
 After this came the voyage up the Nile to Kamak and 
 Thebes : 
 
 'We have the chief cabin, and we expect great things,' 
 
 irrelevant experience of twelve years ago that we should find that the Egyptians 
 will never fight, and that our expedition, if it is to be carried out, must be carried 
 out by English troops. I do not attempt to forecast the future of the campaign ; 
 but I am justified in saying that the calumny that the Egyptian troops will not 
 fight has been satisfactorily disposed off (cheers). They have fought as gallantly 
 as any other troops could fight, and it is no wonder that they should have fought 
 well." 
 
 * An Oxford pupil of my father's. 
 
134 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 my father writes. 'You have seen nothing till you have 
 seen Thebes, Lord Dufferin told me at dinner the other 
 night.' 
 
 From their floating home vivid word-pictures describing 
 the realisation of their expectations were sent home to the 
 family at Oxford, and, added to the word-pictures, many an 
 illustration, too, from mother's brush. ' I cannot imagine a 
 greater treat than floating up this marvellous river in good 
 company as your mamma and I are doing. It is a glorious 
 day, but all days are glorious here. I hope to show 
 some friends of ours on board the moon and some double 
 stars through my small telescope. Jupiter and Saturn are 
 here too high in altitude, they would be inconvenient to 
 see. The Pole star is lowered greatly, and many stars set 
 which do not in England. It is in fact a little puzzle at 
 first to recognise one's old familiar sky. Your mother 
 has drawn you a little sketch of the Southern Cross as 
 she saw it early one morning from the windows of our 
 Dahabiyeh cabin.' 
 
 We hear of many adventurous donkey rides across the 
 plain to outlying villages. My father in one letter describ- 
 ing himself as 'winner of the Derby/ and as 'cantering' 
 back to the shores of the Nile where the vessel lay moored. 
 That day he had made a ride of three hours, a feat which, 
 to appreciate fully, one must consider the rider's heavy 
 weight and 'seventy-four summers,' as he put it, for his 
 seventy-fifth birthday was celebrated at a State dinner 
 party given by Lord Dufferin at the end of that same 
 month. 
 
 But all through these letters, which came daily without 
 fail to us, there is shown a constant and touching remem- 
 brance of the children at home. 
 
 'Of course our thoughts recur daily to you all at Oxford. 
 We are still sailing away from you, already 2,000 miles off, 
 and still on and on. I believe I am here within the field 
 
LIFE AT OXFORD 135 
 
 of my duty, else I should not be so blithe as I am. GOD 
 bless you all.' 
 
 The sight of the Karnak ruins made a deep impression 
 on his mind, and from Athens, which he visited on his 
 way home, he wrote to his son Eric : 
 
 * I preached a sermon at Cairo, just before I left, on the 
 nature of Egypt and its present state, and asked wherein we 
 are better than No-Ammon (Thebes). I took great pains, 
 and my mind was full. Lord Napier heard it, and was so 
 struck that he asked to be introduced, and gave us such an 
 instructive talk ; his estimate of things agreed with my 
 previous one. Before we left, he gave us a letter to a lady 
 here, Miss Jule, a most cultivated woman. He told her how 
 he had been struck a rare thing, said she to me, for dear 
 Lord Napier to be struck in that way by anything. So I am 
 rewarded and encouraged. Now/ he adds, ' do you do your 
 best always, we don't know what may come of it. ... 
 The work of my youth is paying me now by exquisite enjoy- 
 ment and comprehension of what I see. You in your school- 
 days have great possibilities.' 
 
 Elsewhere he tells, with some regretful comment, a story 
 of this journey, which shows that his eloquence was not 
 invariably successful : 
 
 * We were anchored on Sunday morning off Karnak and 
 the ancient Thebes on the banks of the Nile. Morning 
 service was celebrated on the deck of the steamer. We 
 formed a heterogeneous assemblage in respect of religious 
 denominations. The Church of England and of Rome were 
 represented, and two Presbyterian and Nonconformist 
 ministers on board. Still, the wonderful quietude around us 
 and the superb sky above us soon reduced our spirits into 
 harmony, and it was agreed that I should read the Litany 
 in the Prayer Book, while the earnest Scotch Presbyterian 
 minister should preach the sermon. It was an occasion 
 unforgetable by us all magic in its circumstances and sur- 
 
136 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 roundings. The Christian hymn must have been echoed 
 along the walls and the columns of ancient Thebes back to 
 the hills beyond. 
 
 ' During the service we had been watched, I saw, by the 
 Mahomedan dragoman on board ; he was a man full of 
 intelligence, and had greatly contributed to the enjoyment 
 and information of all on board. 
 
 ' The service concluded, I cautiously commenced, or 
 rather attempted, a conversation with him, directed more or 
 less to what he had seen and heard. The eyes of the man 
 indicated emotion within him ; suddenly he drew himself up, 
 and he said, " Sir, I am a Mahomedan ; not as good a 
 Mahomedan as I ought to be, but I hope to grow better. 
 I am a Mahomedan ; you Christians worship three Gods, 
 Mahomedans worship one," and there ended our brief con- 
 ference, within sight of the ruins of Karnak. It was useless, 
 I felt, to continue the conversation ; nothing that I could say 
 would have convinced him that he had mistaken the Athan- 
 asian creed.' 
 
 Much as my father enjoyed Egypt, his visit to Greece seem 
 to have delighted him even more. Of Athens he says : 
 
 ' We both agree that what we saw to-day of the Acropo- 
 lis is by far the most glorious and exciting sight we have 
 seen. Even in point of beauty alone, the sea, islands, 
 mountains, colouring, foreground, background, are altogether 
 overwhelming. Whilst Karnak holds its own for sublimity 
 and majesty, here is the intellectuality of perfect beauty. 
 The whole Greek education here comes back again, and you 
 understand it for the first time ; all my old Greek readings 
 return to me now as realities. The old sites are so distinct 
 that you have no difficulty in re-peopling Athens as of old. 
 These Greeks were of gigantic intellect. Their mountainous 
 country, with their sparkling seas, inspired them, and their 
 free popular institutions. The associations as we stood by 
 the Acropolis were overwhelming. I cannot wonder at the 
 
LIFE AT OXFORD 137 
 
 enthusiastic patriotism of the old Greeks for their city. You 
 should read Paul's address to the Athenians here, at this 
 sacred spot.' 
 
 ' Your mother and I are on our way back,' he said, 
 when next he wrote. ' We shall soon be all together again.' 
 
 On his return, my father devoted himself with zeal for 
 the next two years to the important work he had taken 
 in hand, completed by the issue, in 1885, of the Uranometria 
 Nova Oxoniensis. The attempt to determine accurately, on 
 a novel principle, the apparent magnitude of all fixed stars 
 visible to the naked eye in more than half the entire Heavens 
 was an undertaking of no light order, and we heard of little 
 at that time except 'the relative brightness of the stars.' 
 I remember how night after night he would beg my mother 
 and us to come out with him and compare the brightness of 
 the twinkling orbs up in the sky. After a time we became 
 more expert in this task, and at last were even able to assist ; 
 but my father's eyesight was, I think, keener even then than 
 ours, ' because I have really used it,' as he was wont to 
 explain. 
 
 While engaged on this work, he snatched a brief summer 
 holiday at the English lakes, a country which aroused in 
 him many memories of the far-off days when, during his 
 Glapham holidays, he had had as companion in the self- 
 same spot the idol of his boyhood, the poet whose skill has 
 immortalised it. ( I knew him as a man, studied him as a 
 poet,' he said to us once. And much of Wordsworth's poetry 
 father knew by heart ; he did all he could to instil the same 
 admiration into us, but I am afraid the half-holiday hours 
 we spent over * The Excursion ' were not regarded by us quite 
 so favourably as he expected. What was to him a recreation 
 was to us a task. Our Sunday afternoons, too, when we 
 were children, had to be spent on the study of Wordsworth. 
 Later on, when we were children no more, these Sunday 
 afternoons were set aside by my father himself for the recep- 
 
138 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 tion of a certain number of special friends a custom only 
 gradually admitted, for he was by early education a very 
 strict Sabbatarian.* But, little by little, he gave way, and 
 ended by looking forward to these visits. It was, indeed, 
 not easy to see him alone on week-days without interruption, 
 and the Sunday receptions came to be attended by many 
 intimate friends, old pupils like Sir William Herschel, neigh- 
 bours like Professor and Mrs Presswich, the Rev. E. Ffoulkes 
 and Professor Sylvester; in later years, also, Professor Max 
 Miiller and Professor Nettleship. Referring afterwards to 
 these visits, Sir Henry Acland, a guest ever welcome in my 
 father's study, wrote : 
 
 ' Great as was his age, your father's loss is to me, and I 
 feel sure to all, irreparable. I never saw him but with the 
 deepest interest, instruction and respect. . . . His tender 
 kindness, his cheering geniality, the breadth of his views, 
 boundless kindness to me at all times, will never be forgotten 
 by me while I remember anything or anybody.' 
 
 Another constant visitor on Sundays was Lord Tennyson's 
 niece, Miss Agnes Weld, who had been known to my father 
 from Freshwater days. Of his conversation with her on 
 these occasions, she gives the following reminiscences : 
 
 ' With my hand upon the latch, " Bob " started up from 
 his seat at the Professor's feet, and his last notes of welcome 
 having subsided, and the knowing animal curled himself up 
 to sleep on his master's desk or easy-chair, the Professor 
 would begin, if it happened to be term time, by asking me to 
 give him a resume of the morning's university sermon, which 
 he would criticise at considerable length, making it a text 
 from which to unfold his own views on religious matters, which 
 were characterised by the greatest possible breadth consistent 
 with strict orthodoxy, a breadth to which he had gradually 
 attained from the starting point of rigid Puritanism, to the 
 
 * I can remember, in 1837, his demurring to my writing a letter on a Sunday. 
 E. O. WARD (his niece). 
 
LIFE AT OXFORD 139 
 
 straitest sect of which, he used to tell me, his parents be- 
 longed, and in which he was himself educated. One relic of 
 his bringing up he retained to the end of his life his absten- 
 tion from work of all kinds on Sunday, and to this he was 
 faithful, even at times when the Sunday rest involved a great 
 press of mental labour on Saturday and Monday. 
 
 ' But he rested, not to make the Sabbath a day of gloom, 
 but a time of leisure in which to pursue those theological 
 studies which his scientific duties crowded out during the 
 remainder of the week. Had there been more Sundays in 
 the year, he might have finished the volume he had in pre- 
 paration, the achievement of which, he believed, would 
 have been of more value than all his scientific labours a 
 treatise on the gospel contained in St Paul's writings. He 
 often conversed with me on this subject, saying that, to his 
 mind, the strongest possible proof of the trustworthiness of 
 the four evangelists is contained in the fact that so much of 
 what they taught was committed to writing by St Paul in 
 epistles, whose genuineness has never been called in ques- 
 tion, years and years before a line of their gospels was 
 penned. 
 
 ' Though the keynote of his Sunday conversation was 
 pitched in a grave and occasionally a minor key, his keen 
 sense of humour often peeped out in some racy story that 
 came in apropos, or some tale of the merry schoolboy pranks 
 he used to play. The thought that seemed to make him the 
 happiest in reviewing his past life was the direction for the 
 good of themselves and their fellow-men he had been, by 
 Divine aid, enabled to give to the lives of so many of the boys 
 who were entrusted to him. Tears used to come into his dear 
 old eyes, and his voice used to quiver with emotion as he 
 spoke of his prayers with and for them at the time of their 
 confirmation, and how abundantly those prayers had been 
 answered. 
 
 ' I often regret that I did not jump at Dr Pritchard's 
 
I4O CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 repeated offers to be my teacher in Greek and geometry. 
 He said if I could spare him an hour a day for five months 
 it was just like him to put it that way, instead of alluding to 
 the sacrifice of his valuable time the arrangement would have 
 involved he would undertake that I should read Homer with 
 pleasure at the end of that time ; and as to geometry, he de- 
 clared that if I would give him seven sittings he would indoc- 
 trinate me into that science, adding, " You'll be astonished to 
 find what common sense it invokes, and to find also, with 
 M. Jourdain, that you have been geometrising all your life." 
 
 * He took the broadest possible view of inspiration, which 
 he used to say he was by no means disposed to shut up 
 within the covers of the Bible, but considered to be the motive 
 power of every good and great ideal and work of the present 
 day, so that God still speaks by the mouth of living men, not 
 in the Church of England alone, but in the Universal Church. 
 It seemed with him, as it was with one I knew in my youth, 
 the late Lord Rosse, that the study of the stellar universe 
 lifted him nearer to heaven itself 
 
 His Sunday evenings my father loved to spend in the 
 drawing-room, listening to my mother's playing on the organ, 
 a very beautiful instrument of Bishop's making, and presented 
 to him by the maker as a token of affection. He had a great 
 love for music, which what with organ, piano, violin and 
 violoncello played in concert or singly held so important a 
 place in our home circle that no account of his Oxford life 
 would be complete without some mention of it. He took the 
 deepest interest in our musical education, spending lavish 
 sums of money upon it, and was proud to hear of any studies, 
 whether in the practice or the theory of the art, being on foot. 
 To him music had been not merely a source of pleasure, but 
 an aid to reflection. This curious effect he has noticed in his 
 Annals, and he told us that some of his work for the Royal 
 Astronomical Society was prepared while listening to concerts 
 at St James' Hall. Music, he saiH, helped him to think. 
 
LIFE AT OXFORB 14! 
 
 In 1885 my father was elected to serve on the Council of, 
 the Royal Society. But it was in the following year, 1886 
 that honours were showered most thickly upon him. In 
 February his four years' labours at the Oxford Photometry 
 were rewarded by the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical 
 Society. On this followed what was, perhaps, in hjs own 
 eyes, the highest honour of his life the enrolment of his 
 name among the very few Honorary Fellows of his old 
 Cambridge college, St John's. With pride he would recall 
 the day when, in his own words, 'I found myself invited to 
 reassume, in a more honourable form, those intimate relations 
 which, half a century ago, had existed between me and the 
 venerable college where I had been educated and encouraged.' 
 He appreciated nothing that fell to him above this. Much as 
 he loved his adopted University, yet that love never interfered 
 with or took the place of his love for his own Alma Mater. 
 
 Then in July of that same year his old pupils of the 
 Clapham days gave that dinner in honour of their venerable 
 master, to which reference has already been roade. 
 
 The Dean of Westminster presided over this meeting, 
 which was held at the Albion Tavern, Aldersgate Street, 
 where nearly a hundred ' Old Boys ' appeared to answer to the 
 roll-call. For, as my father himself wrote shortly after : 
 
 1 Perhaps the most touching, and, to those assembled, the 
 most memorable part of the proceedings, was the expression 
 of the desire to have the old " roll-call " re-enacted, after the 
 lapse of an average interval of a third of a century. Accord- 
 ingly, each " Old Boy " stood up in his place, in order to show 
 himself to such of his old schoolfellows as might remember 
 him, and generally, with a voice well recognised, answered to 
 his name in the ancient fashion, with " Here, sir," and his 
 right hand upraised. Grisly beards and grey heads predomi- 
 nated, the former overclouding or concealing the features, but 
 the voice remained. Shouts of welcome naturally prevailed 
 at the several recognitions.' .'^. \ 
 
142 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 ' To say that the affair was a brilliant success conveys no 
 adequate idea of this unique scene/ writes his cousin, from 
 Carton Tower, Stoke Poges. * The mixture of the humorous 
 and the pathetic, the friendly greetings, the old stories, and 
 even the old names, created an impression not to be de- 
 scribed. Deeply touching was it to see Dr Martin carried 
 upstairs in an invalid chair. Very amusing was it to hear the 
 Professor accost a highly-respectable looking divine with the 
 words, " Why, it's Hippo ! " At first all were like boys on a 
 holiday the Dean, laughing and joking, addressing me as 
 Fred, and taking me by the arm. After dinner, the muster 
 roll was called, and grey-headed warriors, divines, judges, 
 lawyers rose, held up their hand, and said, " Here, sir," amidst 
 thunders of applause. The Dean made a charming speech. 
 Then " the old man eloquent " began, " Old Boys," and the 
 storm was something fearful "there are supreme moments, 
 which occur once or twice in a man's existence, when all the 
 chords of his life are gathered into one. Here are assembled 
 men of mature, almost maturest, age, who have won their 
 spurs in the battle of life. These men are met together with 
 one accord to give a loving greeting, in the evening of his 
 days, to the man under whose auspices they started on life's 
 rough road, and, if I may be allowed to say so, to express 
 their recognition of those principles early learnt, and which 
 have so far conducted them upon their way." 
 
 ' At the conclusion of this interesting meeting,' continues 
 his cousin, ' " Please, sir, may I have my exeat ? " came from 
 many a voice, and we separated, not to meet again, perhaps, 
 till the universal exeat be granted, and master and pupil 
 answer to the roll-call on the last day.' 
 
 My father's success in this year met also with recognition 
 of a sort which does not often attend scientific accomplish- 
 ments at the present day. One of his warmest and most 
 loyal friends at this time was Professor Sylvester, the occu- 
 pant of the other Savilian Chair namely, that of Geometry. 
 
LIFE AT OXFORD 143 
 
 The following sonnet, from the pen of this distinguished 
 mathematician, appeared in the Oxford Magazine : 
 
 TO THE SAVILIAN PROFESSOR OF ASTRONOMY IN THE 
 UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 
 
 ' Pritchard ! thy name be lifted to the skies, 
 Who in the starry fields find'st pure delight, 
 To note each ray that gilds the brow of night, 
 And the near hour of severing worlds surmise. 
 Press on, where Fame's sublimest summits rise 
 Time's stroke falls lightly on his sacred might, 
 Who ploughs from morn to eve his furrow right, 
 Then sinks to rest midst sunset's gorgeous dyes. 
 Hail ! faultless herald of the bright-eyed throng, 
 Heir to the wand, once Tycho's, to assign 
 What place and precedence to each belong 
 While yet with watery ray yon Pleiads shine, 
 Or strew with sands of gold their hair divine, 
 Thy praise shall flourish in immortal song.' 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 LAST YEARS, 1887-1893 
 By his D aught er^ Ada Pritchard. 
 
 IN the speech recorded towards the end of the last chapter, 
 my father, then in his seventy-ninth year, had described 
 himself as * in the evening of his days.' But the phrase, 
 so appropriate to the age of the speaker, had as yet little 
 application otherwise. For him there was none of the 
 resting from labour which the term would suggest. He 
 had completed, it is true, a particular line of work at the 
 observatory, but only to commence another. 
 
 Nevertheless, the time was now at hand when the vigour 
 of his earlier years began, on the physical side, though on 
 that side only, to show signs of diminution. And from 
 this time he became more than ever anxious that all grate- 
 ful acknowledgment should be paid to his assistants at 
 the observatory Mr Plummer and Mr Jenkins. ' How can 
 I ever repay them for their extra trouble,' he wrote to 
 his pupil, Dr Spitta, of Clapham Common, * especially as 
 for years, owing to growing infirmities, I have never been 
 able to look through a telescope.' This was two years 
 before his death. For his senior assistant, now director 
 of the Liverpool Observatory, Birkenhead, he cherished 
 a sincere affection, which he expressed in such a manner 
 as to leave no doubt of his feeling towards the man who, 
 in recent years, was so very closely associated with him 
 
 in his researches. 
 
 144 
 
LAST YEARS 145 
 
 His work, indeed, was going on as energetically as ever, 
 and much outside work, too, beyond the actual province 
 of astronomy. For his interests in other subjects were 
 legion. He gave a series of lectures about this time at 
 the observatory, which were open to all. ' I shall not die 
 content until I have awakened an interest in these matters 
 among Oxford people/ he often said. The lectures were 
 of a semi-familiar nature, and illustrated by original slides 
 on the screen in the big lecture room. 
 
 With his usual interest in scientific movements, my 
 father became an original member of the new British 
 Astronomical Association. Fearing that it might not be 
 financially strong enough to maintain its Journal, the 
 general plan of which met with his approval, he suggested 
 to the president the formation of a subscription list for 
 its support. * But/ as the Journal afterwards said, in 
 mentioning the above, ' although this has not proved 
 necessary, yet it illustrates the quick sympathy with every- 
 thing tending to the promotion of science which Professor 
 Pritchard showed.' 
 
 At this time, too, my father was giving an hour and 
 a-half daily to the study of Hebrew, stimulated, perhaps, 
 to this exertion by certain criticisms then appearing on 
 parts of the Bible, which he wished to read for himself. 
 In this study he persevered for about two years. At its 
 commencement he writes to Sir W. Herschel : 
 
 ' I took a drive out to Littlemore, hoping, rather than 
 expecting, to see you, and I missed you accordingly. 
 
 * I rather wished to see you on a question of Hebrew ! 
 There broke out recently a recrudescence of some old family 
 troubles, and I thought that an effectual way of forgetting 
 them was to occupy my mind with batches of ten minutes 
 nine times a day at Hebrew. I once knew a little, a very 
 little, about it. Nothing can make me a Hebrew scholar, 
 even if I wished it, but it may serve a purpose. You must 
 
 K 
 
146 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 remember some of your early difficulties in this intractable 
 tongue, and I shall be thankful for a little useful informa- 
 tion and direction. ... I shall be glad to have another 
 fructiferous talk with you ! ' 
 
 But these manifold exertions could no longer be en- 
 countered without fatigue. It was about this time that, 
 in a letter to his friend, Dr Huggins, he says : 
 
 ' I do envy you and your wife fishing and sketching by 
 the banks of the Thames. If I don't get some fishing, or 
 something like it, soon, I shall be doubled up. Too many 
 irons in the fire.' 
 
 All we could do to persuade him to take a rest we did. 
 It was no easy task. But mother took the matter into her 
 own hands and insisted we should winter away somewhere. 
 Father really needed an absence from the daily round of 
 duties he imposed upon himself at Oxford. Accordingly, 
 that winter (1889), we went down to Bath, where the 
 life presented no resemblance to that of Oxford. It 
 was intended to be an absolute change; and so it turned 
 out. 
 
 Writing to an astronomical friend about the place, he 
 said : 
 
 ' This Bath has brought much to me. . . . Here came 
 in a neighbour, Mr Hippisley, one of the most ingenious 
 men I have ever met with ; full of lovely contrivances of 
 rough but effective work. We have been talking one thou- 
 sand five hundred to the dozen, we two young ones. He 
 is eighty-eight years old, an old Oxford double second, the 
 best degree a man can take for his intellectual sake. . . . 
 We are expecting a visit in a few days' time from an old 
 college rival, the man who thrashed me in exams, sixty- 
 one years ago, a certain Canon Whitley,* a cleverer man 
 than I. ... This Bath is evidently a receptacle of nona- 
 
 * Canon Whitley was Senior Wrangler in Pritchard's year. See the account 
 of the examination in Chapter I. 
 
LAST YEARS 147 
 
 genarians. Blomefield * is here. I have seen him several 
 times. There are many interesting people in and round 
 the city who interest me, and are full of kindness and 
 hospitality. We do not find it dull. We leave here in ten 
 days, what an hundred days, Deo Gratias. A flight rather 
 than a holiday, for every day I have heard from Oxford 
 about Parallax or Photographic O. G.'s, or,' he adds char- 
 acteristically, ' my carnations or my daffodils the medley 
 of life.' 
 
 This visit to Bath was, in part, suggested by some failure 
 of eyesight, not wonderful in a man of his age. Nothing 
 in his physical constitution had been more surprising, up to 
 this time, than his powers in this respect. 
 
 In a letter, dated loth April 1889, he puts a P.S. 
 * Written without spectacles ' and enclosed a humorous speci- 
 men of handwriting, signed at full length, though he makes 
 a slight mistake as to his age. He was then eighty-one, 
 not eighty-two, having been born (according to a document 
 in his mother's handwriting) in February 1808. 
 
 His acquaintance with Mr Hippisley, referred to above, 
 ripened as time went on, and continued after we left Bath 
 and returned to Oxford. A correspondence between the 
 old country squire, ' a scientist by choice,' and the astronomer 
 by profession, kept the two minds in contact, but 'we two 
 young ones,' as father described them, did not meet again. 
 
 The letters which passed between them were quite 
 touching in their youthful enthusiasm over problems which 
 had been present to the mind of each for some sixty years. 
 The rest and change to the Somersetshire capital did my 
 father real good mentally, but whether it was having 'too 
 many irons in the fire/ or from the more natural cause 
 
 * Mr Leonard Jenyns, of Bottisham Hall, Cambridge, who had taken the 
 name of Blomefield, was the well-known naturalist, the friend and fellow-worker 
 of Charles Darwin, at whose request he wrote on the Fishes of the Voyage of the 
 Beagle, Before the appointment of Darwin as naturalist in the Beagle, the 
 position had been offered to Mr Jenyns. 
 
148 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 of his advancing years, his health seemed to us all to show 
 sad signs of breaking up. His spirit and unflagging energy 
 kept him, however, from giving way in any sense. But the 
 summer following he had to renounce all kinds of exercise. 
 In the autumn he writes to his niece : 
 
 'My "poor" foot, as you call it, is better at last, but 
 it has not assumed its natural condition yet. Each day the 
 girls take me out in my basket chair, Bob accompanying 
 us, of course, running on ahead, or lying stretched his whole 
 length across the rug at my feet. I miss your visits, but 
 hope you are enjoying yourself. It is glorious weather 
 here; we have tea in the arbour at the observatory every 
 day. Your aunt . presides, and we have people coming and 
 going all the time.' 
 
 Of these afternoons of which he speaks in a mere passing 
 sentence, others, who joined the circle there, have carried 
 away memories perhaps of a less passing nature. 
 
 It was so unique a scene the wonderful glow of the 
 garden flowers, the wide stretch of park around, the towers 
 and spires of the lovely city behind the belt of trees. Nor 
 did the attraction of those summer afternoons lie in their 
 framework alone ; the surroundings were indeed something, 
 but they were not everything. The charm lay, as a friend 
 has since written to me, * in the central figure there, in the old 
 white-headed man who bade us welcome to come and sit at 
 his feet. Only he never put it like that. He would say, " Come 
 and honour me with your company," and the listening we 
 gave him was perhaps no more humble than what he gave us! 
 Alas for the treachery of memory ! Would I could rejnember 
 some of the conversations we had then, the spirit of which 
 alone remains. 
 
 For so it is with us, his children, who were so much with 
 him ; our memories have played us false also. It is only the 
 ' spirit ' of those times that we remember. But perhaps it was 
 not in the words alone, or the substance alone, it was in 
 
LAST YEARS 149 
 
 the manner of the speaker that the secret lay. A manner 
 which, if emphatic at times, was at others tentative; but 
 the sincerity of the utterance, the simplicity of the nature 
 revealed, were of themselves convincing ; one recognised 
 that what he said he felt, and what he felt he said. 
 
 Few things in life he loved more than the long hours in 
 that sunny garden, to which so many letters to familiar 
 friends refer. It was not a large garden, but it certainly was 
 a lovely one in so far that there were flowers in profusion. 
 Mullis, the factotum of eighteen years' standing, looked after 
 all these, and was justly proud of his work. In the arbour, 
 months after its owner had passed away from us, we found 
 some old gardening memorandum books, horticultural diaries 
 in fact, books to which my father gave a daily attention. In 
 these were careful little entries to mark when the seeds were 
 sown, when they came up, when the carnations were potted, 
 or new daffodil bulbs planted. All and every entry such as 
 the most zealous professional gardener could produce. 
 
 His love of flowers, which was shared in an equal degree 
 by our mother, was deeply rooted in his being. ' I see quite 
 as much to reverence in my garden as I do in my observa- 
 tory/ he would say. * When I see a lovely plant, I take off 
 my hat to it/ This idea was indeed a favourite one with 
 him. ' I recollect/ writes Mr Knowles, ' his taking me one 
 night into his little study at home, after showing me in his 
 observatory the fringes of infinity in the double star and 
 nebulae, and, pointing to a gas jet above his table, saying that, 
 to his mind, it was almost more baffling and overwhelming in 
 its suggestiveness of the infinity of minuteness than the vast 
 nebulae were which had just overwhelmed me with the 
 measureless dreams of infinite vastness. He said that his 
 mind reeled when trying to follow the systems within systems 
 of whirling, revolving atoms within that flame deep under- 
 neath deep quite as much as it reeled under the immensities 
 of space/ 
 
150 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 But greater after all than the wonders of the heavens and 
 the earth, he would say, are some facts very near us, and one 
 of the greatest of these is the human mind and brain. 
 
 In the autumn of 1890, with lessened physical energy, but 
 though severely hampered in his health, active as ever in 
 mind, he writes to Lord Tennyson : 
 
 ' I am told that you are bringing forth yet much fruit in 
 your old age : longo intervallo, I am in a similar case, and if 
 life and liveliness be preserved till Christmas, I may hope to 
 leave behind me, for students, an intelligible and rational 
 account of disturbed elliptic motion z>., solar, lunar and 
 planetary theories a tough bit of work, but highly useful if 
 properly done, but vita summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare 
 longam. 
 
 * I rejoice, and others also, in your advice of long ago that 
 I gave my attention professionally more to astronomical 
 matters than matters theological, but my interest in the latter 
 is supreme as ever. ... I am, myself, as I have said, en- 
 abled to work with some effect in celestial photography and 
 photometry the new astronomy. In fact I am, I believe r 
 well in advance and in the van.' 
 
 In the desk at which he had written for forty-five years 
 of his life, among masses of heterogeneous papers, I found, 
 after the writing-table had ceased to be used by its owner, 
 an old record, jotted down in haphazard manner, of a day's 
 work of that period of father's life. It was headed : 
 
 23RD JANUARY 1891 
 9.30. Down to the study : memoranda left hand almost 
 
 unusable. 
 10. Massaged. 
 
 11-12.30. Consultation with practical engineers about a new 
 delicate measuring instrument. (Micrometer.) 
 
 1 P.M. Lunch. 
 
 2 P.M. Taken in bath-chair to observatory to see about 
 
 preparation for lecture. One and a-half hours. 
 
LAST YEARS 151 
 
 3.30-5 P.M. Odds and ends. Dozed. Wrote to my brother 
 
 John. 
 
 5-6 P.M. Massaged. 
 6.30 P.M. A hasty dinner. 
 
 7.30 P.M. Went to observatory and lectured from 
 8-9.30 P.M. Lectured in bath-chair. Home. Tired. 
 
 Very seldom it was that father was ever heard to admit 
 that he was tired; neither through the long course of that 
 active life was he ever known to have a headache. The 
 letter * to my brother John ' mentioned above ran as 
 follows : 
 
 * OXFORD, 23^ January 1891. 
 
 ' MY DEAR JOHN, I was glad to see your handwriting 
 again, and as you think you will be interested by tidings 
 from me, I proceed to send them, cutting out all that may 
 not be couleur de rose. Firstly, thanks, deep and great, to 
 the Great Father, we are all in good health. All have 
 escaped colds here this dreadful six weeks of arctic winter. 
 The girls have been incessantly skating, chiefly on a small 
 lake in Worcester College Gardens. The youngest, Lily, 
 by dint of hard work and a certain natural gracefulness, 
 has made herself an accomplished skater, so she more or 
 less presides over young Oxford, who meet on the lake. 
 She has been elected into the International Skating Club 
 after trial of her skill. (My girls' skating was com- 
 mented on eulogistically in the Queen newspaper.) . . . 
 She is kind to others, as they all are, and not conceited. 
 This is the same girl who two summers ago swam across 
 the broadest part of Windermere. All this is pleasant and 
 healthy to think of. The other three, Rosie, Ada and 
 May, are all well on in various accomplishments ; they 
 are all singularly bright girls. Rosie sings in Balliol Hall 
 some Sunday evenings ; Professor Jowett openly expressed 
 his admiration the other day. She sings sacred songs from 
 
152 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 Handel, etc. Ada paints and draws well (exhibits), has 
 made a study of both ; and May, too, who plays the organ 
 and does many things, and does them well. You ask 
 for pleasant news, else I would not refer to these, as 
 savouring of boasting to me they are simply topics for 
 hearty thankfulness for the various privileges. Rosie is 
 filled with desire for active life, and she tried nursing at 
 St Bartholomew's Hospital ; she greatly liked it, but the 
 life was strangely hard and rough walking to the hospital 
 dormitory a mile at night, and in all weathers ; very absurd ; 
 so she gave it up reluctantly. They do better there now. 
 She has had some literary work connected with the hospital 
 world offered her in London, which she commences to- 
 morrow. Her education has been magnificent, and she 
 has seen much. My son Eric has all but finished his 
 education at St Mary's Hospital, and takes his M.B. and 
 M.A. degrees here after Easter. So here I am at eighty- 
 two permitted to use and enjoy a great variety of interests 
 of life. My mind ought to be a thank-offering, and I think 
 often is. ... My friend Perowne has been made Bishop 
 of Worcester, and on Monday week he is to be consecrated 
 in Westminster Abbey. Ada goes up with me, and all the 
 family unite at dinner at the Westminster Palace Hotel. I 
 go in a bath-chair to-night at 8 to give a lecture. We all 
 unite lovingly. Yours, C. P.' 
 
 When, some months earlier, in the autumn of 1890, 
 the news reached us of Dean Perowne's appointment to 
 the Bishopric of Worcester, I remember my father's ex- 
 citement. ' I cannot suppress the outburst of mind pent 
 up within me. Why should I ? ' he writes to Canon Farrar* 
 in reference to this. ' I rejoice with joy ; ' and in January, to 
 the Bishop Designate, he writes himself: 
 
 1 MY DEAR FRIEND, My dear wife says that I may 
 
 * Canon of Durham. 
 
LAST YEARS 153 
 
 hope to attend at your consecration on February 2d, with 
 caution, so I hope. To me it will be deeply touching ; 
 you . . . and in Bradley's Abbey. Such is the course of 
 Providence, wherein "the thoughts of many hearts will be 
 revealed." 
 
 ' So I have written to Bradley to ask him to make things 
 smooth and convenient for me if it can be done. One of 
 the girls will go with me. ... We shall be at Westminster 
 Palace Hotel. Then I would get home again with all speed 
 and thankfulness. My dear Bishop, yours affectionately, 
 
 * C. PRITCHARD.' 
 
 During the early part of 1891 the state of his health 
 for several months caused us great anxiety, though he him- 
 self did not seem to realise what serious grounds we had 
 for our fears, but preferred to contrast the happiness and 
 comfort of his own lot with that of too many of his 
 neighbours. 
 
 In the long watches of one of those anxious nights in 
 the winter he said to our mother, who had been reading 
 aloud to him, ' How thankful one must be for the mercies 
 vouchsafed us. Think of the misery and illness around in 
 poorly-conditioned homes. I shall like to make some thank- 
 offering to GOD for the merciful winter I have passed 
 through.' 
 
 In March, in answer to a hearty request that he should 
 attend the Gaudy at St John's College, Cambridge, he 
 writes : 
 
 1 How I wish I could personally join, my dear master, 
 in the fray to-morrow. My whole spirit will be in Cam- 
 bridge, but an octogenarian just recovering from illness 
 must stay at home a bit. . . . Again and again, warmly 
 and consciously, I feel grateful for the "all round" educa- 
 tion given me years and years ago at St John's College.' 
 
 All through that time of illness and 'recovering' to which 
 
154 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 he alludes, he had been nursed and attended by our mother, 
 to whose care, perhaps rightly, he attributed his ultimate 
 recovery ; but in the early summer, before, indeed, he had 
 been able to go about himself, and when his eyes were yet 
 in bandages, she of whom he ever spoke as ' his sweet wife ' 
 was taken from the happy home circle at Keble Road. 
 
 Very suddenly and with but little warning this happened, 
 and we dreaded what the shock would be to him to whom 
 she had ever been a right hand. To distract his thoughts at 
 this saddest time my father set himself to work. He declared 
 that work after a while would help him, and in the quiet time 
 which followed he completed an elaborate paper on the ' Dif- 
 fraction Effects of Gauze Screens, Photographical and Visual/ 
 ' My little bit of an observatory has turned out some work/ 
 he remarked later on. 
 
 He lectured three or four times in that October term ; 
 going to and from the observatory in the bath-chair which 
 had by now grown a familiar spectacle in the parks. Three 
 sunny months at Hastings after Christmas worked wonders 
 in his health in fact, almost completely restored it. And I 
 think we were never more astonished at his pluck than at 
 that time when, with his eyes bandaged, he kept up a daily 
 written superintendence of the observatory. 
 
 Mr Plummer sent the daily report, which we immediately 
 read aloud to him, word for word. Then he would dictate 
 back long detailed answers and directions from his bed, where,, 
 undaunted, he lay with his eyes all bandaged up. Dr Vicker- 
 man Hewland, who lived two doors off us at Eversfield, at- 
 tended my father during that illness, and so successfully that, 
 as he declared, ' I went back to Oxford in comparative youth. 
 Not an ache nor a pain about me. I shall never be better 
 than I am now. But my feet are not like hart's feet. ... I 
 have a lot of work before me, and I shall do it.' 
 
 But exciting as was father's own individual work to him 
 he always found time to keep that of his friends also in view. 
 
LAST YEARS 1 5 5 
 
 His own researches could not absorb him, nor entirely separate 
 him from what was going on around him. Thus, in 1891, he 
 writes to Dr Huggins: 
 
 1 Any thinking and competent man must be delighted and 
 astonished at your results . . . but don't be daunted, there 
 are two of you (you and your dear wife), a spectacle for men 
 and angels. It is charming and epoch-making to see woman- 
 kind asserting its power and natural gifts. Look at Miss 
 Clerke's book, just sent me, an excellent history, and one 
 which will prove itself a useful one.' 
 
 And in his own nearer domain father had many instances 
 of womankind 'asserting its natural gifts' as he put it. 
 Among those at the observatory who were working under 
 him in the final Honour School of Mathematics he had more 
 than one lady student. For years previous to this he had 
 been very much disinclined to credit the female brain with 
 any mathematical ability. One or two women had stood out 
 above their fellows, he admitted, but they were exceptions. 
 Miss Caroline Herschel, for instance, whose name was most 
 justly enrolled among the members of the Royal Astronomi- 
 cal Society, and of whom he would never tire of talking. And 
 there was Mary Somerville ; but still these were exceptions. 
 
 It was not till he saw them working, side by side with 
 men, at the abstruse subjects under his own immediate direc- 
 tion that he recognised, and recognised in the fullest degree, 
 that the capacity of the female brain was less limited than he 
 had supposed. When the Astronomer Royal engaged lady 
 computers to work at Greenwich, my father further freely ad- 
 mitted the expansion of his own views on the subject. 
 
 He took the deepest interest in his pupils, and would in- 
 vite them to his house, and give them hours of his time be- 
 yond the mere * lectures ' demanded of him by the academic 
 canon. 
 
 At these lectures, it should be mentioned, one small figure 
 was ever present, in dumb, devoted attendance on his labours. 
 
156 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 This was the dog Bob, his constant companion. In fact, 
 they were quite inseparable these two. Bob was my dog by 
 possession, his by adoption. During five whole years he 
 regularly attended his master's lectures, sleeping right through 
 them until my father's voice ceased, when Bob would get 
 up and enter the bath-chair, which he knew well would con- 
 duct the lecturer home. Father had a very tender heart 
 where animals were concerned, an especially tender one for 
 Bob. The dog ruled, in fact, but I don't think either knew 
 it ; the master was unconscious of it, and Bob never took ad- 
 vantage ; on one thing only he insisted he must always and 
 at all times be with his master. And so it happened that 
 even at lecture times he admitted no break in the rule he had 
 laid down for himself; only once was he known to miss his 
 attendance, and that was not his own doing. 
 
 He was the lecturer's timekeeper, too, and one of a more 
 assertive nature than the clocks which abounded both at home 
 and at the observatory. On one occasion, at a crowded public 
 address, Bob, who was sleeping it away on the platform, got 
 up, yawned and stretched himself, looking hard at the 
 speaker. ' My dog reminds me that my appointed hour is up,' 
 father quickly added, and put a speedy termination to his 
 speech. 
 
 Of course, Bob's master was teased about his love for the 
 dog, and many a story is told at his expense on this head- 
 The late Professor Minto, for instance, was the teller of one 
 of these stories. It was on the occasion of an annual enter- 
 tainment we gave in the big lecture-room at the observatory, 
 to the employees of the G.W.R. My brother-in-law, Mr 
 Chalmers Mitchell, brought Professor Minto, who was staying 
 with him, but after his presentation to the host, Bob, to whom 
 he remained a stranger, set up barking. * This is my dear 
 dog Bob,' father hastened to explain. 'We always bring him 
 to the observatory with us, he makes our friends feel so at 
 home;' the humour of which speech was lost upon the 
 
LAST YEARS 157 
 
 speaker. Bob was completely on a pedestal. He, and He 
 only, was allowed the free upsetting of the ink and gum 
 bottles, or the scattering of the papers on the Professor's 
 writing-table, and many a time have we seen father give up 
 his own easy-chair to Bob, that he might make himself 
 more comfortable. 
 
 This love of Bob was fully shared by the whole family, 
 but my father's devotion to him assumed the most unseU 
 fish proportions. There is an old photograph still extant 
 where master and dog are taken together, 'hand in hand,' 
 as father gravely ordered it. Behind them both is the big 
 black board, with its hieroglyphical figures, a background 
 to ' throw Bob's white coat up.' 
 
 It was really touching the love of these two, and the 
 faithful Bob has never allowed anyone to take his dear 
 master's place in his affections a place indeed not easily 
 
 filled. 
 
 It was in 1892 that my father accomplished the second 
 
 of the great researches carried out at the Oxford Observa- 
 tory under his direction the application of photography 
 to the delicate and laborious work of detecting any paral- 
 lactic variation in the places of the brighter stars. ' Pro- 
 fessor Pritchard was led,' it has been written, 'to restrict 
 the number of observations made on any individual star, 
 in order that more stars might be examined, his aim 
 being to obtain within a short time a general estimate of 
 the parallax of all stars to the second magnitude; and this 
 object he attained. The idea of mapping out a research 
 on such lines that it could be completed in a few years is 
 characteristic of the professor, and although it may have 
 originated in his own case, from the knowledge that the 
 remaining years of his astronomical life, already a long and 
 active one, could not be many, it is also particularly appro- 
 priate to a university observatory.' 
 
 But while this work, soon to be honoured with the 
 
158 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 highest scientific recognition, was still incomplete, my 
 father found time to throw himself zealously into the great 
 international scheme for obtaining a photographic chart 
 of the entire heavens, a scheme in which he was determined 
 that Oxford should play a part. A letter, written early 
 in 1892, and retranslated from an Italian newspaper, the 
 Voce delta Verita, with its accompanying comment, places 
 the activity of the aged astronomer in a pleasing light. 
 
 'THE ASTRONOMER PRITCHARD AND THE FATHER DENZA. 
 
 'The illustrious English astronomer, C. Pritchard, director 
 of the University Observatory at Oxford, one of the most 
 hard-working cultivators of celestial photography, in send- 
 ing some photographic proofs of the chart of the heavens 
 to the Vatican Observatory, wrote to the director the letter 
 which we here quote, which letter proves the uprightness 
 and goodness of soul of the said astronomer, and shows 
 how the study of the heavens, rightly understood, by itself 
 alone, raises the mind to God. 
 
 * " MOST NOBLE AND MOST REVEREND FATHER DENZA, 
 In reply to your request I have begged Mr Plummer to 
 send you an original negative of the catalogue as well as 
 of the chart. 
 
 '"I have also enclosed a copy of the negative of the 
 Pleiades, with a complete description for those who are not 
 astronomers. 
 
 * " It would be for me a real pleasure, and more than a 
 pleasure, if His Holiness, the Pope, would deign to bestow 
 a glance upon this wonderful achievement of modern as- 
 tronomy, showing him how the aspect of the marvellous 
 group of the Pleiades is now recorded by means of photo- 
 graphy. It might serve to divert the mind of the venerable 
 Pontiff, even if only for a few moments, from his multitudin- 
 
LAST YEARS 159 
 
 ous cares. And if that personage of great heart and 
 goodness should be pleased to send his good wishes to 
 our observatory, they would certainly be welcomed with 
 gratitude. If you think fit to inform him of anything 
 with respect to me, you may tell him that I am eighty-four 
 years of age, and that I have myself now completed the 
 measurement of the distances of all the stars of the second 
 magnitude from our earth. 
 
 '"This is not an astronomical letter, but, for me, it is 
 a great pleasure to help Rome from Oxford. Many of 
 us hope to meet each other in the celestial regions, beyond 
 the stars, round the throne of God, where, merged in the 
 eternal light, we shall lay aside all our differences. 
 
 * " It may perhaps interest you if I further inform you 
 that, many years ago, I was charged with the reception of 
 Archbishop Manning when he took part in the periodical 
 dinner at the Royal Astronomical Club. I was then 
 secretary, and afterwards president of the Royal Astrono- 
 mical Society. 
 
 1 " I wish you every good success in your astronomical 
 work, and I remain, dear Father Denza, your most devoted, 
 
 '"C. PRITCHARD, 
 
 ' " Director of the Observatory at Oxford"' 
 
 This letter was written at the beginning of 1892, and 
 received the following courteous reply from the Pope: 
 
 FROM THE POPE'S SECRETARY. 
 
 'VATICAN, ROME, March 1892. 
 
 ' I am pleased to announce, honoured sir, that, con- 
 formably with your desire, Father Denza has presented 
 your fine work on the Pleiades to the Holy Father, Leo 
 XIII. He has admired and studied it with great satis- 
 faction and delight. At the same time, he heard with 
 great pleasure of the feelings that you entertain towards 
 his person, and of the praiseworthy desire that you show 
 
160 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 to help .Rome from Oxford. Whilst His Holiness returns 
 your feelings with a sense of sincere goodwill and merited 
 esteem, he hopes from his heart that the observatory of 
 Oxford may continue to be useful, as it has been hitherto, 
 to the progress of astronomical science, especially under 
 your intelligent care. 
 
 ' In manifesting to you these feelings and wishes of 
 the Holy Father, I embrace, with pleasure, the opportunity 
 of signifying to you my own most distinguished esteem.' 
 
 In the autumn of the same year my father's Oxford labours 
 were rewarded with the Gold Medal of the Royal Society. 
 On hearing of the honour intended him, he wrote to the 
 Bishop of Worcester : 
 
 'The news should come from me to you personally. 
 This morning came a notification from the secretary of 
 the Royal Society that a royal medal was awarded me 
 for photometry and stellar parallax. . . . My friends may 
 rejoice in this unexpected recognition (it seems almost 
 like a dream) of an old man's long-continued efforts. I 
 began my astronomical work really at seventy ! At 
 eighty-four these are three hymns which I daily con: (i) 
 "Holy, holy, holy" (morning); (2) "Rock of Ages" 
 (evening) ; (3) " Father, I know that all my life " (noon).' 
 He adds, * I am working in the Pleiades daily.' 
 
 My father went up to London to receive the medal, and 
 with him my brother Eric and I, Eric being permitted to 
 enter even the sacred enclosure of the Council Rooms at 
 Burlington House with my father, who was on his arm. 
 Lord Kelvin, in presenting the medal, dispensed with all 
 ceremony, and himself descending from the steps of the dai's, 
 gave it into my father's hand He returned home the same 
 day, as he did not wish to appear at the dinner which 
 followed on the ceremony. Professor Huxley, who presided 
 on the occasion, remarked that ' there were two medals every 
 
LAST YEARS l6l 
 
 year, and they were usually allotted, one to physical and 
 chemical science, and the other to biological science. They 
 were usually given to younger men, and it was so in his own 
 case over forty years ago. On the present occasion, the first 
 of these medals was awarded to the present Director of the 
 Astronomical Observatory in Oxford, Professor Pritchard, 
 and he was told that there was no observatory in the three 
 kingdoms in which* so much admirable work of observation 
 was being done. Only a short time ago the Royal Astrono- 
 mical Society awarded its gold medal to the Director of 
 the Oxford Observatory. He was further told that the 
 Director was tackling what he understood was one of the 
 most difficult pieces of astronomical work parallax deter- 
 mination ; and that he had already printed off more stars 
 than anyone else. Besides this, he was hard at work on the 
 great International Chart of the Heavens. It was obvious 
 that this gentleman must be in the full vigour of youthful 
 energy, and therefore he treated with contempt a rumour 
 that had reached him, that the director was in his eighty- 
 fourth year. (Laughter and cheers.) They would join with 
 him in wishing Professor Pritchard a long continuance of the 
 health and strength which were turned to such splendid 
 account.' (Times, ist December 1892.) 
 
 Professor Huxley's kindly wish was, however, not to be 
 realised. This was the last public ceremony in which my 
 father took any part, except at our neighbouring parish 
 church of St Giles', five months before his death where, he 
 gave away his daughter May, on her marriage in December 
 1 892, to Professor J. Bretland Farmer, of the Royal College 
 of Science, South Kensington. 
 
 All who spoke to him on that occasion were struck with 
 the vigour of his mind a vigour which seemed almost to 
 overcome the growing frailty of the body. His brightness 
 and ready humour were conspicuous among all at that happy 
 scene. His old friend, the Bishop of Worcester, was perform- 
 
 L 
 
1 62 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 ing the ceremony ; his old pupil, Sir William Herschel, was 
 at his side ; much there was to cause him happiness, and his 
 interest in life was keen, perhaps keener than ever. 
 
 ' I saw him,' writes the Bishop of Worcester, ' for the last 
 time at the marriage of his daughter May. He was then 
 unable to move, except in his chair, but he was cheerful, and 
 his intellect was as clear and his mind as active as ever. 
 Indeed, he had been wheeled to the Observatory, had given 
 his lectures during the previous term, and there was no 
 apparent abatement of the interest he always took in his 
 astronomical work. On this occasion some of his old pupils 
 were present, and it was touching to note the affectionate 
 homage which they paid to their old tutor.' 
 
 His health was now remarkably good, as, indeed, it 
 continued for the remaining months of his life ; and if his 
 ' orbit,' as he expresses it in a letter to his colleague, Professor 
 Sylvester, ' was circumscribed to the radius about the Observa- 
 tory in the Parks,' yet within that limit all was happiness. 
 But for the one lost link in the home circle, father always 
 said the last year of his life was the happiest he had passed. 
 
 And I think it was. The ' orbit,' of which he speaks to 
 Professor Sylvester, was restricted only in geographical area ; 
 socially, it presented a marked increase. For in his later 
 life my father lost much of the inherent shyness which had 
 characterised his earlier years, and became daily more soci- 
 able. The mornings, up to a week before his last illness, 
 were spent in work, the afternoons he gave up to social 
 intercourse; and how good and kind people then were can 
 never be forgotten by us. 
 
 ' There was no flagging of the mental powers,' writes Miss 
 Weld, 'on the last Sunday I spent with him, less than a 
 week before his death. He explained to me (in that lucid 
 way of his which made difficulties vanish like magic) a 
 technical point in crystallography, and talked of the progress 
 he had been making in his work at the Observatory, which 
 
LAST YEARS 163 
 
 he hoped would soon leave him sufficient leisure to finish 
 that (to his mind) greater work on St Paul, which his heart 
 yearned to accomplish. He went on to speak of his family 
 in those terms of warm affection he habitually used of them. 
 I thought I could trace a slight vein of sadness in his 
 parting words to me, but so slight that I doubt whether 
 he had any presentiment that this was the last Sunday he 
 would pass on earth.' 
 
 After dinner every night, unless he lectured, we played 
 cribbage ; a game into which he threw his whole mind most 
 earnestly, as though the winning or losing were to him a 
 matter of real moment. A record of these games we entered 
 on the cribbage board, and they present a vast array to 
 the good on his side, for it must be understood that while 
 he really enjoyed winning, he always thought it was through 
 his own good luck that in two out of every three games 
 played in the bosom of the family, success fell to his share. 
 
 About May we all noticed a change, a slight indescrib- 
 able something that perhaps we did not acknowledge even 
 to ourselves. The work at the Observatory tired him more ; 
 he often came home exhausted. But there was little in the 
 symptoms that could cause any definite alarm on our part. 
 He was entirely free from any anxiety himself. Of an 
 afternoon he would see fewer friends, and his spirits were not 
 so good, that was all. But by the end of the month matters 
 had assumed a more definite form. The doctor and my 
 brother Eric, who were both in attendance, recognised the 
 gravity of his condition. He was mercifully spared a linger- 
 ing illness, and his sufferings lasted but a week. We were 
 with him throughout, as well 'as the old nurse and Mullis ; 
 and though for the most part he was unconscious, yet at 
 times he showed a momentary recognition of us all, while 
 Bob, lying at his master's feet, evinced a grief and under- 
 standing which were pathetic. 
 
 And it was on Sunday, Trinity Sunday of 1893, that 
 
164 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 he passed away from us at the ripe age of eighty-five, and 
 entered into the Sabbath of a well-earned rest. 
 
 * The end/ writes the Bishop of Worcester, * did not take 
 him by surprise. He had long been looking forward to it. 
 In a letter from him, dated 7th December 1881, written in 
 answer to one in which I had asked him to preach in 
 Peterborough Cathedral, he says: 
 
 c " Yes, I dare not, while life and voice remain, excuse 
 myself from an invitation such as yours. So make it a 
 late Sunday in Lent, when I am freed from lectures. My 
 text may be * With whom is no variableness.' It has been 
 much in my mind and my thoughts of late. I find my old 
 friends dropping off fast, and here all is abnormally variable. 
 Yesterday my old friend Steel, of Harrow, was called away. 
 He came here to settle after his retirement. Mine was the 
 last house he was in before his death. He showed me a spot 
 on his finger just lanced. I said, ' Why don't you go to 
 London and see the best man? /should.' In ten days he 
 was removed, a man of a free and generous spirit. I had 
 said to him when he came, ' Well, you are one of the very 
 few men with whom one can interchange one's thoughts ' ; 
 and now alas ! So there is but One with whom there is 
 no variableness." 
 
 , c But he did not give way to sorrow. Healthy occupation 
 and joy in his work were characteristic of the man. In the 
 very same letter he writes : 
 
 ' " My hands and my head are full of work, Deo Gratias ! 
 and I am sitting in my little room with much that is fairest 
 on this earth before me. Garden, park, professors' houses, 
 Bodleian, Radcliffe, towers of All Souls, New College, 
 Magdalen, St Mary's spire, all before me. This is a fair 
 earth of ours ; fallen though it be, yet it is redeemable and 
 redeemed. There is a joy in life : at present I feel it in the 
 midst of more troubles and anxieties than I venture to let 
 pass through my mind. What is it that makes me buoyant ? 
 
LAST YEARS 165 
 
 Humanly speaking, it is the thought and the knowledge of 
 the order and the beauty of Nature ; occupation among the 
 lights of heaven, and then there are the beautiful things that 
 clothe the earth in profusion. Truly my spirit seems to leap 
 among these and shout for joy. Thanks be to God that in 
 youth I was taught the existence of Nature (which so many 
 around me ignore), and then I learnt, as time went on, its 
 glory and its orderliness. And I was taught and led to see 
 a Father's hand everywhere, and never so plainly as now. 
 There is nothing but the variableness of beauty there : no 
 doubt there is the variableness of decay, but there is the 
 budding and the new life of spring. In this way the light of 
 God is reflected into the soul from the glory of His works 
 outside. Would that I and all of us felt more of the Light 
 that springs up from within, kindled by the Spirit of Him who 
 is the True Light ! I did not intend this half-homily to you, 
 but my old friend is called away, and so thoughts supervened, 
 and I cannot help it." 
 
 * Gradually and peacefully the end came. There was no 
 pain ; the intellect was clear almost to the last ; then there 
 was a brief period of unconsciousness, and then the earthly 
 career was closed, and the spirit which had so long pondered 
 the mysteries of the universe passed within the veil, and 
 beheld them with unclouded eye; and the faithful servant 
 entered into the joy of his Lord. 
 
 * As I write there rises before me the recollection of a sin- 
 gularly vigorous and original mind, a marvellous buoyancy 
 of spirit, a lively sense of humour, an almost boyish joyous- 
 ness of disposition, a warm and affectionate heart, a keen 
 delight in the magnificence, the beauty, the variety of Nature, 
 an ardent pursuit of knowledge in many and various branches, 
 a love of literature, of art, of poetry, ancient and modern, as well 
 as of mathematics and the natural sciences ; a perfect lucidity 
 of expression, a transparent honesty, and all this controlled, 
 sobered, animated by a devout reverence, and a sincere and 
 
1 66 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 unshaken faith. To him there was no antagonism between 
 Faith and Science. The God of Nature was to him the God 
 of Revelation ; to him the Revelation of God in Christ was, 
 in the deepest and largest sense, the interpreter of the 
 world. 
 
 ' The loss of such a man is great, not only to the friends 
 who loved him but to the many young and ardent spirits of 
 our generation who are troubled and perplexed by what they 
 are led to believe is the irreconcilable antagonism between 
 Science and Revelation. 
 
 'Charles Pritchard was a man of science. None could 
 question the eminence in that field of one who made an 
 important addition to the astronomical knowledge of his 
 day, yet he remained to the last a humble, devout believer in 
 Christ. Writing to me in January 1889, he says : 
 
 "'The Son of Man and the Son of God, one with the 
 Father in some way beyond my conception and beyond the 
 necessities of my being to know I don't know, who does ? 
 but I adore. I would follow Paul as Paul followed Christ, 
 and ask no prying questions." And again, a little earlier, 
 " The best prayer you can offer for me is, that I may finish 
 my course wisely and well, and always be ready to depart. I 
 have seen enough of the vicissitudes and uncertainties of life 
 not to 'die daily.'" 
 
 At the Commemorative Service, the week after my 
 Father's death, in the parish church, the vicar said : 
 
 ' We have to thank God that again and again in the 
 annals of our race there have been those who have com- 
 bined the fullest knowledge and appreciation of the world's 
 vastness possible to the human intellect with the sincere 
 and devout conviction that God's thought and providence 
 are in every part. Such were Pascal and Leibnitz in the first 
 dawn of modern science; such, in our own land, was the 
 great Sir Isaac Newton ; coming nearer to our own day, such 
 too was Michael Faraday, the electrician ; and as no un- 
 
LAST YEARS l6/ 
 
 worthy follower in their steps, we in Oxford at least will not 
 hesitate to add the name of Charles Pritchard. He passed 
 away, as most of you are aware, last Sunday, just after 
 you had been praying in this place that God would deliver 
 him in the hour of death. Many who knew him but little 
 will miss that familiar chair on its way to the Parks, where 
 in his observatory and garden around it he loved to trace 
 the Divine wisdom equally manifest to him in the infinitely 
 small as in the infinitely great. Those who knew him more 
 intimately will long remember with affectionate regret the 
 Christian kindness and the thoughtful sympathy of one who 
 knew the better perhaps how to help and encourage others 
 because his own youth and early manhood had been passed 
 in the school of patient struggle and privation, in the school 
 of long disappointment, of scant and tardy reward. On the 
 other hand, for those who knew him neither as neighbour 
 nor as friend, it may suffice to mention that for many years 
 to come a portion of the standing work of every great 
 observatory in the world will be to carry out the method for 
 mapping out and measuring the heavens, in the inauguration 
 of which he took an active and important part, so rendering 
 to natural science a solid service of which Oxford may well 
 be proud. 
 
 ' Amen ! Even so, with hearts uplifted by his words, we 
 would bid him a last farewell. Farewell, Charles Pritchard ! 
 Skilful astronomer, humble Christian, tender friend, faithful 
 witness to the Truth ! Dear, right dear to thee were the 
 counsels of thy God ! Through many a long day and far 
 into the watches of the night, it was thy delight to count 
 what might be counted of their mighty sum, to trace and 
 treasure every token of the Almighty's hand ! And, now, 
 we doubt not, Death has been to thee the awaking to a 
 nearer Presence and a clearer vision of thy God in the 
 heavens, which are not seen but eternal.' 
 
Theological Work of Charles Pritchard 
 
 BY THE 
 
 LORD BISHOP OF WORCESTER 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK OF CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 By the Lord Bishop of Worcester 
 
 IT is under a sense of sacred obligation that I have 
 undertaken to contribute from my reminiscences to my dear 
 friend's biography, and in particular to add a chapter with 
 regard to his religious beliefs. 
 
 Writing to me just after Dean Stanley's death (in a 
 letter dated Spa, 2Oth July 1881), he says: 'This reminds 
 me of something. When my time of departure has come, will 
 you render as true and unvarnished an account of me as you 
 are able ? May I leave you that legacy ? You know almost 
 all my foibles and some of my best aspirations. No one 
 else does or ever did. I am seen with all my excrescences 
 about me, and few get below the husk. Lord Hatherley and 
 Hook and John Herschel entirely loved me ; so I am so far 
 solaced. Don't let me pass away without one word in behalf 
 of my memory. I have long thought of writing this to you ; 
 perhaps Farrar* also knows a little of me. Stanley's death 
 brings this matter practically before my mind's eye.' 
 
 I have already in the previous pages indicated here 
 and there my friend's religious opinions ; but as the 
 deliberate convictions of a man of science, who not only 
 occupied a distinguished position as Professor of Astro- 
 nomy at Oxford, but had made important contributions to 
 astronomical knowledge, they deserve something more than 
 a merely incidental and passing notice. I propose, there- 
 
 * Rev. A. S. Farrar, Canon of Durham, and Professor of Theology in the 
 university. 
 
 171 
 
172 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 fore, in this chapter to give some account of Pritchard's 
 attitude towards the great religious questions which have 
 agitated men's minds during the last fifty years, and I shall 
 do so first with regard to the movement emanating from 
 Oxford which has left so marked an impress on Church life 
 in England during that period ; and next in relation to all 
 those controversies concerning Nature and Revelation, and 
 the authority and inspiration of the Bible, whether arising 
 from the side of science or the side of criticism, which, in 
 the minds of all thoughtful men, must possess the deepest 
 and most abiding interest. 
 
 First, then, as regards the Oxford movement. As I 
 have already intimated, he had no sympathy with it or 
 with its leaders. He had no patience with the dishonesty 
 which, as he considered, stamped it, even by the admission 
 of the men themselves. In his letters to me, and in conver- 
 sation, he often expressed his astonishment at the influence 
 that Newman had acquired. 
 
 c What made Newman so great ? ' he asks. * I mean great 
 in his influence over some minds ? I can discern few or no 
 elements of the great man about his writings. To me they 
 are subtle, and very subtle, scarcely sincere in their aspect. 
 His surely must be an essentially weak mind which could 
 be upset by Hume's arguments and seek for safety in the 
 authority of the Church.' 
 
 Pritchard's estimate of Pusey was somewhat similar. 
 Writing in 1878, he says : 
 
 * Pusey's intellect is of a subtle order not bright, nor 
 wide, nor deep, but subtle, and now sacerdotally dishonest, 
 a beacon and a warning to the mind theological. Don't 
 suppose I am unaware that correlative pitfalls lie in the 
 way of the mind scientific. I suppose that, apart frcm a 
 growing union with the One perfect mind, all are more or 
 less open to shibboleths and dogma.' 
 
 Then, too, as he had little respect for the leaders of the 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 
 
 movement, so he abhorred their priestly assumptions. He 
 held that the very soul of the movement was sacerdotalism. 
 His friend Hook (the Dean of Chichester) wrote to him in 
 1866: 
 
 ' I do not hesitate to say that you have got the bull by 
 the horns when you say that the top and bottom of the 
 present distresses of the Church lies in that word hpevg. This 
 will come out fully in my next volume of the Archbishops, 
 which will reach the Reformation. . . . The form in which 
 this subject will come before me as an historian, not as a 
 controversialist, is this : I shall have to show that the whole 
 principle of our Reformation consisted in changing the Mass 
 into a Communion, whereas at present we find that the whole 
 object of the Ritualists is to change the Communion into the 
 Mass.' 
 
 This is striking testimony as coming from a High 
 Churchman like Hook ; but then he was a High Church- 
 man of the old school, a High Churchman after the pattern 
 of Andrewes and Cosin, not after the pattern of Pusey and 
 Newman. 
 
 But besides this, Pritchard was indignant because he 
 thought the proper work of the university had been lost 
 sight of in the feverish controversies which so occupied men's 
 minds as to leave no room for anything else. Writing to 
 me shortly after the publication of Mozley's Reminiscences ; 
 he says : 
 
 ' Yesterday and to-day I have spent on the Mozley Re- 
 miniscences. They lead me thoroughly into the Tract times 
 and to some men whom I know or have known. Alas, alas, for 
 poor Oxford ! The things divulged speak not for her health. 
 Not a word is there in all these pages redolent with the 
 action of tutors, or speaking of tutorial work. The raison 
 detre of this noble university, the education of British youth, 
 is therein, through the record of years, utterly ignored. 
 Politics and polemical theology form the stuff and staple 
 
1/4 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 of the history. We are a little better now, but the old 
 leaven still heaves up. The whole controversy, correspond- 
 ence and all relating to Keble, Newman, Pusey, Mozley, 
 etc., leaves me more decidedly an Evangelical than I was, 
 though softened, and more sympathetic for the historical 
 and corporate aspects of the Church of England as they 
 bear on the " High Church." Again : * My mind is fearfully 
 depressed at what I have been reading of Mozley's letters,, 
 and his friends. Try and wade through them; though a 
 Cambridge man, they will let you into the pith or backbone 
 of the activity of the Oxford " Movement " more than any- 
 thing I know. It was for The Church, and not for the Christ 
 within the heart of His flock.' 
 
 Somewhat later, however, he writes to Mr Ffoulkes to 
 thank him for giving him more insight into * Pusey's ways 
 and thoughts ' : 
 
 ' But to me,' he says, ' Pusey and Newman are phenomena 
 not wholly within the grasp of my conceptions ; my own 
 mind and culture have been cast in very different moulds, 
 Pusey's way of writing was to me obscure full of special 
 pleading : so much so that I have at times been inclined to 
 question his sincerity. You may readily suppose that I 
 have never been able to sympathise with his appeals to the 
 authority of ancient doctors. In my own line I can make 
 at this moment a catena of astronomical doctrine which will 
 not stand before more recent investigations, some of them 
 my own, and not admitting of a question as to the modern 
 results being nearer to truth than the old ones, yet neither 
 old nor new absolutely true and exact. In Nature our know- 
 ledge is approximate ; so also, I think, is our knowledge 
 of Grace. Hence I can with difficulty sympathise with 
 doctrines expressed in language which admits of no " shake," 
 unless it be in the ipsissima verba of Scripture, that also 
 admitting of an ever widening and deepening explication. 
 So Pusey to me has ever remained a phenomenon out of or 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 175 
 
 beyond my sympathies or intelligence, med culpd no doubt. 
 So I feel indebted to you for your throwing more couleur de 
 rose over the character and being of this remarkable man. 
 The few remarks you make regarding Newman, side by side 
 with Pusey, are in perfect accord with my own less mature 
 judgment. / had almost rather doubt than be satisfied 
 with and rest on the dogmata of Rome. The former is me 
 judice a nobler form of mind, evyevsttrspos. Au reste, I have 
 no right to intrude my notions or judgment on you, but I 
 may at all events tender you thanks for your (to me) deeply 
 instructive words in the Oxford paper. . . . Still, I do not 
 see anything so very remarkable in a man retaining his con- 
 victions of the truth of Christianity throughout his life. For 
 surely in many men, by God's grace, the religion of the Cross 
 is their very inmost life, and no man questions that. The 
 phenomenon of Pusey to me was not his uncompromising 
 defiance of infidel tenets and suspicions (the Daughter of 
 Zion laughs them to scorn), but it was partly this : here is 
 a man who doubtless had Christ within his heart living and 
 directing and communing there in utter personality and sub- 
 jectivity, yet he ventured to " direct " souls in a Roman 
 priestly sense (not simply as a minister of Christ), and he 
 yearned and strained over a material Eucharist.' 
 
 But in controversies of this kind Pritchard took no open 
 part. Naturally, the greater part of his theological studies 
 lay in a different direction. The controversies respecting 
 the character and limits of Revelation, and the relation of 
 Revelation to modern scientific discovery, the possibility of 
 miracles and similar questions had a powerful attraction for 
 him. Invited on several occasions to preach at the gatherings 
 of the British Association, and at Church Congresses, he 
 availed himself of the opportunity to show that God's 
 revelations of Himself in the book of Scripture and in the 
 book of Nature were so far from being in antagonism that 
 there was a real harmony and a vital connection between the 
 
176 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 two. Thus his subject before the British Association at 
 Nottingham was , ' The Continuity of the Scheme of Nature 
 and Revelation;' at Dundee, 'The Analogy of Intellectual 
 Progress to Religious Growth ' ; at Exeter, ' The Testimony 
 of Science to the continuity of the Divine Forethought for 
 Man.' ' Modern Science and Natural Religion ' was the 
 title of the address to the Church Congress at Brighton in 
 1 874 ; ( Aspects of Nature in relation to Miracles and Pro- 
 vidence' of that at Swansea in 1879. At Dublin his subject 
 was ' Scepticism and Truth considered in their Relations to 
 the Progress of the Knowledge of Nature/ 
 
 But his most sustained and most eloquent effort in the 
 same direction was in his Hulsean Lectures, delivered in 
 Cambridge in 1867. The title of these was 'Analogies in 
 the Progress of Nature and Grace.' This was one of his 
 favourite themes. In the first lecture he traces, in a passage 
 of splendid eloquence, the slowness of the creative process 
 and the marvellous preparation during long ages for the 
 coming of man, the future Lord of the earth, and the subtle 
 and secret prophecy of his appearance, a prophecy which 
 could not even have been guessed at till its fulfilment ; and 
 then he asks whether we may not reasonably expect a like 
 slowness and a like mystery in the process of redemption 
 and the work of grace. The passage will be found in extenso 
 in the note at the end of this chapter. 
 
 There were some few papers and sermons on these and 
 kindred topics which contained many valuable germs of 
 thought, but it appeared to me that, scattered in newspapers 
 for the most part, or published as pamphlets, they presented 
 only a fragmentary and perhaps fugitive character. I 
 accordingly suggested to him that in sight of the prevalent 
 scepticism, and the mischief done to young minds by the 
 arrogant and pretentious Agnosticism of certain authors, 
 it might be well to collect those of his writings which he 
 judged best worth preserving, and publish them in a small 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 177 
 
 volume. He was greatly pleased with the suggestion. 
 ' That's a valuable and kind thought of me and for me,' he 
 writes ; and in a day or two he sent me a summary of the 
 book. Besides the addresses and sermons to which I have 
 already referred, he republished in it his article on the ' Star 
 of the Magi ' from the Dictionary of the Bible, a remarkable 
 paper on the standing still of the sun and moon at Joshua's 
 command in the battle of Beth-horon, and another on the 
 Creation Proem of Genesis ' (both of which appeared originally 
 in the Guardian), together with some addresses delivered to 
 working men in St Edmund's Church, Northampton. No- 
 thing in these papers is perhaps more striking than the way 
 in which he deals with the two miracles, the one recorded in 
 St Matthew, the other in Joshua. The German astronomer 
 Ideler, following a suggestion of Kepler's, had attempted to 
 explain the appearance of the star which brought the Wise 
 Men to Jerusalem as nothing more than a conjunction of 
 the planets Jupiter and Saturn, which took place about the 
 time of our Lord's birth. Pritchard goes carefully into the 
 question, and demonstrates that a conjunction which would 
 have made the two planets appear as a single star, even to 
 a 'weak eye' (Ideler's gratuitously absurd assumption), was 
 impossible, that no conjunction of planets could have been 
 described as ' going before ' or * standing over ' the dwelling 
 in which the Young Child was, and that, if the narrative is 
 true, then some particular star or meteor must have been 
 created for the occasion. 
 
 Not less remarkable is his argument with regard to the 
 miracle in Joshua. Here he examines the attempt made to 
 explain it on purely natural grounds by ' the simple law of 
 atmospheric refraction ' ; shows that such an explanation 
 proceeds from an entire ignorance of the nature of atmo- 
 spheric refraction, which could never produce the alleged 
 effect ; and then goes on, after having thoroughly examined 
 the geographical features of the country, the position of the 
 
 M 
 
1/8 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 two armies, and the place of the sun and moon in the heavens, 
 to vindicate the supernatural character of the transaction. 
 It must be observed, however, that he admits a somewhat 
 important qualification. For he does not insist upon a 
 literal suspension of the movements of the heavenly bodies, 
 but only on 'a miraculous continuance of daylight,' which 
 might seem to Joshua * to involve the staying of the course of 
 the sun and moon.' His words are ' To me the records are 
 in their general drift and intention substantially true. In the 
 case of the battle of Beth-horon, in which the very existence 
 of the Hebrew nation was in peril, the narrative may be 
 satisfied by the miraculous continuance of daylight, which, 
 in a rude age, and to Joshua and his host, might seem to 
 involve the staying of the course of the sun and moon.' 
 
 In a letter, dated 1880, to Miss Agnes Giberne, 
 authoress of Sun, Moon, and Stars, and other works, he 
 says, with reference to these and other miracles : 
 
 ' I believe in the reality of the New Testament miracles 
 for reasons which you will see alleged ; and as my friend 
 Dean Perowne writes to me, "You have made Joshua's 
 miracle possible.'" 
 
 Elsewhere in the same volume he goes more fully into 
 the question of the credibility of miracles, and argues thus : 
 What is meant by saying that a miracle is contrary to the 
 known laws of Nature ? ' Nature,' he says, ' is only another 
 name for the sum of all created things, all that exist, or 
 have existed, or ever will exist or can exist, whether in the 
 universe of matter or the universe of thought, seen or unseen. 
 You have indeed a scheme, a system, a constitution of 
 things, in which, though the several parts manifestly cohere 
 and interact with an astonishing connection, nevertheless is 
 a scheme in which " it is impossible for us to give the whole 
 account of even any one single thing whatever," " the whole 
 account, that is, of all its causes, ends and necessary adjuncts 
 adjuncts, I mean, without which it could not have been/" 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 179 
 
 What do we mean, he asks, when we speak of the Laws of 
 Nature? The expression is used commonly in a sense 
 which he thinks is far too restricted. As commonly em- 
 ployed, it seems ' to limit the conception of law as meaning 
 merely " a sequence," as it would do apart from a Law-giver. 
 I regard it rather in this sense I am placed in the midst of 
 a vast scheme called the scheme (or plan) of Nature. Can I 
 discover the laws or any law on which that scheme is con- 
 structed by Him who framed it?' By patient observation 
 'we find that certain circumstances, certain collocations of 
 matter, for instance, or of the planets, recur again and again, 
 and then we find that certain other consequences invariably 
 ensue, and so far as such and similar collocations are con- 
 cerned, we rightly conclude that we have at length discovered 
 the plan, the law, the natural scheme after which this matter, 
 or those planets, or those collocations or environments are 
 so far constituted. And this we call a Law of Nature : a 
 law expressing so far, and so far only, the will, the scheme 
 of the Author of Nature. But of how few instances of 
 things, and of how infinitesimal a part of Nature, have we 
 discovered such laws. You may count them on the fingers 
 of your hands. There are the laws of motion, for instance. 
 Some of these we do know, for Galileo and Newton dis- 
 covered them and taught them. And Joule in more recent 
 times taught us the convertibility of motion into other forms 
 of energy. And Young and Fresnel taught us a little of 
 the nature and laws of light. And Faraday gave us some 
 notion of the mode of action of electricity. And Herschel 
 pierced through a rift or two of the veil which interposes 
 between us and the starry vault. But you have now 
 traversed the realms of certainty and of known natural 
 law, and as for the rest of things, the law (i.e., the scheme of 
 the things) is displaced by presumptive evidence, and pro- 
 bability alone becomes the guide of life.' 
 
 Then he goes on to apply all this to the case of Revelation : 
 
ISO CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 ' If it pleased the Author of Nature to send us, His children, 
 a revelation of things in which we are most deeply concerned, 
 but regarding which the visible parts of Nature could give 
 us no information ; if, on this behalf, there appeared upon 
 this earth One who assumed to be a messenger from Heaven, 
 and to know the secrets of the Most High ; if he claimed for 
 Himself a Divine origin, and exhibited in His conduct a 
 moral intelligence far beyond any that we conceive attainable 
 by the children of men ; if He taught and lived as none other 
 being ever taught and lived before or since ; and if, in the 
 course of His ministry this Unique Being, appearing under 
 this unique environment, claimed, and was said and seen to 
 exhibit, power over the diseases of the body and over the 
 elements of Nature, nay, over life and death ; could you, I 
 ask, under these unique circumstances, and considering what 
 the scheme of Nature has been shown to be, viz., to us illimit- 
 able and unknown ; could you, with any show of reason, 
 reject the narrative simply under the plea that it was contrary 
 to the Laws of Nature ? ' 
 
 As, therefore, it is impossible for us to make any such 
 assertion with our finite knowledge, the whole question turns 
 on the credibility of human testimony. Did the alleged 
 occurrences really occur? 'And the case is even stronger 
 than this, when referred to Nature in her immaterial phase. 
 For the wonderful works of the Unique Being are attributed 
 to the force of His Word, and the energy of His Will: and 
 who knows anything of the relations of the Will of such a 
 Being to the motions of material atoms?' 
 
 The Person and His Mission were unique, and the * whole 
 environment belongs to a part of Nature hitherto undisclosed, 
 and the laws which govern it were, and still are, unknown. 
 Under this aspect, whatever occurred might be, or must be, 
 essentially miraculous, part, that is, of the general scheme of 
 Nature, but nevertheless a part of it hitherto not by us ex- 
 perienced.' 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK l8l 
 
 Finally, Pritchard insisted much on the power of the Will 
 in this Unique Being. ' The power of the human will, nay, 
 the power of all animal will, is as great as it is mysterious. 
 By it we every moment introduce a force a natural force 
 which overcomes gravitation in the motion of our limbs ; we 
 control the wills and the actions of other men ; we " overcome 
 kingdoms." The Christ of the Gospels said that His Will was 
 the Will of Him that sent Him. Are there any limits to the 
 power of that Will, other than the limits of Beneficence and 
 Wisdom ? What wonder then that at a word of His, other, and 
 to us stronger, forces come into action, and so "the blind 
 receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed 
 and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have 
 the glad tidings preached to them." ' * 
 
 EVOLUTION. 
 
 He wrote to me : 
 
 ' I don't believe in Darwinism ; I do not think any true 
 mathematician could. Dear old Herschel vented his piercing 
 ridicule on it. Phillips, our soundest practical geologist, in 
 several walks I have had with him, assured me it had not a 
 leg to stand on, when viewed in the palaeontological light of 
 geology ; the evidence, he assures me, is absolutely against it." 
 
 Not that he is afraid of evolution : 
 
 ' As to the evolution of man,' he says, ' not so much from 
 a zoophyte or a monkey, as rather through zoophytes from 
 the interaction of the atomic forces in a nebula ; if such can 
 be shown to be the order of Nature, that is to say, if such has 
 been and is the Will of Him who ordered Nature, I bow and 
 have no objection to make.' 
 
 For he holds with Butler that an intelligent Author of 
 Nature being supposed, it matters not whether He acts in 
 
 * The above remarks are taken partly from his book, Nature and Revelation, 
 pp. 152-156 and 216, and partly from his letters to me. 
 
1 82 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 Nature every moment, or whether he at once contrived and exe- 
 cuted his own part in the plan of the world. But, neverthe- 
 less, he thinks the theory lacks proof. He does not believe 
 ' that any amount of evolution, extending through any amount 
 of time, consistent with the requirements of our astronomical 
 knowledge, could have issued in the production of that most 
 beautiful and complicated instrument, the human eye. There 
 are too many curved surfaces, too many distances, too many 
 densities of the media, each essential to the other, too great 
 a facility of ruin by slight disarrangement to admit of anything 
 short of the intervention of an intelligent Will at some stage 
 of the evolutionary process.' (Nature and Revelation^} 
 
 But it may be well to let him speak more fully on 
 this subject; for it is a point of very considerable import- 
 ance. In a note to his Nottingham Sermon (preached 
 before the British Association in 1866) he discusses at 
 some length Darwin's theory of ' The Origin of Species by 
 Natural Selection.' After expressing his ' admiration of 
 Sir W. Grove's philosophical acumen in grouping together 
 the plans and operations of Nature under one felicitous 
 term ' (Continuity), and observing that ' he appears to have 
 accepted the Darwinian hypothesis as explaining the origin 
 of that continuity which undoubtedly exists in the natural 
 world,' Pritchard proceeds to state why he is himself 
 unable to accept that hypothesis, ' at all events in its 
 length and breadth, without some reserve.' He says : 
 ' As an illustration of the general nature of the objections 
 which I entertain, I will take an instance from that branch 
 of physics with which it is my lot to be most familiar; 
 the optical structure of the human eye. From the 
 cornea to the retina, the eye is an optical instrument. 
 But what an instrument ! The computation of the curves 
 and distances of the refracting surfaces in this instrument, 
 and the assigning of the proper law of density for the 
 several layers in its principal lens, would require the 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 183 
 
 application of a mathematical analysis, such as I hesitate 
 not to say was never yet possessed by a human geometer. 
 The mechanism required for instantaneously changing the 
 forms and distances, and in one instance the magnitude, 
 of its component parts, would require a handicraft such 
 as never yet was possessed by a human mechanic. I say 
 nothing of the chemistry required for the composition of 
 the several constituent media. I presume Mr Darwin 
 would admit that this description is not exaggerated. 
 Now, let us attend to the process of " natural selection," 
 by which this marvellous organ is said to have come into 
 being. " I can see," says Mr Darwin,* " no very great 
 difficulty (not more than in the case of many other struc- 
 tures) in believing that natural selection has converted 
 the simple apparatus of an optic nerve, merely coated 
 with pigment and invested by transparent membranes, 
 into an optical instrument as perfect as is possessed by 
 any member of the great articulate class," i.e., as perfect 
 as the human eye.f And next comes the mode after which 
 this simple apparatus of the coated nerve, by insensible 
 additions gradually but accidentally made, is said to be 
 converted at length into the eye of man. " We ought in 
 imagination to take a thick layer of transparent tissue 
 with a nerve sensitive to light beneath, and then suppose 
 every part of this layer to be continually changing slowly 
 in density, so as to separate into layers of different densities 
 and thicknesses, placed at different distances from each 
 other, and with the surfaces of each layer slowly changing 
 in form. Further, we must suppose that there is a power 
 always intently watching each slightly accidental alteration 
 in the transparent layers, and carefully selecting each 
 alteration which, under varied circumstances, may, in any 
 way, or in any degree, tend to produce a distincter image. 
 We must suppose each new state of the instrument to 
 
 * Origin of Species, 1st edit., pp. 188, 189. f See Darwin's letter, pp. 93, 94. 
 
1 84 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 be multiplied by the million, and each to be preserved 
 till a better be produced, and then the old ones to be 
 destroyed. Let this process go on for millions on millions 
 of years. . . ." Now, we must here ask, What is this 
 " power always intently watching each slightly accidental 
 alteration?" A few lines further down in Mr Darwin's 
 page we read : " NATURAL SELECTION will pick out with 
 unerring skill each improvement." But what is this 
 " Natural Selection ? " We must here take Mr Darwin's 
 own definition : " This preservation of favourable variations, 
 and the rejection of injurious variations, I call Natural 
 Selection."* 
 
 ' Now to me there appear three objections, which in- 
 dispose me to accept the above description of the processes 
 by which the human eye could have been formed^ and 
 I will state them as succinctly as I can. First, consistently 
 with such knowledge of optical combinations as I happen 
 to possess, I cannot understand how, by any series of 
 accidental variations, so complicated a structure as an eye 
 could possibly have been successively improved. The 
 chances of any accidental variation in such an instrument 
 being an improvement are small indeed. Suppose, for 
 instance, one of the surfaces of the crystalline lens of the 
 eye of a creature, possessing a crystalline and cornea, to 
 be accidentally altered, then I say, that unless the form 
 of the other surface is simultaneously altered, in one only 
 way out of millions of possible ways, the eye would not 
 be optically improved. An alteration also in the two 
 surfaces of the crystalline lens, whether accidental or 
 otherwise, would involve a definite alteration in the form 
 of the cornea, or in the distance of its surface from the 
 centre of the crystalline lens, in order that the eye may 
 be optically better. All these alterations must be simul- 
 taneous and definite in amount, and these definite amounts 
 
 * Origin of Species > p. 81. 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 185 
 
 must co-exist in obedience to an extremely complicated 
 law. To my apprehension, then, that so complex an 
 instrument as an eye should undergo a succession of 
 millions of improvements, by means of a succession of 
 millions of accidental alterations, is not less improbable 
 than if all the letters in the Origin of Species were placed 
 in a box, and on being shaken and poured out millions 
 on millions of times, they should at last come out together 
 in the order in which they occur in that fascinating, and 
 in general, highly philosophical work. 
 
 ' But my objections do not stop here. The improvement 
 of an organ must be an improvement relative to the new 
 circumstances by which the organ is surrounded. Suppose, 
 then, that an eye is altered for the better in relation to one 
 set of circumstances under which it is placed. By-and-by 
 there arise a second set of circumstances, a second environ- 
 ment^ as it is termed, and the eye is again, by Natural 
 Selection, altered and improved relatively to the second set 
 of circumstances. What is there to make the second set of 
 circumstances such that the second improvement (relative to 
 them) shall be an improvement or progress in the direction of 
 the ultimate goal of the human eye ? Why should not the 
 second improvement be a retrogression away from the 
 ultimate organ now possessed by man, and necessary to 
 his well-being ? But all this suiting of the succession of 
 circumstances is to go on, not once or twice, but millions 
 on millions of times. If this be so, then not only must 
 there be a BIAS in the order of the succession of the 
 circumstances, or at all events, in the vast outnumbering 
 of the unfavourable circumstances by the favourable ; but 
 so strong a bias, as to remove the whole process from the 
 accidental to the intentional. The bias* implies the exist- 
 ence of a Law, a Mind, a Will. The process becomes one 
 
 * On this subject of bias, see a highly philosophical review of ' Quetelet on 
 probabilities,' in Sir John Herschel's Essays. 
 
186 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 not of Natural Selection, but of Selection arranged by an 
 Intelligent Will. 
 
 ' In considering the state of things just described, we must 
 also take into the account that the successive variations of the 
 eye are said to be accidental. What, then, but a constantly 
 exerted Intelligent Will could cause the occurrence of new 
 circumstances so as to meet these accidental variations, and 
 concur ultimately to produce a certain definite result, that is 
 to say, an instrument possessing the necessary and truly 
 wonderful contrivances of the human eye ? But is such a 
 process to be called Providence, or Miracle, or the Inversion 
 of Providence ? 
 
 ' Further still. Mr Darwin considers that the process of 
 natural selection must have gone on for millions on millions 
 of years, in order to have produced the results which surround 
 us. It is difficult to assign any approximate limitation to the 
 meaning of the term millions on millions of years. But in 
 turning to page 287 of the Origin of 'Species , I find the author 
 considers that the denudation of the Weald must have 
 required some three hundred millions of years ! This denuda- 
 tion is but a trivial process, indeed, compared with the 
 mighty geological evolutions which have occurred between 
 that denudation and the present time, and inconceivably 
 trivial compared with other evolutions which preceded it. 
 Mr Darwin says, page 489, " As all the living forms of life are 
 the lineal descendants of those which lived long before the 
 Silurian epoch, we may feel certain that the ordinary suc- 
 cession by generation has never once been broken, and that 
 no cataclysm has desolated the whole world. Hence we may 
 look with some confidence to a secure future of equally in- 
 appreciable length." 
 
 'If then we assign a period of one million of millions of 
 years to have elapsed, during which natural selection has 
 worked for the production of a human eye, we may presume 
 we are within the limits contemplated by Mr Darwin. 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 1 87 
 
 ' Now, I do not hesitate to say that this assump- 
 tion is entirely out of harmony with the existing state of 
 knowledge. 
 
 ' For during the deposition of the Silurian strata, there 
 must have been a deep ocean, and terrestrial things were then 
 proceeding, Mr Darwin says, on pretty much the same quiet 
 model as at present. But it has been rendered extremely 
 probable by the researches of Adams, Hansen, Delaunay, 
 Airy*, and some others, that owing to the combined action of 
 the ocean and the moon, the length of the day has been, and 
 is now, undergoing a constant increase. 
 
 ' On reading Mr Darwin's enchanting volume, we seem to 
 be, as it were, in the hands of a great magician, who leads us 
 up and down Elysian fields, pointing out to us on this side 
 and on that new aspects of things which, though true, were 
 beyond the reach of our expectations ; nevertheless, when, as 
 we hope, we are nearing the hill-top and getting a sight of the 
 primordial genesis of organised beings, the chariot on which 
 he has mounted us rolls down the hill like the stone of 
 Sisyphus. 
 
 * " With hands and feet struggling, he shoved the stone 
 Up to a hill-top ; but the steep well-nigh 
 Vanquished, by some great force repulsed, the mass 
 Rushed again obstinate down to the plain. 
 
 Tall trees, fruit-laden, with inflected heads 
 Stooped to us ; pears, pomegranates, apples bright, 
 The luscious fig, and unctuous olive smooth, 
 Which, when with sudden grasp we would have seized, 
 Winds whirled them high into the dusky clouds." ' 
 
 Odyssey, Book xi. 
 
 Pritchard, as I have said, was a devout believer in Christ. 
 He had no leaning toward the fashionable agnosticism ; he 
 accepted from the heart the miracles of the Bible. 
 
 1 Did I tell you,' he writes to me, ' a grand thought ex- 
 
 *Acld to these names, Professor G. Darwin, 1889. 
 
188 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 pressed by Dr Caird at the meeting of the British Association 
 
 in Edinburgh? It referred to 's arguments regarding 
 
 the knowableness of God something to this effect : If I 
 assert the unknowableness of God, I assert my knowledge 
 that He is unknowable, which is a contradiction in terms. 
 And then the new creed is that this unknowable Being is to 
 be treated with reverence ; but how can I feel a reverence for 
 what I know not and cannot know ? He may be all power, 
 or all unconcern, or all unapproachable greatness or even 
 diabolical, for aught I can know. What folly, then, to tell 
 me that I must revere Him ! And then he went on as you 
 or I should go on : He is known in the image of Christ. And 
 you know what would follow. It was grand to hear him set 
 forth this before so many young, unbelieving savants. Now, 
 can you tell me what makes so many young savants deists or 
 theists in effect ? I put it to this, partly : in old days savant- 
 ship was difficult to attain to. A few choice spirits, under 
 difficulties, did become men of true science : Faraday, 
 Brewster, Davy, etc. To these add others with a grand 
 Cambridge training, physicists before metaphysicians, men 
 carrying weight, ballast, true knowledge, slowly acquired. 
 Now, nothing is easier than to pick up a little chemistry, and 
 a little of this and of that and so forth : hence a host of soi- 
 disant savants, who fancy it is " the thing " to doubt. These 
 are men who never learnt three books of Euclid nor a pro- 
 position of Newton/ 
 
 THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE 
 
 Every page of Pritchard's published works, every letter in 
 which he touches upon these subjects, shows how profound 
 was his reverence for the Bible. Gifted with a strong imagi- 
 nation, he had brought it to bear on his interpretation of the 
 Bible stories to his pupils at Clapham. It was the same in 
 his sermons : a few graphic touches put the scene and the 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 189 
 
 actors before the eyes of his congregation, before he proceeded 
 to draw the practical lessons which the passage suggested. 
 Writing to me, even in 1882, he speaks of the Bible as 'the 
 vastest and most valuable and most permanent monument 
 among the sons of men/ and hopes, if life is given him, to do 
 something more for its illustration. But, at the same time, 
 his reverence for the Book was no slavish reverence ; he had 
 no theory of inspiration ; he was ready to admit whatever the 
 facts, honestly looked at, compelled him to admit. Thus he 
 wrote to me (in 1887): 
 
 ' I entirely agree with you as to the " divers manners " of 
 the Divine teaching myth, parable, history, example, pro- 
 phets, etc., etc. We can only discern the manners by the 
 facts. Hence we may learn from the Divine Vision of Crea- 
 tion, and the Divine Myth of Paradise and the Fall. But 
 what about the intrusion of the "Giants"? How did they 
 get into the Sacred Book ? Are we left to sift them for the 
 Pearl of Great Price?' 
 
 Still, he sees the need of caution : 
 
 ' Before enunciating the mythical, should we not most 
 carefully enunciate the principle that God may and has 
 taught us by " divers methods " ? We z>., theologians and 
 " Fathers " have taught exaggerated conceptions of divine 
 inspiration in the Scriptures, and now has come "the 
 Nemesis of Disproportion." ' 
 
 But then again he insists upon it, that we have no right 
 to discount the real essential worth of the Bible because of 
 the difficulties which crop up. His own dealing with such 
 problems as those presented by the first chapter of Genesis 
 was quite in this spirit. He accepted it ex animo as a divine 
 revelation, but adapted to the times and circumstances and 
 state of knowledge of those to whom it was originally 
 addressed, and therefore not necessarily in accordance 
 with the discoveries of modern science, nor designed to 
 be so. 
 
190 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 He is ' thoroughly convinced that Genesis I. is a revela- 
 tion, made to the child-man, of as much of cosmical truth 
 as lay within the reach of his undeveloped capacity to 
 understand, with the intention, or with a provision, for 
 the gradual rectification of his conception of this cosmical 
 truth, as his curiosity, his wants, his intellectual powers 
 
 expanded. I once told , at a clerical meeting that 
 
 if I found a compatibility between Genesis I. and our 
 present knowledge, it would be to me a very serious 
 difficulty in my accepting Genesis I. as a divine revela- 
 tion : and I mean this very seriously. For I do not 
 find it to be the general method of procedure with the 
 Great Father to provide His children with anything for 
 the acquisition of which He has endued them with faculties 
 equal to the task. He did not reveal to them spectrum an- 
 alysis, which gives them greater particular insight into the 
 constitution of the Cosmos than is afforded by Genesis I. 
 But He did inspire His children with curiosity, perseverance 
 and intelligence, all capable of development, and out of these 
 inspired powers and faculties came at last the revelation of 
 the analysis of light. It is all God's doing, and it is marvel- 
 lous in our eyes. Hence I, for once, read Genesis I. now in 
 my old age wifh a deeper reverence and a more admiring love 
 than I did in the wonder of my childhood, when I believed 
 the words to be literally true.' 
 
 In a letter to the Guardian (loth February 1886),* he 
 explains at length the difficulties which stand in the way of 
 the various attempts which have been made to reconcile the 
 Biblical story of creation with the ascertained facts of science ; 
 and, still later, in a paper which appeared in the Expositor 
 appended to my Notes on the First Chapter of Genesis), he 
 takes the same line : 
 
 'Taken in its plain and grammatical sense,' he says, 
 ' this majestic proem, if regarded as an account of creation 
 
 * Reprinted in his little book, Nature and Revelation. 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 19 1 
 
 in fact, contains statements which, to my apprehension, 
 are irreconcilable with what we at present know of the 
 constitution of Nature, and there is offered no appreci- 
 able hope, that I can discern, of a reconciliation from 
 future discoveries.' 
 
 He then gives his reasons for thinking that this proem 
 could not have been originally intended to give a scientific 
 account of creation in its precise order or method or limita- 
 tion of time. These are (i) The statement of the existence 
 of waters before the appearance of the sun ; (2) The clothing 
 of the earth with fruit trees and grass, each bearing its fruit, 
 before the creation of the sun ; (3) The successive orders or 
 stages of creation occupying each one single day. There are 
 other difficulties connected with the geological record on 
 which he forbears to remark, and is apparently satisfied with 
 the argument which Dr Huxley has adduced to show that no 
 reconciliation is possible between Genesis I. and the facts of 
 Nature so far as it is at present known. He is particularly 
 severe on the attempt to harmonise by taking the ' days ' in 
 Genesis I. as so many thousands of years or indefinitely pro- 
 longed periods of time. No, ' one honest solar day,' he says 
 (in a letter to me), ' must have been intended by the writer, 
 and nothing else ; and as to a thousand years equal to one 
 day, etc., it is all irrelevant nonsense : an evening and a 
 morning day cannot be a thousand years a non-natural in- 
 terpretation dragged in to save a case. No, the writer in 
 Genesis, whoever he was, did mean seven true solar days ; 
 he did mean that the fruit trees were created on the third 
 day, and the sun, moon and stars on the fourth. He did 
 mean a good solid expanse a firmament with waters above 
 it and waters below it. Other interpretations as to the order, 
 meaning and intention, are as non-natural as anything New- 
 man even ever wrote.' 
 
 But with these difficulties staring him in the face, he 
 refuses to regard the Genesis cosmogony as a merely human 
 
IQ2 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 invention or tradition. He is convinced that ' a superhuman 
 element ' runs through the proem * from its beginning to its 
 end.' 
 
 * It is not, and it cannot be, simply a mere tradition from 
 antecedent generations. For the record in Genesis is sui 
 generis in the world's history ; in all the annals of literature 
 there is nothing that approaches it. Not all the poets and 
 philosophers that have ever lived could have combined their 
 genius to compose the like of it in its succinctness, its 
 concinnity, its majesty. The myths of Plato on the origin 
 and destiny of things, wonderful as they are for their exqui- 
 site beauty, are utter childish babble when placed by the side 
 of the Mosaic proem. All other cosmogonies add grossness 
 to infantine senilities.' 
 
 In other words, Pritchard sees in this magnificent proem 
 the human element as well as the divine. 
 
 ' Things are so constituted,' he argues, ' that the whole 
 truth in its absoluteness is never taught, and is never 
 attained ; the light is sufficient for the day, and often for that 
 day only ; and more light is generally attainable by a more 
 diligent and skilful use of existing faculties and natural 
 endowments. Further, the object of the proem seems to be 
 to impress on a rude and primeval age, in a clear and 
 emphatic manner, the Fatherhood of God over the whole 
 creation, but its object was not to teach the order, the 
 method, or the time in which that creation proceeded.' 
 
 He regarded the whole as a vision vouchsafed to some 
 ancient seer : 
 
 ' To him the darkness of his own deep sleep was the 
 "evening"; then came the divine panorama, or parable 
 enacted, and then dawn, or "morning" of his waking, and 
 so on with all the seven.' * The order of the visions ' he takes 
 ' not to have been necessarily the exact order of the progress 
 of the divine created work.' ' The man records what he saw 
 in a vision, and it is so far ahead of any other old-world 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 193 
 
 conceptions, that I regard it as truly a divine intimation of 
 as much knowledge as man then needed ; but a vision, not 
 absolute naked intolerable truth, the glare of which the mind's 
 eye cannot bear, any more than Moses could endure the 
 vision of God without a veil.' 
 
 Such a * free handling ' of the Genesis narrative, it may 
 be supposed, was not allowed to pass unchallenged. Dean 
 Burgon wrote a caustic reply in the Guardian, in which he 
 contended for the literal truth of ' every word, every syllable, 
 every letter ' of the Bible ; but it needed no refutation, and 
 Pritchard did not trouble himself to reply. A more serious 
 criticism, however, came from another quarter. In the English 
 Mechanic and World of Science (26th February 1886), Prit- 
 chard was assailed by two writers, one of whom called in 
 question his facts, quoting M. Faye, the French astronomer, 
 against him ; and the other, his attempt to accept the 
 inspiration of the record while denying its accordance with 
 the most recent scientific discoveries. So far as I am aware, 
 Pritchard took no notice of his critics. But he had at least 
 the satisfaction of knowing that two other eminent scientific 
 men took substantially the same view that he did of the 
 creation story in Genesis, and, like himself, believed that it 
 could not be reconciled with 'what we at present know 
 of the constitution of Nature.' 
 
 When I was preparing my Notes on the First Chapters of 
 Genesis for the Expositor, I asked Sir George Stokes, at that 
 time President of the Royal Society, and Dr Bonney, Pro- 
 fessor of Geology at University College, London, as well as 
 Professor Pritchard, to give me their opinions, in writing, with 
 respect to the questions at issue. I had always felt that the 
 weak point in all commentaries on Genesis was, that the 
 writers, not being scientific men, their conclusions on these 
 questions were valueless, and I accordingly determined to 
 consult the highest authorities. These eminent men kindly 
 allowed me to publish their letters to me. They were all 
 
 N 
 
194 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 sincere and devout believers in the Christian Revelation, 
 accepted cordially the inspiration of the Bible, did not even 
 question its miracles, bowed implicitly to its authority in all 
 matters touching human conduct, but they all held, never- 
 theless, though with some variety as to detail, that in the 
 present state of our knowledge it was impossible to reconcile 
 Genesis I. with science, and they all took practically the 
 same ground, that it was no part of God's purpose to reveal 
 scientific truth, much less to anticipate the discoveries which 
 lie within the reach of man apart from revelation. 
 
 THE HIGHER CRITICISM. 
 
 Towards the ' Higher Criticism ' Pritchard's attitude was 
 anything but sympathetic. Still, he was prepared to make 
 admissions : 
 
 ' Such a collection as the Bible, Old Testament,' he wrote 
 to me, ' is open to any amount of insidious, ingenious criticism, 
 and unanswerable questions unlimited in number : it is to be 
 taken as a whole, with all its environments. Part of the 
 confusion, I think, comes from the perpetual lapses of the 
 people into the idolatries around them, so that they pre- 
 vented the establishment of the various religious institutions 
 foreshadowed in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.' 
 
 He is of opinion ' that an intelligent and reverential, yet 
 fearless, honest and dispassionate investigation of the Old 
 Testament books is required,' and he is prepared 'for con- 
 siderable modification of the old orthodox conceptions and 
 interpretations.' But he was never able to reconcile himself 
 to the extreme views of the more thorough-going critics; 
 indeed, it would not be too much to say he regarded these 
 with alarm. This was in some measure due, no doubt, to his 
 own habit of mind, which being intensely scientific, led him 
 to distrust the critical methods, but partly also to the tend- 
 ency, natural to all men as they grow old, to fall back upon 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 195 
 
 first principles, to cling to what they have found, by their 
 innermost experience, to be true. 
 
 It must be admitted that he hardly did justice to the 
 immensely fresh impulse given by the critics to the study of 
 the Bible, and the fresh interest which it acquired indirectly, 
 even when the conclusions of the critics were most glaringly 
 wrong. 
 
 Writing so late as 1 892, he says : 
 
 1 My spirit has been a good deal " put out " by the 
 
 (I cannot help calling it) disloyalty of . I admit all 
 
 the alleged apparent difficulties of the Old Testament. 
 I admit it is a literature and may have been redacted, but 
 my mind and common sense revolt at the conjectural 
 criticism which professes to have found a clue out of the 
 
 labyrinth. I don t believe with that no Psalm is 
 
 Davidic. I don't believe the Book of the Law was a forgery, 
 and I am strongly inclined to think the safest course, and the 
 one leading the nearest to the truth, is to accept the divine 
 books as they stand.' 
 
 And again : 
 
 * I want to talk over with you this so-called " High " 
 criticism, or, in all cases, conjectural criticism, and in some, 
 I fear, audacious. I trust the words of Paul and Jesus 
 
 infinitely beyond the hypotheses of and Co. I admit 
 
 intense and immense difficulties, but very many of them 
 arise from an utter ignorance of the environments of the 
 cases in question. I have neither time nor knowledge to 
 investigate the matter by myself, and I get distracted by the 
 confident opinions of the divines, clashing like meteor stones 
 and ending in fire and smoke.' 
 
 And he sums up by saying that he falls back on the 
 words of our Lord and of St Paul ' What said Christ and 
 what said St Paul?' 
 
 'As I read (he is not a clear writer, nor is he, as I 
 think, a clear thinker), the conclusion I come to is that 
 
196 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 the books of the Old Testament, or many of them, have 
 been very seriously, consciously, and in some instances 
 largely and designedly interpolated, the result being that 
 what an incautious reader might take as a veracious 
 and continuous history is a mosaic, made up or com- 
 piled at various periods of time, separated from each 
 other by centuries. No notice is given of the compila- 
 tion, and even fifty years ago, was such a compilation 
 even suspected? Now, the effect of such a state of the 
 composition of the books destroys, it may be urged, their 
 authority.' 
 
 In a similar strain he writes to Professor Sanday, who had 
 sent him the syllabus of his Bampton lectures : 
 
 * To Professor Sanday. 
 
 ' OXFORD, 
 ' 27// February 1893. 
 
 6 DEAR PROFESSOR SANDAY. I have to thank you for a 
 copy of your syllabus of four Bampton lectures. Naturally I 
 have read it with intense interest. 
 
 ' It occurs to me that this modern criticism raises far more 
 difficulties than those which it endeavours to explain or to 
 remove. The methods pursued do not seem to me to 
 resemble those which have been hitherto successful in re- 
 vealing some of the secrets of the natural world ; to me they 
 bear the aspect of haste and conjecture but I believe my 
 mind is open ; I try to keep it so. 
 
 ' I presume facts show that the degrees and kinds of inspira- 
 tion are very various ; the divine afflatus coming and going as 
 He wills in wisdom and love no doubt. There we agree. 
 
 * I don't doubt our early preconceptions of the Bible were 
 in various ways imperfect or erroneous ; at present we have 
 not the Bible of our youth, but chaos, and the attempts to 
 illuminate that chaos have issued in the destruction of the 
 faith of thousands alas ! I know many myself. 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 197 
 
 ' Our Lord's appeal to " Daniel the Prophet" is involved in 
 serious difficulty, and to my mind, the hypothesis that our 
 Lord merely takes the current accepted notions as he finds 
 them, is, in reference to this particular quotation, very difficult 
 and hazardous. There are also other similar instances, as you 
 know. 
 
 4 The account of " development " of the law by the priests 
 and others concerned is very trying to old-fashioned or 
 simple minds I don't think modern criticism has found the 
 right clue yet. 
 
 * You let down the Song of Songs more tenderly than I 
 should be disposed to do I think the forced interpretations 
 of it by divines have not been wise . . . but this is not 
 important. The source of the modern forms and directions 
 of " criticism " is German, eminently German. . . . Their 
 bias of thought is (in my mind) not generally conducive 
 to thought. But I own this remark does not help on 
 these difficult questions. 
 
 1 Search you will, and search you must, and I pray that 
 you may be enlightened in your search. I suppose it is 
 " your duty in that state. . . ." Meanwhile, and in the midst 
 of the chaos, I shall keep my mind as that of Locke's " Plain 
 Man," and use English common sense. I think Paul was an 
 incomparably abler man than any modern critics or divines 
 his opportunities in many ways greater, and his intentions 
 more u inspired." So, as I am unable to trace out all, or any 
 of the matters in question myself, I shall adopt his opinions, 
 and they lead me to the Christ of the Gospels implicitly, 
 whose words, as therein recorded, I accept as TRUE. Yours 
 gratefully, etc., C. P.' 
 
 The extracts which follow are from four letters written 
 at different times to Agnes Giberne, authoress of Sun, 
 Moon and Stars, to which Pritchard contributed a Preface. 
 
198 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 'OXFORD, Aug. 1879. 
 
 ' I have long long felt that the secret of the holy life lies 
 very much in the looking unto Jesus but therein looking 
 very much into his own life and words as recorded in the 
 Gospels specially in that by His earthly friend. The 
 bye-words shadows of his spirit observable to those who 
 look for them to be found in the sacred narrative are 
 simply marvellous. 
 
 ' If you want a suggestive book on this subject, you will 
 find it in Stier's Words of Jesus six long volumes translated 
 in Clarke's series a glorious book to those who will set 
 aside his long-winded discussions and get to the marrow 
 and pith of the thing. I know no book like it to me it 
 has opened out veins of thought and stores of nourishment 
 indescribable an exposition often of the mind of Christ in 
 his daily life and conversation memorable and salutary. 
 And then there are words of F. W. Robertson's never 
 forgotten when once received I hope you for your own 
 sake will not be frightened at the writings of that man of 
 God I know his peculiarities as to the scheme of redemp- 
 tion, and I don't share his views but some of his sermons 
 are not equalled in our language. " The loneliness of Christ," 
 the feminine side of His human nature is grand and 
 fructiferous. ... I am rejoiced that words of mine in the 
 Hulsean Lectures set your mind into motion THAT was 
 their object to suggest to originate thought in minds.' 
 
 1880. 
 
 ' My greatest delight is and long has been philosophical 
 divinity : to see the way of the Great Father in the conduct 
 of the worlds Nature in all its extent so far as we can at 
 present see it a great little way. 
 
 ' My spirit leaps within me at the contempation ; I speak 
 sincerely. But sometimes the thoughts are sad as were 
 the Psalmists, " I do see the ungodly," etc. But then I 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 199 
 
 have a distant hope (no more) that in some way the 
 Father's own way the moral waifs may by moral means 
 possibly redemption and grace yet come to cry Abba 
 Father, "And all is cleansed when the marble weeps." I 
 don't say this is revealed to us ! I am sure the contrary 
 is not absolutely and unmistakeably stated. But such 
 thoughts are not the business of life. . . . 
 
 In March 1890 he writes: 
 
 ' My ditties to you remind me of dear old Dean 
 Hook's packages to me I have a lot of them but he 
 was a practical man, and avoided all such questions 
 as mine.' . . . (Writing concerning a geological work). 
 ' But does not the Great Father teach and inspire 
 His children with truths or half truths limited to their 
 capacities ? Has He not done so ? But then see what a 
 door we open by the word Relative Truth, from the Author 
 of Truth. Enough. I shall repeat to myself after this 
 Miss Waring's hymn, " I would not have the restless will," 
 etc., etc. What a wonderful book the Bible is what 
 thoughts it leads to, read amidst the book of Nature.' . . . 
 
 ' 1891. 
 
 ' I see you adhere strongly to the old orthodox teachings 
 of your childhood as regards the texts and texture of Scrip- 
 ture. Happy for you. I am a LITTLE modified ; the evidence 
 of a divine influence in the composition of the books is to 
 me greatly enhanced by a modification of my views regarding 
 the obviously human elements in the Scriptures. I see a 
 "continuity" in the inspired and the cultured intellect in 
 the Scripture and human histories ; my convictions of a 
 Divine Revelation are strengthened by the studies of my 
 life but my views of the MODE of it are a little changed.' 
 
 ' In matters theological it does seem to me to be a most 
 
200 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 happy thing for God's children to take their Father's book, 
 and read it by the living light of a sanctified heart seeking 
 at first for no other guide (but Him). 
 
 * But we all have had environments from childhood and 
 have them still, and the light from these environments gets 
 reflected to us, little as we think it : in this way our notions 
 are, many of them, not our own outcomes after all ; and we 
 can't help it, it is a law of our nature, and no doubt a wise 
 one. God therein may be giving us helps. 
 
 ( No Christian I think, if isolated from others, and with 
 the N. T. alone, could or would evolve modern Christian 
 notions and arrangements : St Paul, I ween, would stare at 
 our ecclesiastical Christianity. We are all in it and can't get 
 out of it. So much for the absolute originality of your or 
 anyone's conception of Heaven, etc.' 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 2OI 
 
 Note L 
 
 THE SLOWNESS OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS 
 
 (From the First Hulsean Lecture.) 
 
 1 And now, for the purposes of illustrating our argument, 
 I must ask you for a moment to summon forth that divine 
 creative faculty wherewith God has lovingly endued us for 
 the clearer apprehension of his manifold works. In imagina- 
 tion I must ask you to ascend with me some old Silurian 
 hill on the primeval earth, ages upon ages before God had 
 fitted it for the abode of man. Picture to yourself some 
 mighty stream like the Ganges or the Amazon rolling its 
 waters from far distant mountains into an ancient sea. You 
 observe the broad interminable belt of forest which, stretch- 
 ing inland further than the eye can reach, rises in wild 
 luxuriance from the swamps which fringe the stream. You 
 may trace there the majestic pine, the graceful fern, the erect 
 gigantic moss, fluted and towering columnar reeds, and a 
 strange fantastic undergrowth, unknown to the flora of the 
 age of man. The oak and the elm, the sycamore and the 
 noble acacias of the west, you will not find, for as yet they 
 are not created. There are no cattle grazing * upon a thou- 
 sand hills,' for God as yet has not clothed those hills with 
 grass. In the thick jungle of these primeval forests you will 
 not hear ' the young lions roaring after their prey,' for as yet 
 there is no meat provided for such by God. Those forests 
 are tuneless of the glad carols of the birds, for as yet ' the 
 herb yielding seed, and 'the fruit tree yielding fruit after his 
 kind' are not created for their food. Apart from the low 
 croak of the reptile, and it may be the shrill chirp of many 
 an insect, there is the hush of the silence of non-existence 
 amidst those matted fronds, save when the voice of the Lord 
 is heard in the thunder or the wind. 
 
 ' And if in the strength of this creative gift you still keep 
 
202 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 your stand upon your watch-place for ages beyond your 
 power to count, you will see nothing but the decay and the 
 renewal of that interminable umbrageous belt. The ferns 
 will fade, the gigantic moss and the columnar reed will 
 shrivel, and the pines will decay and fall to their mother 
 earth, but all this only to make way for another and more 
 luxuriant growth. And so for ages. 
 
 * At length the scene changes, and through some mighty 
 pulsation, some throb of the earth's bosom, ordained of God, 
 you see the waters of the broad swampy margin deepen and 
 deepen, and then pile upon pile of forest growth and forest 
 decay are submerged and gone. But wait awhile for the 
 lapse of years: I know not how many, for science as yet 
 has found no unit for the measure of cycles such as these. 
 Whatever the periods may be, the divine faculty within us 
 concentrates and apprehends them all as but a whiff of 
 vaporous time. Wait awhile, and then upon the broad silted 
 margin of the everlasting stream piles upon piles of other 
 forests again rise and decay, and by slow successive pulsa- 
 tions of the uncompleted earth in their turn disappear be- 
 neath the swollen tide. 
 
 ' Now if in spirit you saw all this, and only this, would 
 you be able to decipher the meaning of the riddle ? Would 
 you imagine, for instance, that all this mysterious prodigality 
 of decay was a divine elaborate contrivance for the produc- 
 tion and storing of fuel for the service of races of beings 
 yet unborn ? As you witnessed the successive growths and 
 submergence of those forests, could you forsee or conceive 
 in what way such an arrangement of things could one day 
 materially conduce to the development of the genius of 
 intelligent creatures who were destined to be in remote 
 futurity the last and chiefest denizens of the earth? And 
 if some bright messenger from the throne of God stood at 
 your side, and at the beginning of the vision had told you 
 how, in other forests of far different growth, the fowls of 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 20$ 
 
 heaven would one day "make their nests, and sing among 
 the branches " ; if he had told you that cattle would graze 
 upon a thousand hills, and that " by the springs in the valleys 
 the wild asses should quench their thirst " ; if he had told 
 you that God would place upon the earth a being clothed 
 in the majestic image of His own mind, to be the lord and 
 master of created things ; then I think that at the first 
 you would receive the revelation, though in wonder yet in 
 thankfulness of spirit, and you would wait in the fulness 
 of hope for the accomplishment of the promise. But if 
 the vision proceeded through incalculable time, and for ages 
 you had seen nothing but what, for want of better know- 
 ledge, seemed to you an endless prodigality of waste, 
 would you in your impatience be tempted to say, Surely 
 that bright messenger of God spoke to me in parables ; 
 for I see nothing, and for ages I have seen nothing, but 
 a constant inflexible uniformity of Nature; as for the grass 
 which he told me was to cover the hills, and the thousands 
 of cattle which were to fill the plains, all such creations 
 would be inconceivable, miraculous interruptions of that 
 Nature which for thousands of centuries I have observed 
 unbroken in its course. And as for the advent of that being 
 who is to be the lord of that new earth, " where now is the 
 promise of his coming, for since the beginning of the creation 
 all things continue as they were ? " ' 
 
204 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 Note II. 
 
 PREFACE TO THE SERMON DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT NOTTINGHAM IN 1866. 
 
 I have already remarked how profound was the impression 
 produced on Pritchard's mind by his early study of Butler at 
 the university. It has left its trace on all his theological 
 writings. That the God of Nature is the God of Revelation 
 is the key-note, whether in undertone or in full expression, of 
 all his published sermons and addresses. But it is perhaps 
 nowhere more strikingly evident than in the preface to his 
 Sermon before the British Association at Nottingham in 1866. 
 
 * This discourse was written at Nottingham immediately 
 after the delivery of Mr (now Sir William) Grove's address 
 to the British Association.* Those who had the privilege of 
 then hearing, or who have subsequently read, Mr Grove's dis- 
 course, will at once perceive that his remarks on the System 
 of Nature suggested mine on the Scheme of Divine Revela- 
 tion. That eminent philosopher pointed out, with a graceful 
 comprehensiveness peculiarly his own, how a Law of CON- 
 TINUITY pervades and embraces the whole physical universe, 
 so far at least as our knowledge of it at present extends. There 
 are no gaps, no sudden leaps in nature, he observed, pro- 
 bably not even in the interstellar spaces themselves. Modern 
 discovery seems to indicate with more or less distinctiveness 
 that the sun and the larger planets are in their turns suc- 
 ceeded by smaller asteroids, and these again by swarms of 
 revolving meteoric or planetary dust ; the position of many of 
 these swarms being at least partially determined, and the 
 times and places when they become entangled and inflamed 
 in our atmosphere being accurately known. Saturn, again, 
 has his systems of rings of meteoric matter, and it may be 
 
 * The late Sir William Grove was President of the British Association in the 
 year 1866, when the Society met at Nottingham. 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 205 
 
 that the sun is surrounded by that mysterious substance from 
 whence proceeds the zodiacal light. All these systems of 
 matter moreover, are either identical in composition, or at 
 all events contain many terrestrial elements in common. 
 Naturalists also tell us that the same sort of unbroken 
 gradation or CONTINUITY exists in the organic world ; 
 species melting into species, they say, so that the further 
 our knowledge extends, the more difficult it is to decide 
 where one ends and another begins. 
 
 ' The evidence that such is probably the constitution of the 
 things we see, was perhaps never more clearly and succinctly 
 detailed than in the discourse to which I refer. While listen- 
 ing to this account of the constitution of Nature, Origen's 
 remark, quoted by Bishop Butler, could scarcely fail to occur 
 to the mind of any person at all versed in theology, and it 
 certainly occurred to mine. Butler, indeed, for the purposes 
 of his treatise, somewhat narrows the scope of what that most 
 philosophical of ancient divines intends to imply, for the 
 version which he gives is this : He who believes the Scriptures 
 to have proceeded from the Author of Nature may well expect to 
 find the same sort of difficulties in them as are found in the con- 
 stitution of Nature* Origen's remark, however, does not 
 appear to be restricted to the question of difficulties alone, but 
 to include any and all generic relations of created things 
 which may be discovered by human research. Had he 
 spoken in the language of our day he would probably 
 have said, " There is a Continuity between the Scheme of 
 Nature and the Scheme of Revelation, as recorded in the 
 Scriptures." 
 
 ' In this point of view, and so far as the very restricted 
 limits assigned to me would permit, I have endeavoured to 
 show how the great scheme of redemption may be regarded 
 as a grand continuation, or rather as the divine climax, of that 
 system of intervention and vicarious suffering which not only 
 
 * Analogy, Introduction. See the original facing the Preface, 
 
206 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 pervades the natural world, but without much merciful 
 alleviation, that world would become a scene of hopeless 
 misery. Butler, as is well known, has already shown the 
 same thing, under the idea of Analogy, which I here present 
 under the thought of gradation or continuity. I then proceed 
 to show that faith in the Redeemer is a grand continuation 
 also, or rather is the divine climax of that principle of trust- 
 fulness in each other, which forms the very cement of the 
 social fabric. Lastly, I have given my reasons for represent- 
 ing the restoration or sanctification of man's moral character 
 by communion with God, as in the main a sacred extension 
 of that Imitative Principle acting through association, which 
 it has pleased God to implant in our nature for many wise 
 and moral purposes, and which in this case He adorns with 
 His especial grace. 
 
 ' I do not pretend that there is anything essentially new 
 in these thoughts ; if there were, this very novelty would 
 have been, to me at least, a sufficient reason for a very 
 guarded reconsideration. But then the grouping, I believe, 
 is new, just as the grouping of certain acknowledged 
 principles in the scheme of Nature, under the term Continuity, 
 is new on the part of Mr Grove. I think, also, that this 
 mode of viewing the scheme of Revelation, as contained in 
 the Holy Scriptures, is not without considerable importance. 
 For surely it must be a matter of great interest to the 
 Christian student, to see how each fresh accession of human 
 knowledge which God has permitted (and as I think has 
 intended) His creatures to make, regarding the natural 
 world, not seldom serves also to illustrate and confirm 
 our faith in that scheme of divine government or dispensa- 
 tion which is revealed to us in the Bible. It was mainly 
 this consideration which induced me to select this new 
 topic of Continuity as the proper subject for an address 
 from the pulpit to the members of the British Association 
 for the Advancement of Science ; and I have to express 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 2O7 
 
 my gratitude for the patient and respectful hearing which 
 they gave to my remarks. 
 
 ' It may not here be out of place to observe, that the 
 word Continuity is not the only philosophical term for 
 which we are indebted to Mr Grove. This term he has 
 applied to the plan of Nature throughout its known extent ; 
 but he has also proposed another word which groups 
 together the forces of Nature in a singularly happy and 
 expressive manner. These forces co-exist, interlace, osculate 
 with each other ; they are capable of evolution in a definite 
 manner, the one from the other. The associations of 
 matter with motion, light, heat, electricity, magnetism 
 and chemical action, are all (in the language of Mr Grove) 
 CORRELATED, and within prescribed limits, are interchange- 
 able in quality and in quantity. This CORRELATION of 
 the physical forces may, I think, be regarded as, upon 
 the whole, the most remarkable discovery since the 
 discussion of the Laws of Gravitation by Newton ; and 
 there are not wanting reasons to expect that even the 
 attraction of gravitation itself may be found to be a link 
 in the same physical chain. Now, since it is thus shown 
 that the Divine Governor of the universe has seen fit 
 to bind, in one bond of Correlation, the forces acting 
 in that part of His dominions which are seen ; ought we 
 not, in the spirit of Origen's remark, to look for a similar 
 Correlation between those principles or laws, which have 
 their proper functions in that part of the Divine Government 
 which, though not seen, is revealed ? If we seek for it, 
 we shall find it. 
 
 ' For where do the laws of Providence, for instance, end, 
 and where do the laws of Grace begin ? are not both of 
 them phases of the same Divine loving care ? Does not 
 the one presuppose the other? And a similar remark 
 holds good regarding the functions of Faith, and Hope, 
 and Love, and Obedience. Is not Hope the twin-sister 
 
208 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 of Faith ? And is not Obedience the daughter of Love ? * 
 And what becomes of Obedience when Faith is under a 
 cloud ? And in the great scheme of Man's redemption, 
 does not an apostle tells us that Justification and Sanctifi- 
 cation co-exist and interlace ? and may not this fact go 
 far to explain the interminable and sometimes unloving 
 discussions regarding their true origin and their distinctive 
 functions ? 
 
 ' Hence the sagacious remark made by Origen some 
 fifteen centuries ago, like the expressions of other com- 
 prehensive truths, proves to be prophetic, and reaches to 
 us and embraces our children. And this leads me to 
 observe how unnecessary and how suicidal is that timidity, 
 not to use a stronger term, with which many religious 
 persons, and, I regret to add, some divines among us, 
 receive the successive disclosures of the constitution of 
 natural things, which of late years have come upon us in 
 thick abundance. Such timidity is unnecessary, because 
 each new fact, each new truth, when fairly presented to 
 the mind, if only it be a truth, cannot fail to become a 
 new illustration of Him whom they know to be The Truth, 
 and whom they profess to love. For my own part, and 
 I hope I say it with no affectation, and I am sure I say 
 it with no reserve, from the results of modern research, 
 I have gathered additional reasons for resting in the 
 simplicity of the ancient Christian faith, and in modern 
 discoveries I have found many a new and unexpected 
 trace of the Creator's majesty, of His power, His wisdom, 
 and His love. Some instances of what I mean will, it is 
 hoped, be found in the Sermon which follows these remarks. 
 May I be permitted to say, that if the progress of know- 
 ledge shall, on a calm and impartial review, induce theo- 
 logians somewhat to modify, here and there, a popular 
 or hasty, or merely human interpretation of one or two 
 
 * See Wordsworth's ' Ode to Duty.' 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 20Q 
 
 portions of the Divine Revelation, then, judging from my 
 own experience, I feel assured that, with this increase of 
 intelligent perception of the Will of God, there must be 
 associated the exaltation of our reverential love of His 
 Word. 
 
 ' But it seems to me to be worth considering whether this 
 suspicious timidity regarding science and scientific men, 
 may not after all be grounded on an entire mistake. For 
 after all, is it true that the pursuit of science has any 
 inherent tendency towards religious scepticism? I would 
 venture to ask whether Kepler, or Newton, or Leibnitz, 
 or Euler, or Linnaeus, or Cuvier, were sceptics? If it 
 were not that obvious reasons forbid it, I could put, 
 without misgiving, the same question in reference to the 
 great majority in the long phalanx of living men, who 
 are devoting God's noble gift of genius to the elucidation 
 of God's works. I do not say that the fashionable Agnos- 
 ticism of the day has not found some adherents among 
 men of science, as it has found many among educated 
 men of every class. But it is pre-occupation of mind, 
 rather than science, which is, and ever has been, the 
 prolific parent of scepticism and of indifference in religion. 
 Are not the pre-occupations of high position, the pre- 
 occupations of ambition, of literature, of money-getting 
 and of money-spending, of conceit, of sensual habits, and 
 even of idleness, at least as unfriendly to the hearty 
 acceptance of the Christian revelation, as are the pre- 
 occupations of scientific pursuits? I trust I am not guilty 
 of speaking in a presumptuous spirit, if I venture to 
 remark that enormous mischief has arisen from ill-judged, 
 unmerited, and often very igno'rant attacks which have 
 been made upon the supposed tendencies of science, and 
 che supposed scepticism of scientific men, from the pulpit, 
 in religious circles, and in religious publications. It is 
 agreeable to no man to be pointed at with the finger of 
 
 O 
 
2IO CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 suspicion ; and men of sensitive and independent minds 
 will leave, and within my own knowledge have left, a 
 ministration of God's word, not from any original distaste 
 for revealed truth, but because they have found themselves, 
 and the at least innocent pursuits they love, made the 
 object of covert, and unkind, and ignorant comment. It 
 can be no exaggeration to say, that such an alienation of 
 any highly gifted and influential mind is nothing short 
 of a public loss, and that, therefore, the timidity in question 
 is suicidal. 
 
 ( On the other hand, it cannot be doubted, and it may not 
 be concealed, that there is a reticence, and I wish I were 
 wrong in adding there is a growing reticence, observable in 
 the writings of some able men, which is both disappointing 
 and painful to religious minds. It is a reticence regarding 
 that Eternal Father, Who, even on principles of natural 
 religion alone, is the Prime Cause, and the Governor of 
 that universe, the frame-work of which is the object of the 
 researches of these thoughtful men. It may be that one 
 cause of this reticence is, the natural reaction from certain 
 violations of good taste and propriety, which at one time 
 abounded in the (after all, well-meant) writings of second- 
 hand writers and religious sciolists. It may be that another 
 cause is to be found in the fact that these great writers have 
 in their own minds intentionally distinguished the subjective 
 from the objective, separating the things of sight from the 
 things of faith ; but whatever the causes may be, the fact 
 remains, and as I have said, it is both disappointing and 
 painful. I will only venture to add one observation more 
 upon this subject, and I am sure that the great writers to 
 whom with unfeigned respect I allude, will bear me out in 
 the justness of the remark and it is this; the giants of 
 old, who were the pioneers of modern knowledge, the 
 Keplers for instance, the Newtons, the Bernoullis, the 
 Eulers of ancient fame, had no such reticence. Why 
 
THEOLOGICAL WORK 211 
 
 should the sons be more reticent than the fathers? In 
 this behest I cannot do better than conclude with a few 
 passages out of that magnificent Scholium with which 
 Newton closes the Principia, and if I give the original it 
 is because I despair of making or of finding a version 
 which could reproduce the eloquence of Newton's words : 
 " Elegantissima hacce solis planetarum et cometarum corn- 
 pages, non nisi consilio et dominio entis intelligentis et potentis 
 oriri potuit. Et si stellce fix(Z sint centra similium systematum, 
 hcec omnia simili consilio constructa suberunt UNIUS dominio. 
 . . . Hie omnia regit non ut anima mundi, sed ut Univer- 
 sorum Dominus. Et propter dominium suum, Dominus Deus 
 UavroKparup did solet. Nam Deus est vox relativa, et ad servos 
 refertur ; et deltas est dominatio Dei, non in corpus proprium, 
 uti sentiunt quibus Deus est anima mundi, sed in servos. Deus 
 summus est ens csternum^ infinitum^ absolute perfectum. . . . 
 Non est <zternitas et infinitas, sed ceternus et infinitus ; non 
 est duratio et spatium, sed durat et adest. . . . Ut cczcus non 
 habet ideam colorum^ sic nos ideam non habemus modorum^ 
 quibus Deus sapientissimus sentit et intelligit omnia. . . . 
 Corpore omni et figura corpored prorsus destituitur^ ideoque 
 videri non potest, nee audiri, nee tangi, nee sub specie rei 
 alicujus corporece coli debet. . . . Hunc cognoscimus solummodo 
 per proprietates ejus et attributa, et per sapientissimas et 
 optimas rerum structuras et causas finales y et admiramur ob 
 perfectiones ; veneramur autem et colimus ob dominium. 
 Colimus enim ut servi> et Deus sine dominio^ providentid et 
 causzs Jinalibus nihil aliud est quamfatum et natura. A ccecd 
 necessitate metaphysicd, quce eadem e,st et semper et ubique, 
 nulla oritur rerum variatio. Tota rerum conditarum pro 
 locis ac temporibus diversitas, ab ideis et voluntate entis 
 necessario exist entis solummodo oriri potuit. . . . Et hcec de 
 Deo, de quo utique ex pJioenomenis disserere ad philosophiam 
 naturalem per tine t" 
 
 ( In the notes, I have given what appear to me valid 
 
212 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 reasons, drawn from astronomical and physical considera- 
 tions, why I cannot accept, to its full extent, Mr Darwin's 
 Theory of Natural Selection, as explaining the development 
 of the human eye from some greatly inferior organisation. 
 If the arguments are correct, they extend to other organs 
 also. In the strictures on this theory, I trust not a word 
 will be found inconsistent with that respectful admiration 
 which I, in common with most educated men, entertain for 
 the author of some of the most charming books in our lan- 
 guage. I hope, also, Dr Tyndall will find no just cause 
 for complaint in the manner of my taking exception to some 
 of his recent remarks on Prayer. 
 
 'The great mental agitation on subjects connected with 
 Religion, for which this age is remarkable, so far from 
 furnishing a reasonable cause for despondency, may fairly 
 be viewed as a providential opportunity for learned and 
 high-placed divines to exhibit and enforce such new aspects 
 of truth as they may consider to have been overlooked. It 
 was in this light that Augustine habitually regarded the 
 controversies of his day. It is anathema, and not modera : 
 tion in argument, that is a sure sign either of a falling or 
 a weakly supported cause. In contending with an opponent, 
 nothing is gained by that assumption of a tone of superiority 
 or by that " look of offence which, though harmless in effect, 
 nevertheless," in the words of the greatest of ancient his- 
 torians,* " is troublesome and painful to those who endure it." 
 
 * Thucyd., lib. ii., cap. 37. 
 
Astronomical Work of Charles Pritchard 
 
 BY 
 
 Professor H. H. TURNER, F.R.A.S. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 AN endeavour to give some account of Professor Pritchard's 
 astronomical career is beset with peculiar difficulty. Two 
 kinds of knowledge are requisite that of the biographer, and 
 that of the astronomer. This primary difficulty is not at 
 first sight an exceptional one ; the biographer of an eminent 
 man requires in all cases not only literary skill, but a technical 
 knowledge of the work which filled the life he attempts to 
 describe. In the case of a man of letters alone are the two 
 sorts of knowledge identical ; in all others the biographer 
 must be chosen from one of two classes, which are in too 
 many instances mutually exclusive fellow workers who are 
 well acquainted with the facts of the life and work in 
 question, but are not perhaps able to convey to others their 
 true or full meaning ; and those who could ably expound 
 and interpret the facts, but have not the leisure to spend 
 in acquiring a complete knowledge of them. 
 
 It must be admitted that this obvious dilemma does not 
 often become serious in practice ; more especially in the 
 case of men of science, when, so long as the facts are 
 clearly stated, the manner of stating them may well be 
 further disregarded. Another worker in the same field has 
 generally acquired a sufficient familiarity with proper methods 
 of stating such facts clearly if only in publishing the results 
 of his own work to be a competent biographer. From this 
 point of view I undertook, though not without many mis- 
 givings, to give some account of the astronomical life of 
 
 215 
 
2l6 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 my predecessor in the Savilian Chair at Oxford. It was not, 
 however, until I had begun to collect the materials, and 
 reflect upon them, that I saw how inapplicable was the 
 general principle above stated, and what an exceptional 
 difficulty was to be encountered. It would not be an 
 adequate account of Professor Pritchard's life to state clearly, 
 whether in technical or popular language, what pieces of 
 work he had accomplished. This would indeed be excep- 
 tionally easy in his case owing to his manner of work his 
 method of rounding off and completing a definite research, 
 and leaving no straggling ends to be gathered together after 
 his death. 
 
 Possibly this methodical habit may have been partly 
 a result of his beginning his professional career as an 
 astronomer at the age of sixty-two it was more of a possibility 
 to him than to younger men that each new undertaking 
 might be his last, and this may have made him more careful 
 to arrange for its completion in a limited time. 
 
 But these researches, important as they are in themselves, 
 and admirable as the work of so old a man, must after all 
 be accorded only a secondary importance. The pictures of 
 Pritchard as a man of method, who added three or four 
 well-shaped stones to the astronomical tower, and even of 
 Pritchard as a veteran of youthful vigour, accomplishing 
 more than men half a century younger, must be subordinated 
 to that of Pritchard as a pioneer. It is not, after all, what 
 he accomplished that should be here clearly stated ; but what 
 he was among men that should be depicted with the artist's 
 skill. His labelled achievements and his astronomical life 
 his works and his work, if the quip may pass are so distinct. 
 They are separated, with but little straining of the facts, by 
 an actual date, that of the building of the Oxford University 
 Observatory in 1874. All his important researches (labelled 
 as his, though he was ever the first to acknowledge what was 
 due to his assistants, Mr Plummer and Mr Jenkins : he was 
 
INTRODUCTORY 217 
 
 the architect, they the builders) were subsequent to this 
 date ; but his position as an astronomer may be said to have 
 culminated just before it, when, after passing the Presidential 
 Chair of the Royal Astronomical Society, and being elected 
 Savilian Professor at Oxford, he persuaded the University to 
 spend a large sum on an observatory at a time when the 
 science was being more and more neglected in the sister 
 University the home of Newton and Adams. 
 
 A summary of Professor Pritchard's scientific work of the 
 usual pattern would thus deal almost entirely with the period 
 subsequent to 1874. If reference were made to earlier years, it 
 would perhaps be chiefly to express surprise that one who 
 ultimately showed himself to be capable of accomplishing 
 so much, should have left little on record during so long. 
 But from the other point of view when we consider Professor 
 Pritchard's relations to his fellow workers, and to the history 
 of astronomy the very meagreness of the record becomes of 
 importance. How was it that a man of few actual achieve- 
 ments enjoyed so full a measure of the confidence of his 
 fellow men? a confidence in no sense misplaced, as the 
 result abundantly proved ; but derived almost entirely (as 
 remarked above) from what he was as contrasted with what 
 he did. 
 
 It is easy to remark briefly that Professor Pritchard was 
 throughout his life a man of the most liberal sympathies ; 
 that whether as a schoolmaster, a divine, or an astronomer, 
 his interests in enterprise and in the advance of learning were 
 of the keenest ; and that his place, ever among the pioneers, 
 gave him his prominence and distinction. But to give an 
 adequate account of a life of this kind obviously requires the 
 technical skill far more of a biographer than of an astronomer. 
 The readers of this volume have presented to them in another 
 section the position occupied by Professor Pritchard as a 
 divine ; the same skill might well have been brought to the 
 task of portraying his astronomical life. The central motive 
 
2l8 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 is indeed the same in both ; the never-failing freshness and 
 vigour of thought and action, which waxed rather than waned 
 with the advance of old age. In their later years, most men 
 acquire a gentle conservativism in their habits and ideas ; 
 Professor Pritchard was just as ready a few years before his 
 death to enter upon a completely new astronomical enterprise 
 in the mapping of the heavens by the new methods of photo- 
 graphy, as he was to examine the foundations of the Christian 
 Faith. 
 
 It seems to me, therefore, that I may be allowed a few 
 words of apology for undertaking the present task. Until it 
 was undertaken, I did not realise how hopeless would appear, 
 on nearer view, the attempt to sketch this career, especially in 
 the earlier portion. Having undertaken it, however, it only 
 remains to make the attempt as best one can ; this lesson, 
 at least, is thoroughly taught by the study of the life before 
 us. I must gratefully acknowledge the help given by Sir 
 W. J. Herschel, who has very kindly entrusted me with a 
 series of letters from Professor Pritchard to his father (Sir 
 John Herschel) ; to Dr W. Huggins, who has similarly 
 allowed me the use of letters received by him ; and of Miss 
 Ada Pritchard, who has assisted in ways too numerous to 
 mention. 
 
 It is disappointing to find that so few letters remain or 
 can be deciphered. Letters, which can so often be left to 
 speak for themselves, are especially valuable in the present 
 instance ; but in many of the press copies which have been 
 preserved the ink is so faded that the writing is quite illegible. 
 It would be well if those who have charge of old letters, 
 and especially of old copies of letters, could find the leisure to 
 examine them at intervals, and have re-copied such as were 
 fading, but worthy of preservation. The old copying ink of 
 fifty years ago does not seem to be permanent. I remember 
 noticing that many of the letters copied at the Royal 
 Observatory, Greenwich, show the same signs of fading. 
 
CHAPTER I I 
 
 ASTRONOMICAL WORK AT CLAPHAM AND FRESHWATER 
 
 A SERIES of letters to Sir John Herschel, the replies to which 
 have unfortunately not been preserved, affords almost the 
 only recoverable information concerning Mr Pritchard's 
 scientific life at Clapham in the earlier years. The first letter 
 does not touch on astronomical points, but is of general 
 interest. It indicates that the correspondence arose partly 
 in the exchange of letters concerning a son of Sir John's (now 
 Professor Alexander Herschel) who was at the famous Clap- 
 ham Grammar School under Mr Pritchard's care ; and partly 
 in a common interest in some novel experiments which were 
 at the time being made by Mr Gassiot one of those wealthy 
 amateurs who have done so much for science. The letters 
 are not dated, but a hypothetical date has been supplied. 
 
 'CLAPHAM, 
 ' Tuesday 
 
 ( DEAR SIR JOHN, The day you mention is perfectly 
 convenient to me and to Mr Gassiot. I propose, if quite 
 agreeable to you, that you should reach my house on 
 Monday next, a few minutes before six. We will then take 
 a little refreshment and adjourn to Mr Gassiot's, where, I 
 expect, we shall meet Faraday ; at least, this is not improb- 
 able. I can very conveniently give you a bed on Monday 
 evening, which very possibly will be more convenient to you 
 than moving late in the evening. 
 
 * If there is any particular experiment which you would like 
 
 219 
 
220 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 to see, Mr Gassiot and myself will, with the greatest pleasure, 
 endeavour to arrange it. 
 
 < Apropos of experiments, I hardly know whether you are 
 aware that Frauenhofer's lines are (many of them) visible 
 through an indifferent prism without a telescope or dark 
 room. I have seen 3 of them with a piece of glass off a 
 lustre in my drawing-room with the shutters open. 
 
 ' I am rejoiced to say your little boy's health has been upon 
 the whole very satisfactory, and I think his progress hopeful.' 
 
 The next letter (dated merely July i8th, probably in 1848- 
 50) refers to the purchase of an equatorial, and is interesting 
 as showing the state of practical optics at the time. The 
 price of a five-inch object-glass is now given in an instrument 
 maker's catalogue as about 25. Mr Pritchard writes fifty 
 years ago : * I have received from Munich an object-glass 
 47/10 in. clear aperture which I have covenanted not to pay 
 for unless it is pronounced by Mr Dawes quite first-rate 
 (cost .40). So I shall hope. I presume it ought to 
 separate Cancri (distance i"'2) or Bootis. But what im- 
 presses me is the difficulty there seems to exist in getting 
 an optician to try his instrument before he sends it away.' 
 
 A few years later he begins to wish for a larger object- 
 glass, and shows an inclination to attack resolutely the 
 practical problems of optics, to which later on he devoted 
 much labour. We do not, however, hear any more of this 
 project at the time, though the subject is recurred to later. 
 Only one letter written to Sir John Herschel during the next 
 seven years has been preserved probably there were no 
 others of importance and this gives the briefest possible 
 account of a visit to Rome in 1855. We will therefore pass 
 on to three letters relating to the Total Solar Eclipse of iSth 
 July 1860, which attracted so many observers, and Mr 
 Pritchard among the number, to Spain. The event has 
 taken its place in history as the occasion of the first successful 
 
ASTRONOMICAL WORK AT CLAPHAM AND FRESHWATER 221 
 
 application of the photographic method to the representation 
 of the chromosphere and inner corona ; and fully to under- 
 stand the letters and Mr Pritchard's enterprise we must 
 recall, in some detail, the circumstances of this eclipse, which 
 the rapid advance of photography, rather than the mere 
 march of time, has rendered so unfamiliar. 
 
 On the occasion of a total solar eclipse, when the dark 
 body of the moon has advanced over the bright disc of the 
 sun, and completely covered it, there flash into view portions 
 of the sun which are never seen by inhabitants of this earth 
 except on these occasions. The corona, which has been 
 compared to the glory round the head of a saint, is seen 
 stretching in all directions from the black central disc of 
 the moon, and close to this black disc reddish flames of 
 very irregular shape are seen. We now know that these 
 appearances, the * glory ' and the * red flames,' the corona 
 and the prominences, are parts of the sun, and form the 
 permanent solar atmosphere, and that we only see them 
 during total solar eclipses, because on other occasions the 
 enormously more powerful light from the body of the sun 
 obliterates all traces of them. We have further learnt to 
 detect the prominences by the spectroscope when there is 
 no eclipse, and hopes are entertained of ultimately photo- 
 graphing the corona without an eclipse. But in 1860 all 
 that was known with certainty of these appearances was that 
 they occurred during total solar eclipses; whether they 
 represented real envelopes of either sun or moon, or were 
 of the nature of optical illusions (were due, for instance, to 
 the refraction of the sun's light by a lunar atmosphere), was 
 not certainly known. The prevailing opinion was that both 
 flames and corona belonged to the sun, and had a real 
 existence ; but it was only an opinion, not an established 
 fact. We cannot do better than glance at the evidence for 
 the character of the red flames as summed up in Grant's 
 History of Physical Astronomy, published in 1852. Grant 
 
222 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 shows, in the clearest manner, how it was surmised, but not 
 proved, that these prominences belong to the sun. [His 
 further speculations as to the real nature of these 'red 
 flames' which we now know to be portions of a solar 
 envelope, and to consist of incandescent hydrogen or metals 
 have been swept away by the spectroscope, and are now 
 only valuable as indicating the precarious nature of the 
 conclusions arrived at in 1852.] These conclusions had not 
 been seriously modified in 1860, for there had been no 
 opportunity of revising them, no total eclipse of importance 
 having occurred meanwhile. And while the question whether 
 or not the red prominences belonged to the sun still awaited 
 its final solution, a new question of a totally different kind 
 had arisen in the supposed though, as we now know, unreal 
 discovery of a new inner planet, revolving between the sun 
 and Mercury, for which the name of Vulcan had been 
 proposed, and which it was reasonably expected might, 
 though generally lost in the sun's rays, become visible in 
 the semi-darkness of an eclipse. The total eclipse of 1860 
 was visible from Spain, and thus specially easy of access. 
 Seeing what important questions were awaiting settlement, 
 we can well imagine with what eagerness observers flocked 
 to the points favourable for observation. The three letters 
 to Sir John Herschel, describing Mr Pritchard's share in this 
 enterprise, run as follows : 
 
 CLAPHAM, 
 'June 23^, 1860. 
 
 6 DEAR SIR JOHN HERSCHEL, May I venture to ask 
 your opinion and counsel regarding the eclipse. Your 
 opinion on the what and the how of what I propose, and 
 suggestions regarding what I may have omitted. 
 
 ' i. I take the means of ascertaining latitude and longi- 
 tude and time, viz., 2 chronometers, and a small altazimuth. 
 
 1 2. A telescope (good) 3^ aperture, 46 in. focal length : 
 
ASTRONOMICAL WORK AT CLAPHAM AND FRESHWATER 223 
 
 mounted on a very firm tripod, so as to have a polar motion 
 adjustable to any latitude. 
 
 ' The eye-piece is a diagonal of glass one half polished 
 glass, the other half polished silver (deposited by De La Rue), 
 and capable of easy sliding when the totality comes on. 
 
 ' There is a fixed wire micrometer (a diagram is given of 
 seven vertical and seven horizontal wires, of which four, the 
 second and sixth of each pair, are thicker than the others, 
 and form a square ; see p. 228). The thick square holds the 
 moon at Vittoria, and is 0*45 in. The powers are 30 and 40. 
 
 ' My object is to ascertain the time and place of first 
 contact, and the time and place and motion (if any) of some 
 one prominent rose-flame. 
 
 ' As this power is low, I propose to adjust a very light 
 telescope of 2*25 in. aperature. with a power of 120 on the 
 other larger telescope, with the view of seeing the form and 
 details of the flames better. 
 
 ' This is my work. Only is it worth while to adapt any 
 polarising matter to the little finder to see if the red flames 
 are polarised ? And if so, what is the nature of the observa- 
 tion ? Is it simply a double refracting prism, and to observe 
 any difference of intensity in the two images ? 
 
 ' My assistant takes a dry and wet bulb thermometer, a 
 minm. thermometer and a black bulb in vacuo, a barometer 
 and an actinometer. His work is the actinometer. An- 
 other assistant will be charged with thermometers and 
 barometer. 
 
 ' My two friends, men of great intelligence, will be charged 
 with observing general phenomena with the eye or a good 
 opera-glass. The queries being written down beforehand.' 
 
 (The remainder of the letter refers to other matters.) 
 
 ' CLAPHAM, 
 'July 28/, 1860. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR JOHN, I venture to send you a diagram, 
 
224 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 rough enough, to give you some idea of the eclipse as seen by 
 me and my assistants (see p. 227). Of its general accuracy I 
 feel confident, and you will judge on what grounds. 
 
 ' The assistants were railway engineers employed by the 
 contractor in the construction of the works. I gave them a 
 lecture on the phenomena to be expected, and on the mode 
 of observing. Each selected his own work, and erected a 
 plumb line over Sun's centre, and calling the vertex 12 o'clock 
 and so on round the imaginary dial. My own work was 
 the telescope with the shifting glass diagonal, half of polished 
 deposited silver and a beautiful compound wedge (parallel- 
 epiped) of neutral tint (Dollond), all working most admirably. 
 So my image was the queer sort of inversion you can under- 
 stand. Upon putting my observations side by side with those 
 made by the eye and smoked glass, the coincidence was most 
 satisfactory. There were three spots on the sun, one about 3' 
 long, the other two scarcely i', but so sharp were their practised 
 eyes that they brought me the correct time of passage of the 
 moon over the three spots ! 
 
 * The diagram I send you is as seen by me in my diagonal 
 eye-piece. The following is a succinct account : 
 
 ' The thick circle is the sun. 
 
 ' N the north is inverted to my vision. 
 
 ' EW the direction of (diurnal) motion as seen by me. 
 
 ' The thin black circle is the moon at the commencement 
 of totality. The thin dotted circle is the end of the 
 totality. 
 
 * The following are results : 
 
 ' The corona was distinctly seen before totality, and after 
 the sun's reappearance, all agree. 
 
 ' Venus and Jupiter for from 10 minutes to 20 minutes 
 before and after. 
 
 ' The brightest part was about 2' broad, a little more ; and 
 then shaded off indefinitely. 
 
 ' The disappearance of the sun and its reappearance were 
 
ASTRONOMICAL WORK AT CLAPHAM AND FRESHWATER 225 
 
 both undulating or beaded (but not interrupted). Of this I 
 have no doubt . . . my focus was exact. 
 
 ' Unfortunately my eye first caught the prominence (a). I 
 observed it for perhaps a minute, but perceiving no change 
 of form or position I looked round the corona and then saw 
 (j8). ... (5) was at first a dull white, then pale rose ; pre- 
 sently I saw (y) and (3) assuredly not there at the first. 
 Finally, at the reappearance of the sun I just saw a very 
 bright point at the tip of (/3). 
 
 ' Put these observations together, and you cannot doubt 
 the motion of the moon gradually disclosing or covering the 
 prominences. 
 
 * No prominence much exceeded 2 ' in height ; the colours 
 were pale and unequal. 
 
 * A telescope is a bad tool to observe the eclipse with ; 
 hence I did not see the fasciculi A, B, C, D, but they were 
 observed by three independent observers who " minded their 
 plumb line " in accordance with the directions written on the 
 
 head of each paper of instructions. 
 
 ' These bundles of rays in the midst of light diffused among 
 them, extended some half or more of the sun's diameter. 
 
 'Throughout the eclipse I kept my eye on enormous 
 faculae nigh to the sun's edge, but no prominence or fasciculi 
 appeared there. 
 
 'Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, Procyon, a Hydrse, 
 Regulus and another star were seen. 
 
 ' Shadows of trees unearthly. 
 
 ' The light on the under part of clouds capping a moun- 
 tain in N.E. light sunset on Savoy Mountains ! The upper 
 part leaden and ominous. 
 
 ' Two small birds in their terror caught. 
 
 ' Sheep dispersed centrifugally. 
 
 ' Horses looked up and then grazed. 
 
 ' " I offered a dog a crust, and he ... eat it ! " 
 ( Vide a report of assistant.) 
 P 
 
226 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 ' The smallest print in the Times legible, after rubbing the 
 eyes to get rid of the remains of green sunlight. 
 
 ' My secretary wrote and read easily during totality with- 
 out lamp. But the small Times print I now send you was 
 best * visible when held away from sun and facing the clouds 
 in the N.E. (illuminated by the corona ?). 
 
 ' The black bulb in vacuo fell 50. 7 Far. during totality, 
 the Spaniards stuffing themselves in the heather to get 
 warm. 
 
 ' A singular stereoscopic effect was observed by four or five 
 of the engineers. 
 
 * The moon hung as it were in space space between it 
 and the corona unquestionable. 
 
 ' And now comes a matter which puzzles me much. 
 
 ' 52m. after the appulse, from the S. cusp P., absolutely 
 from the apex, I observed a decided " bright" line PQ slightly 
 inclined to the wire EW, and on each side of it suffused light. 
 I shouted out, " Oh, that I could draw this." It continued 
 from 2h. 34m. to 2h. 5im., latterly feeble. It could hardly 
 be eye water on the neutral tint wedges, for I shifted it about 
 from time to time, and the effect was too definite and decided 
 and persistent. The suffused light on the moon was ob- 
 served by others (? corona light). Captain Jacob did not 
 see it, but had seen something like it on a former occasion. 
 
 ' What think you of it ? 
 
 * I think I have now told you all or the main. Comments 
 from you I shall greatly esteem or queries. 
 
 ' My position on the wild height 2170 feet was magnificent 
 indeed a table land with mountains, rocks, villages, bold 
 escarpments and valleys, etc. 
 
 ' Weather abominable, like Lancashire or Borrodale. I 
 saw the stars once, and one sunny day in seven. Thermo- 
 
 * Query least or best; the MS. not clear. H. H. T. 
 
ASTRONOMICAL WORK AT CLAPHAM AND FRESHWATER 22/ 
 
 meter 91 in the shade, and next day 58 at maximum, actino- 
 meter useless, but rain gauge or mist gauge in requisition. 
 The railway experience is 15 per cent, under average for 
 work. Vignolles caught in a cloud, and Whewell but little 
 better. He does not like to say so. 
 
 ' Please send back the print from the Times! 
 
 PQ the bright line . . . and diffused light over the moon . . . 52m. after the 
 first appulse. 
 
 D the broadest fasculus of rays from corona. 
 
 C the longest. 
 
 5 ... much like a mitre. 
 
 ^3 ... the last seen of this was a bright spot just at emergence of sun. 
 
 * CLAPHAM, 
 'July 3U/ (1860 ?) 
 
 'DEAR SIR JOHN, For your letter, thanks ; but I did not 
 receive the small print of the Times. 
 
 ' When you see our meteorological journal you will see how 
 utterly impossible actinometer observations were except on 
 
228 
 
 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 one day when two or three series were taken, and then the 
 instrument broke down from heat and leakage, but we 
 mended it. The star I did not mention was not Vulcan, but 
 a fixed star set down in the R. Ast. diagram. 
 
 1 Of the correct (approx) places of the four prominences, 
 there does not admit a doubt, because I dictated to my 
 assistant what I saw and in the order I saw my telescope 
 inverted, about the declination parallel in the centre of my 
 field and was equatoreal. 
 
 ' Whereas my engineer assistants saw with the naked eye, 
 plumb line and imaginary clock face micrometer. 
 
 * My micrometer was arranged thus : 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6,1 
 
 6,2 
 
 6,3 
 
 6,4 
 
 6,5 
 
 6,6 
 
 
 
 5,1 
 
 5,2 
 
 5,3 
 
 5,4 
 
 5,5 
 
 5,6 
 
 
 
 4,1 
 
 4,2 
 
 4,3 
 
 4,4 
 
 4,5 
 
 4,6 
 
 
 
 3,1 
 
 3,2 
 
 3,3 
 
 3,4 
 
 3,5 
 
 3,6 
 
 
 
 2,1 
 
 2,2 
 
 2,3 
 
 2,4 
 
 2,5 
 
 2,6 
 
 
 
 1,1 
 
 1,2 
 
 1,3 
 
 1,4 
 
 1,5 
 
 1,6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 w 
 
 ' I dictated the squares thus numbered, and they (i.e., 
 prominences so marked) entirely agreed with the places as 
 marked by the engineers on the clock face hours. 
 
 * Curiously enough, when I got to Vittoria Captain Jacob 
 said, " Did you see the prominence like a mitre ? " On my 
 referring to the engineer's drawing, his diagram could not be 
 mistaken for anything else but a mitre ! / / I should add my 
 
ASTRONOMICAL WORK AT CLAPHAM AND FRESHWATER 22Q 
 
 assistants observed on a hill a mile from me (to divide the 
 crowd of spectators). 
 
 ' The stereoscopic effect was, to the vision of many beyond 
 a doubt, " black ball suspended in space in front of the 
 corona." 
 
 ' Could my bright line be a part of the fasciculi of rays 
 from corona? 
 
 ' M, Foucault considered that he saw corona light half an 
 hour before totality ; so said he to me in Paris. 
 
 * I don't vouch for the absolute shapes of the prominences 
 except the mitre ; their places, I do. One was described to me 
 as J a gged and toothed and reaching from " 12" nearly all the 
 way to " i." Yours ever sincerely, C. PRITCHARD.' 
 
 We gather immediately from these letters that the 
 writer prepared for himself a simple and definite programme 
 before his expedition ; that he was favoured with fine weather 
 at the critical moment, and carried out his programme ; and 
 thereby ascertained a definite fact, which added to our 
 knowledge of the sun altogether a most successful * eclipse 
 expedition ' in every way. And yet I can nowhere find any- 
 published account of these observations, which are appar- 
 ently here printed for the first time. 
 
 The fact is, the observations were rather thrown into the 
 shade by the more complete demonstration obtained photo- 
 graphically, and hence were not put forward. Had the photo- 
 graphic method failed, however, they might have become 
 historical. 
 
 A careful report of nineteen pages (folio) of MS. was 
 written out, to which was appended the report of his assistant, 
 Mr Vincent Fasel ; and these MSS. were preserved. They 
 have recently been presented by the family of the late 
 Professor Pritchard to the library of the Royal Astronomical 
 Society ; as also a book of letters, sketches and photographs 
 relating to the eclipse, collected by Mr Joseph Bonomi, who 
 
230 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 was also a member of the expedition. These MSS. were 
 apparently sent to Sir G. B. Airy to assist in the preparation 
 of his general account of the Himalayan Expedition (Mon. 
 Not. R.A.S., xxi. pp. 1-16), but are not therein referred to, 
 and were never published. There is no reference to them in 
 Mr Ranyard's Eclipse Volume (Mem. R.A.S., Vol. xli.). 
 
 But at the risk of being tedious I should like to draw 
 particular attention to these observations of Mr Pritchard. 
 He knew that there would be many observers, and he 
 chose a very modest programme, but a thoroughly good 
 and important one. His chief object was to 'obtain the 
 time and place and motion (if any) of some one pro- 
 minent rose-flame/ and thus obtain a definite piece of 
 evidence as to the character of these objects. He succeeded 
 in noting the behaviour of several prominences, and was 
 satisfied immediately that the ' motion of the moon gradually 
 disclosing or covering the prominences ' could not be doubted ; 
 and that the prominences were of solar origin. 
 
 This fact was established much more completely by the 
 photographs taken by that distinguished amateur astronomer, 
 Warren De la Rue. He obtained two successful pictures 
 during totality, agreeing in all details except for the advanc- 
 ing disc of the moon ; and thus Mr Pritchard's observations 
 were thrown into the shade. Recognising this fact, he did 
 not publish them ; and the only published reference I can 
 find to his eclipse visit is a sentence in the Bakerian lecture 
 given by De la Rue in 1862 on this total eclipse, which reads 
 as follows (Phil. Trans., 1862, p. 357) : 
 
 1 The time I could spare was far too short for any exact 
 observation of the corona ; however, I know that Mr Pritchard^ 
 Mr Qom> Mr Bonomi and other observers intended to make 
 special delineations and measurements of that phenomenon/ 
 
 Even this sentence does not agree with Mr Pritchard's 
 letters, for the references to the corona are meagre. ' It was 
 distinctly seen before totality and after the sun's reappearance, 
 
ASTRONOMICAL WORK AT CLAPHAM AND FRESHWATER 231 
 
 all agree. The brightest part was about two minutes broad, 
 a little more, and then shaded off indefinitely ; ' and of course 
 there were the drawings which were made by the engineers 
 who ' minded their plumb line.' The corona did not ap- 
 parently attract much attention in 1860. Its time was not 
 yet. 
 
 Some of the minor observations recorded by Mr Pritchard 
 are of considerable interest, especially the ' matter which 
 puzzles me much/ viz., the bright ray from the cusp some 
 time before totality. Similar observations are rare, but not 
 unknown. In the Eclipse Volume (Mem. R.A.S., Vol. xli.) 
 above mentioned, Chapter XL is devoted to the discussion of 
 them. At this same eclipse Mr Buckingham saw a brush at 
 the same cusp, but at 2h. 58m., six or seven minutes 
 after it had disappeared to Mr Pritchard. Captain Jacob 
 records ' long coloured rays issuing from the thin crescent 
 of the sun ' at 2h. 46m. Others saw brushes after 
 totality. No good explanation has yet been given of these 
 appearances. 
 
 I dwell at some length on these observations of the eclipse, 
 partly because of their general interest, and partly because 
 they seem to me thoroughly characteristic of Mr Pritchard. 
 The undertaking was very definite, and originated with him- 
 self; but he took pains to get advice from the best authority 
 he knew. Unfortunately Sir John Herschel's reply is lost to 
 us. Further considerable ingenuity in devising instruments 
 suitable for the purpose is manifested. The plumb line for 
 the unskilled assistants, with the imaginary clock face, was 
 admirably suited both to occasion and persons. The cross 
 reticule with a simple enumeration of the squares was an 
 excellent method of rapidly estimating the positions of 
 prominences. There is no time to waste at a total solar 
 eclipse. Such ingenuity was afterwards shown in the de- 
 vising of the wedge photometer and in other ways. Finally 
 we may perhaps say that the successful issue of the enter- 
 
232 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 prise was characteristic, though this point obviously cannot 
 be pressed, in view of the important part played by the 
 weather. 
 
 After these eclipse letters, there is no other of importance 
 written to Sir John Herschel until 1863, when Mr Pritchard 
 was secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society. His as- 
 tronomical activity entered on a new phase about 1860. We 
 may perhaps date the change from 1859, when he was elected 
 on the council. With his election to the Secretariat it became 
 marked. It will be convenient, therefore, to conclude here the 
 ccount of his earlier years before proceeding to the time 
 when he was in full work for the society. The astronomical 
 records of this first portion of his life are scanty, and the work 
 done was not generally considered worthy of publication ; but 
 the few letters quoted show quite sufficiently the scientific 
 enthusiasm and ability of the writer. 
 
 The printed record of these years is not, however, entirely 
 barren. In the year 1853 Mr Pritchard contributed to the 
 Monthly Notices * of the Royal Astronomical Society a paper 
 ' On an improved method of using mercury in observations by 
 reflexion/ in which he suggests the use of an amalgamated 
 copper trough of special form for ' artificial horizons.' A 
 considerable number of experiments leading up to the con- 
 struction of the best form had been made, and are detailed 
 with admirable clearness in twenty numbered paragraphs. 
 Troughs of amalgamated copper, as suggested by Mr Prit- 
 chard in 1857, are now in use at the Royal Observatory, 
 Greenwich; but they were not introduced until 1888, when 
 the French officers who were co-operating in the determina- 
 tion of the Paris-Greenwich longitude pointed out their ad- 
 vantages. 
 
 A more important paper, which was in 1857 printed in the 
 Memoirs of the Society, * represents a laborious piece of cal- 
 culation undertaken in the interests rather of chronology 
 
 * Vol. xiii., p. 6 1. t Mem. R.A.S., Vol. xxv. 
 
ASTRONOMICAL WORK AT CLAPHAM AND FRESHWATER 233 
 
 than of astronomy. Its object was the correction of an error 
 ' which appeared to be gradually increasing in prevalence and 
 importance ; ' namely, a mistaken attempt to explain the Star 
 of Bethlehem in terms of well-known astronomical pheno- 
 mena. In a German work entitled Handbuch der Mathe- 
 matischen und Technischen Chronologic, the celebrated Dr 
 Ideler had discussed the theory that certain conjunctions of 
 the planets Jupiter and Saturn fulfilled the conditions and 
 phenomena recorded of this star. He had come to the con- 
 clusion that, of three conjunctions which occurred in the year 
 B.C. 7, the first was of a nature sufficient to arouse the 
 attention of the Magi and send them on their errand to 
 Jerusalem, and that the last of the three conjunctions was 
 so close that to weak eyes the discs of the two planets might 
 appear diffused into one ; ' and would satisfy, moreover, the 
 condition of being in a proper position at sunset to conduct 
 the Magi from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. 
 
 It remains to add that, though such conjunctions are of 
 common occurrence, great importance was attached to them 
 by astrologers ; and this importance would be much enhanced 
 if the conjunction were triple as above, or very close, the 
 planets not being far north or south of one another. It is 
 certain that a triple conjunction, with the further addition that 
 one of the approaches was very close, would have caused the 
 greatest excitement among astrologers at the time; and, if it 
 could be shown to have taken place near the time of the 
 Nativity, might be connected with the Star of the Magi not 
 unreasonably. It at least appeared to Mr Pritchard 'very 
 desirable that the astronomical part of the question should, 
 if possible, be once for all set at rest ; ' and with this view he 
 undertook the computations of the places of the planets for 
 the year B.C. 7. He found that, so far as the fact of there 
 having been three conjunctions during the year, Dr Ideler's 
 statement was confirmed ; but the dates assigned to the con- 
 junctions by him were not correct; and still less was it true 
 
234 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 that any such proximity occurred as to make it possible that 
 the planets could, to any observer, have presented the appear- 
 ance of a single star. The hope of settling the true date of 
 the Nativity by this method must therefore be definitely 
 abandoned. The result is a negative one, but thoroughly 
 worthy of attainment, and eminently suited to Mr Pritchard's 
 skill and sympathies. 
 
 Another research undertaken somewhat later, may be con- 
 veniently considered here, though slightly out of chronological 
 order. For some years Pritchard worked hard at the theory 
 of the object-glass, under the impression, which he ultimately 
 found to be a mistaken one, that he could materially assist 
 the practical optician by constructing elaborate tables of the 
 proper curvatures for the surfaces. An achromatic object- 
 glass is made up of two lenses, one of flint glass and the 
 other of crown glass, each of which has two surfaces, which 
 must be ground to definite shapes (depending on the par- 
 ticular kinds of glass selected for use) with the utmost nicety 
 if the image is to be sharply defined and free from colour. 
 How is this nicety to be attained ? The conception of the 
 difficulties formed by Pritchard (and by others both before 
 and after him) was a numerical one. He thought that if the 
 proper dimensions were once expressed in figures very ac- 
 curately, the optician, who might otherwise have shirked the 
 labour of obtaining these figures, would then be able to work 
 to them, and produce a good result with certainty. He knew 
 that, as a matter of fact, the method in use by the practical 
 optician was to start with approximate figures only, and 
 make the lenses in the rough, so to speak, correcting them 
 afterwards by rules of thumb which were the outcome of 
 practical experience ; and he thought that this apparently rude 
 process could and should be superseded by giving the optician 
 accurate data to commence with. Many others have made 
 the same mistake (for mistake it is, as Pritchard found after 
 some years' work), and it is not easy to make clear the reasons 
 
 
ASTRONOMICAL WORK AT CLAPHAM AND FRESHWATER 235 
 
 why it is so. In the first place, the above statement of the 
 optician's method of work is in many ways unjust to him. 
 The work of a sculptor might be described in the same way 
 as a rough-and-ready process compared with that of accu- 
 rately measuring all the dimensions of the model, and fashion- 
 ing those of the statue to correspond. The work of the 
 optician is, in fact, as has often been remarked, that of an 
 artist, and must always remain so. A few figures are useful 
 to him, as to the sculptor, but there is a point beyond which 
 he cannot work by means of figures. A particular instance 
 of the way in which figures cease to be useful to him may 
 suffice. The theoretical conditions for an object-glass tell 
 him that the radius of curvature of one of the surfaces should 
 be 39.36 inches. He has in stock a grinding tool of radius 
 38 inches, but none nearer the required radius than this. Is 
 he to be at the expense of making a new tool for this one 
 particular surface? No ; he knows that if the object-glass be 
 made with this (theoretically) erroneous surface he can, by 
 slight modifications in other surfaces, over which his art gives 
 him command, produce as good a result as though he had 
 been at the expense of a new tool. 
 
 This is only one out of several good sound practical 
 reasons why figures cannot help the practical optician beyond 
 a certain point. The subject is a most interesting one, and 
 deserving of a fuller treatment than it has yet received in 
 print, though more cannot be said here. I do not know 
 whether even yet the mathematicians and the makers of 
 object-glasses can be said to have arrived at a clear under- 
 standing of one another; and certainly the list of those 
 mathematicians who have more or less failed to appreciate 
 the methods of the practical optician includes many great 
 names, such as those of Herschel and Airy. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 OFFICIAL LIFE IN THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 
 
 THE Astronomical Society came into existence on Wednes- 
 day,* January 12, 1820, and obtained the royal charter in 1831, 
 when Sir James South was president. From the very 
 first the movement was most successful. The meetings and 
 proceedings quickly assumed a definite form, which for many 
 years has remained substantially the same. Meetings are 
 held on the second Friday of each of the months, November to 
 June inclusive. At all these, excepting that of February, the 
 chief business is the reading of papers on astronomical 
 subjects, followed in most cases by a keen discussion of the 
 points of interest raised. This keen discussion at the ordinary 
 meetings is perhaps the most distinctive feature of the society. 
 
 The meeting in February is an annual general' meeting, 
 when the treasurer presents his yearly accounts, the secre- 
 taries read a report on the affairs of the society, and on the 
 progress of astronomy during the year, and the gold medal 
 of the society is presented to some distinguished astronomer 
 for reasons which are expounded in an address by the presi- 
 dent. In the early years medals (both gold and silver) were 
 awarded more freely ; but in 1831 it was decided that not 
 more than one gold medal should be awarded in any one 
 year, and sometimes there is no award. 
 
 It will be seen that the officers of such a society hold no 
 sinecures. The preparations of the presidential address and 
 
 * The usual meeting day is now Friday, but apparently this inauspicious day 
 was not that of the first meeting. 
 
 236 
 
OFFICIAL LIFE IN THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 237 
 
 of the annual report on the progress of astronomy are pieces 
 of work on which the greatest English astronomers have 
 expended their labour and skill. The ' instructive eloquence, 
 masterly arrangement, and comprehensiveness of view' which 
 distinguished the presidential addresses of Sir John Herschel, 
 have been extolled by Pritchard himself, who cites par- 
 ticularly the glowing and impressive speech delivered at the 
 presentation of the medal to Francis Baily on the completion 
 of what might well have seemed a dull and prosaic piece 
 of work; viz.: the society's catalogue of stars. And it 
 would certainly be difficult to find a better illustration of 
 the demands made upon a president on the occasion of the 
 award of a gold medal, and of their successful satisfaction. 
 
 Demands of the same nature are, in a lesser degree, 
 made upon the writers of the annual report, especially 
 in those portions of it where tributes are paid to the memory 
 of deceased Fellows. Other portions of the report involve 
 considerable research, and a careful exercise of judgment in 
 assigning the proper credit to workers in the same field whose 
 claims are often to some extent conflicting. A paragraph of 
 a few lines, which a reader of the report might suppose to 
 be the work of a few minutes, may often represent hours of 
 careful study and deliberation. And this is perhaps enough 
 for our present purpose concerning the work of officers of the 
 Royal Astronomical Society. It should however be added 
 that the keen interest which at the ordinary meetings takes 
 the form of frequent and animated discussion, and which is 
 typified in the care bestowed on the president's address and 
 the annual report, extends also to the meetings of council, and 
 all else connected with the society. The attendance at the 
 council meetings is always large, and it is by no means a rare 
 occurrence for the whole council to assemble. A seat on the 
 council is estimated highly, and there is often a brisk contest 
 at election times. 
 
 Pritchard, who had been elected on the council in 1859, 
 
238 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 was made a vice-president of the society in 1860, when Robert 
 Main was president ; and after being appointed secretary 
 in 1862, was elected president in 1866. The years from 
 1862 to 1868, during which he was secretary and president, 
 are thus those of Pritchard's most important work in the 
 society. 
 
 The topics which were then engaging the attention of the 
 society were not all suited for the discussion to which we 
 have already called attention as forming the chief feature of 
 the meetings. Thus the work of Adams on the secular 
 acceleration of the moon's mean motion, splendid though it 
 was, could not be discussed save by a few mathematicians. 
 His work on the November meteors was more nearly related 
 to a topic of popular interest. The great shower of 1866 had 
 been watched by numerous observers, who all had something 
 to say at the next meeting. The spectroscopic work of 
 Huggins and Miller, again, was well suited for comment at a 
 meeting, though such comments naturally took the form of 
 inquiries at a time when spectroscopes were possessed by 
 few. But as a topic for discussion, the solar surface was 
 perhaps the favourite. The results obtained at the Total 
 Solar Eclipse of 1860 were still fresh, and De la Rue, who 
 obtained them, was the chief figure in the society. The 
 Indian Eclipse of 1868 was being eagerly looked forward to 
 as an opportunity of trying the photographic method under 
 more favourable conditions. De la Rue meanwhile was 
 working hard and successfully at the photography of the sun 
 (as well as the moon); Carrington had completed (in 1863) 
 his great work on solar spots; and a number of observers 
 (Dawes, Hewlett, Fletcher and others) were making a special 
 study of the sun. We can thus readily understand that a 
 question of fact as to the appearance of the solar surface 
 aroused the greatest interest, and was discussed with some 
 warmth at more than one meeting. The letters of Pritchard 
 to Sir John Herschel faithfully reflect the spirit of the times, 
 
OFFICIAL LIFE IN THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 239 
 
 for after a long silence following the letters on the eclipse of 
 1860 he renews the correspondence on the subject of 'willow- 
 leaves/ The question of fact was as follows. The surface of 
 the sun, when viewed through a telescope, does not appear 
 uniformly bright, but mottled, or porous. Sir W. Herschel 
 had noticed this in 1799. 'The whole disc,' he says, 'is 
 strongly indented.' Again, ' The whole disc is very much 
 marked with roughness like an orange. Some of the lowest 
 parts of the inequalities are blackish.' ' The indentations are 
 very uniform, but not round. It seems they admit of every 
 possible shape.' (M. N., xxiv., p. 60.) 
 
 Now Nasmyth claimed to have made an important step 
 in the explanation of this appearance. He declared that 
 scattered over the surface were numerous solid bodies in 
 shape like * willow-leaves ' ; that these were uniform in size, 
 but oriented in any direction indifferently, and that the inter- 
 stices between them, through which the dark body of the sun 
 showed, gave rise to the mottled appearance of the surface. 
 Other observers, however, generally failed to recognise these 
 willow-leaves, until the occasion to which we shall immedi- 
 ately refer. Some confirmation of a doubtful character was 
 forthcoming. In the president's address on presenting the 
 gold medal to De la Rue in February 1862, there occurs the 
 following sentence : 
 
 ' More recently still, photographic pictures of the sun 
 have been obtained by Mr De la Rue, not only exhibiting its 
 well-known mottled appearance, but showing traces of Mr 
 Nasmyth's " willow-leaves." ' 
 
 There is evidence, however, that Mr Nasmyth's observa- 
 tion was not generally accepted. He himself attributed this 
 lack of confirmation by others to the bad conditions, instru- 
 mental or atmospheric, under which they worked. ' In order 
 to obtain a satisfactory view of these remarkable objects, it 
 is not only requisite to employ a telescope of very consider- 
 able power and perfection of defining capability, but also to 
 
240 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 make the observation at a time when the atmosphere is 
 nearly quite tranquil and free from those vibrations which 
 so frequently interpose most provoking interruptions to the 
 efforts of the observer; without such conditions as I allude to, 
 it is hopeless to catch even a glimpse of these remarkable and 
 delicate details of the solar surface/ (M. N., xxiv., p. 66.) 
 
 At this point we may allow the letters of Pritchard 
 to Sir John Herschel to take up the thread of the 
 story. The first letter of 1863, October, was probably 
 in reply to an inquiry by Sir John Herschel as to some- 
 thing which had already appeared either in a letter or 
 in print. 
 
 ' HURST HILL, FRESHWATER., I.W., 
 'Oct. igfti, 1863. 
 
 1 DEAR SIR JOHN, The apparition of the " willow-leaves " 
 was as follows : 
 
 ' Mr De la Rue was in my observatory at Clapham, looking 
 through a telescope of Cooke's, aperture 6.7 in. ; he was ex- 
 pressing great admiration at its defining power when I pro- 
 posed to him to put on a diagonal solar eye-piece, in which 
 (after a suggestion of your own) the image from the object- 
 glass is received on a piece of plate glass, and then viewed 
 with the full aperture of the telescope by means of an ex- 
 quisitely finished neutral tinted prism, over the Huyghenian 
 eye-piece. 
 
 ' De la Rue was expressing his astonishment at the 
 definition of a spot, when all of a sudden he called 
 out, " Here are Nasmyth's willow-leaves, sure enough." 
 My turn to look came, and after a little teasing of 
 focus I saw them myself, and I have seen them since; 
 but, like Frauenhofer's lines, you must know what to 
 look for. 
 
 * Of all men's eyes in a matter of telescopic vision, De la 
 Rue's are peculiarly trustworthy. 
 
OFFICIAL LIFE IN THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 241 
 
 ' I attribute our seeing them 
 
 *(i) To the calm way in which, with my eye-piece (con- 
 structed most successfully by Dollond for the eclipse), we were 
 able to took at the sun persistently. 
 
 ' (2) To the goodness of the object-glass and its size. 
 
 ' (3) To De la Rue's practised eye. 
 
 ' Under similar conditions I believe these strange entities 
 are at all times visible. 
 
 ' Apropos of the " solar eye-piece," will it be well for you to 
 claim this successful form of eye-piece tyou suggested it in 
 your Cape book, but it is claimed both by Dawes and my 
 colleague Hodgson. If you have never seen the sun with 
 this contrivance, you can have no conception of the effect ; 
 indeed, you cannot be said to have seen the sun at all. I 
 speak, of course, comparatively. I have written to De la Rue 
 to save time if you have not already written to him ; and if 
 you have, no harm's done. Yours most truly, 
 
 ' C. PRITCHARD.' 
 
 ' HURST HILL, FRESHWATER, I. W. 
 
 'Dec. 15^, 1863. 
 ' DEAR SIR JOHN, 
 
 ' We had a strong debate on "willow-leaves " last Friday 
 evening. Mr Dawes will have it that he sees nothing but a 
 " flocculent precipitate." Our " willow-leaves " are a sort of 
 " crystalline precipitate." I urged that the question is after 
 all little better than one of words. Any precipitate would 
 furnish solid particles for illuminating power. 
 
 ' Hoffman was with us, and agreeing as he did fully in the 
 question of the non-luminosity of such gases as hydrogen and 
 hyd. + ox., he did not know what to do with the blue flame 
 of cyanogen. 
 
 ' I forgot to instance arsenic in arseniuretted hydrogen 
 deposited on cold porcelain in Marsh's test. Did you ever 
 see this beautiful action ? 
 
 Q 
 
242 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 ' In the case of burning cyanogen, no carbon is deposited 
 on paper. So you see the direction which this question takes. 
 Can you see aught of the way out ? 
 
 * Our friend the Astronomer- Royal argued in opposition to 
 my argument which involved the necessity of some solid form 
 of incandescent matter. " Why, don't you see the gaslight 
 before you ! " Of course, he was nowhere. Believe me, yours 
 very sincerely, C. PRITCHARD. 
 
 ' Did you read my obituary last year of the American 
 astronomer? If not, you will be amused. 
 ' We give Bond the medal.' 
 
 ' FRESHWATER, 
 l jan. idth, 1864. 
 
 * DEAR SIR JOHN, You will be pleased to hear that Mr 
 Stone at Greenwich applied the " Herschelian contrivance " to 
 the large refractor at Greenwich, and there saw at once what 
 puzzled him. The sun covered with what ?...?...?... 
 with, as it were, RICE (rice) ! He thought from pictures that 
 Nasmyth's willow-leaves were dark, and rest of sun bright ! 
 But lo ! the converse he saw bright rice, and plenty of it. 
 How strong a confirmation and how independent and beyond 
 question, and how much more graphic a description of the 
 phenomenon than willow-leaves. Henceforth the rice 
 stratum, or rather strata. Truly yours, believe me, 
 
 ' C. PRITCHARD.' 
 
 We gather then that in this controversy, which occupied 
 the attention of the Royal Astronomical Society for some 
 time, Pritchard was on the side of Nasmyth, and believed in 
 the 'willow-leaves,' or 'rice' or other structure symbolising 
 the appearance of the sun's surface. There seems to have 
 been considerable diversity of opinion among Nasmyth's ad- 
 herents as to the best symbol for the objects actually seen. 
 Nasmyth himself was not at all sure that willow-leaves was 
 
OFFICIAL LIFE IN THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 243 
 
 the best term. On a visit to Rome in 1865 he (Nasmyth) 
 had ' the pleasure to pay his respects to Father Secchi, in 
 company with Otto Struve. On our entering the observa- 
 tory we found him at work on a model representation of the 
 solar photosphere, which consisted of a blackboard thickly 
 scattered over with oat grains ! Father Secchi at once re- 
 marked, " That is what / see as to the structure of the sun's 
 surface. 5 "* Nasmyth goes on to say that he leaves it to 
 others to settle the question of name for these objects. 
 Pritchard apparently much preferred the term 'rice' to 
 * willow-leaves ; ' but was none the less an ardent supporter 
 of Nasmyth. The 'strong debate' referred to in the letter 
 of December 15, 1863, was opened by a paper from Dawes -\ 
 on the * Telescopic appearance of the envelopes of the sun 
 and its spots/ in which the author declared that though in 
 the vicinity of spots which are rapidly expanding or clos- 
 ing the appearance of the surface at the margin resembles 
 small bits of straw or thatching interlacing in all directions, 
 still he had not been able to verify the ' willow-leaves ' of Mr 
 Nasmyth. Mr Huggins followed on the same side, as also 
 Mr Howlett. Dr De la Rue and Mr Pritchard were strong 
 advocates for Nasmyth. We may perhaps reproduce 
 the words of the latter as given in the Astronomical 
 Register, (Vol. II., p. 5). 
 
 Mr Pritchard observed that Sir John Herschel had 
 written to Mr De la Rue and himself on the subject, and 
 described the appearance as a 'slow precipitation of floc- 
 culent matter.' 'The sun,' continued Mr Pritchard, 'is 
 covered with small objects bits of straw, flocculent matter, or 
 what you like exceedingly brilliant and different from the 
 other parts of the surface : and this not only in the neighbour- 
 hood of the spots. It matters not what you call them there 
 
 * Astronomical Register, iii., p. 223. 
 
 f Mr Dawes was apparently not present at the meeting, probably from ill- 
 health. The paper was read by the secretary, Mr Hodgson. 
 
244 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 they are ; and Sir John Herschel's description is perhaps 
 better than Mr Nasmyth's. The " willow-leaves " were wanted. 
 An incandescent liquid or gas, such as we suppose the sun's 
 atmosphere to consist of, will not give out light : we there- 
 fore wanted something in it, or where could the light come 
 from ? The advancing state of our philosophy required the 
 " willow-leaves," and they came just in the nick of time.' 
 
 It is to be feared that these remarks are now out of date. 
 The 'advance of our philosophy' has completely swamped 
 them, and many who read them will marvel that only thirty 
 years ago it was stated as commonly accepted that 'an in- 
 candescent liquid or gas will not give out light.' With the 
 disappearance of this theoretical reason for the existence of 
 the 'willow-leaves' they themselves have been shelved, and 
 it is only by recalling this forgotten raison d'etre that we can 
 realise the importance of the discussion. The conflict was 
 renewed at many subsequent meetings, and carried on in the 
 press. At the next meeting of the society Mr Nasmyth 
 replied to Mr Dawes, and the subject occupied nearly the 
 whole evening. Pritchard was not present. At the March 
 meeting Mr Stone and Mr Dunkin, of the Royal Observatory, 
 Greenwich, suggested the term * rice grains.' ' A handful of 
 common rice, let fall gently, would very well represent what 
 was seen.' But Mr Pritchard said that, ' in justice to the man 
 who, years ago, saw them for the first time and got no one to 
 second him, it would not be well to alter the name of the 
 " willow-leaves. " ' At the April meeting Mr Dawes replied 
 again unconvinced, and so the controversy went on for some 
 years. Pritchard took a considerable share in it. We see from 
 the letters to Sir John Herschel that it originated in observa- 
 tions by De la Rue at his telescope, and he was throughout 
 a staunch adherent of Nasmyth. Want of space compels 
 me to omit several more letters written in 1866, when the 
 controversy had lasted three years, but was apparently 
 still in full blast. They illustrate the fact that Prit- 
 
OFFICIAL LIFE IN THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 245 
 
 chard acted as a sort of centre, drawing the fire of all 
 the combatants; and it is important to remember this 
 side of his character. 
 
 One further point may be noticed in connection with the 
 letters to Sir John Herschel on 'willow-leaves.' Pritchard 
 was convinced that their confirmation by De la Rue and 
 himself was due to the use of a diagonal (plain glass) solar 
 eye-piece, and was anxious that the credit of first suggesting 
 this form of eye-piece should be secured to Sir John Herschel, 
 who had first suggested it in his Cape Observations. There 
 are several letters extant, which need not however be here 
 reproduced, showing that Pritchard took considerable trouble 
 to this end : and these two small enterprises for securing the 
 recognition of Nasmyth's discovery of the 'willow-leaves,' 
 and of Sir John Herschel's invention of the diagonal solar 
 eye-piece, are apparently characteristic illustrations of his 
 work about this period. They are such as often fall to the 
 officers of scientific societies; and in zealously prosecuting 
 such enterprises, Pritchard was fulfilling admirably one im- 
 portant part of his functions as secretary of the Royal Astro- 
 nomical Society. 
 
 For another important function of a secretary (though 
 one rather difficult of definition) Pritchard was well fitted. 
 He stimulated work and enterprise in others. When he 
 became, later in life, the director of an observatory, this 
 faculty was especially characteristic of him, and of the 
 greatest value ; and I was delighted to come across the 
 following direct testimony to the same power of stimulation 
 during his official life in London. Mr Dawes suffered from 
 very bad health, and to him the exertion necessary for 
 publishing observations was specially distasteful. Those 
 who have had experience of publishing their observations 
 will know too well what it must have cost him to prepare for 
 press the three hundred and seventy quarto pages of double 
 star measures which appear in Volume xxxv. of the R.A.S. 
 
246 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 memoirs. This is the work to which he refers in the follow- 
 ing letter : 
 
 ' HOPEFIELD, HADDENHAM, THAME, 
 ' i%th December 1867. 
 
 1 MY DEAR MR PRITCHARD, Many thanks to you for your 
 hearty congratulations on the completion of my large work. 
 And I assure you I feel that you also may most justly be 
 congratulated on the success of your encouragements and 
 kind stimulations to the needful exertion ; and I beg you 
 to accept my warmest thanks for the interest you took 
 in pressing me forward to the requisite "sticking point," 
 without which, I candidly acknowledge that it might very 
 likely have crept on so deliberately as scarcely to have 
 reached the " Finis ' while I was at all capable of complet- 
 ing it. The possibility and the prospect of its appearing 
 in the same volume, or at least about the same time, as 
 Sir John Herschel's, was one of the chief stimulants to 
 the necessary exertion. . . . Yours faithfully, 
 
 <W. R. DAWES.' 
 
 In his purely business duties, Pritchard was active and 
 efficient, as is illustrated in the next letter to Sir John 
 Herschel (omitting a few which deal with the claim to the 
 solar eye-piece above mentioned, and in which the conduct 
 of a rival claimant is discussed with more warmth than 
 admiration). 
 
 ' HURST HILL, FRESHWATER, I.W., 
 'Jan. 24//fc, 1864. 
 
 'DEAR SIR JOHN, May I ask if you remember a 
 "Beaufoy" clock which you once borrowed from the R.A. 
 Society so far as to tell me anything of its features, appear- 
 ance, or maker's name ? 
 
 ' The council have been at issue about this clock now 
 for twenty years with the Royal Society. 
 
 'We lent it to them for Sir J. Ross and the Antarctic 
 
OFFICIAL LIFE IN THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 247 
 
 Survey, and till ten days ago could get no intelligence 
 thereof until I got on its trail by perseverance. 
 
 * We believe it is in cases (never yet unpacked) at Gene- 
 ral Sabine's office at Woolwich so he (the General) thinks ; 
 but he would be glad of marks of identification, and we fear 
 you are the only living person who has looked upon its face. 
 
 * Will you present my best regards and respects to Lady 
 Herschel and your circle. Ever sincerely, 
 
 C. PRITCHARD. 
 
 ' P.S. I am, as in duty bound, drawing up the pro- 
 gress of astronomy during the past year for the Annual 
 Report R.A.S. Would it be a trouble or inconvenience 
 for you to cast your eye over it when complete, and just 
 pencil any hint? This, of course, would be private, and 
 without the slightest responsibility. I know what your 
 hints are worth, and I distrust my own powers. Pray say 
 "Nay" if you feel any hesitation.' 
 
 Some of the letters to the assistant secretary of the 
 R.A.S. tell us more about the hunt for this missing 
 Beaufoy clock. Here is one of them : 
 
 ' FRESHWATER, 
 ' 1864, January ^th. 
 
 1 DEAR SIR, I am endeavouring that you should be 
 permitted .(on some day to be appointed by General 
 Sabine) to proceed to Woolwich, there to inspect certain 
 cases which the Pres. Roy. Soc. has in his office. These 
 cases were landed from the ships employed in the Antarc- 
 tic Survey, and were said to contain clocks and pendulums 
 which were proposed to be used by Sir James Ross in 
 verification of certain observations he had made with them 
 near the South Pole. These experiments were never made. 
 The cases are at Woolwich now in General Sabine's office, 
 and you will there probably find the truant instruments. 
 Yours, etc., C. PRITCHARD/ 
 
248 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 A hunt like that for the Beaufoy clock often entails 
 considerable correspondence and trouble, and this may be 
 taken as one instance out of many. By the irony of Fate 
 it fell to the present writer, in his capacity as secretary to 
 the same society, to indite a very similar letter to Pro- 
 fessor Pritchard in 1892 concerning an instrument borrowed 
 by him from the society some quarter of a century before. 
 No immediate news of the instrument was forthcoming, 
 but it was ultimately discovered at the instrument maker's, 
 having been left there unclaimed for about ten years. 
 How the Pritchard of 1862 would have delighted in bring- 
 ing to book the Pritchard of 1892! Few matters escaped 
 the vigilance of the former younger gentleman (then only 
 about fifty-four years old), not even the treasurer's accounts. 
 It might have been thought that, with his duties as secre- 
 tary, liberally as he interpreted them, he would have had 
 enough to occupy him without concerning himself as to 
 the manner in which those of other officials were discharged. 
 But it occurred to him that since the treasurer's ac- 
 counts were printed in the Annual Report of the council, 
 and since he, as secretary, was responsible ultimately for 
 the whole of this report, he ought to examine these accounts ; 
 and he accordingly found a small discrepancy of ;m. 33. 6d. 
 between the printed and audited accounts. This naturally 
 made a little trouble. The poor assistant secretary, who had 
 of course done all the work on systematic lines, could not 
 understand whether he was being accused of dishonesty 
 or merely of incapacity. The discrepancy was ultimately 
 traced to a fault in the method of reproducing arrears of 
 subscription, and it was shown that there had been no 
 real error in fact, only in appearance. We of the present 
 day undoubtedly owe to Pritchard the establishment of a 
 proper method of keeping and stating the accounts; but 
 those concerned at the moment do not seem to have en- 
 joyed the experience of having it established. 
 
OFFICIAL LIFE IN THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 249 
 
 It must not, however, be supposed that there was any 
 permanent friction between Pritchard and the assistant 
 secretary. On the contrary, they were on the best of terms, 
 as the correspondence of the assistant secretary (all most 
 carefully preserved, and lately arranged and stored by Mr 
 Wesley, his successor) most clearly shows. 
 
 Perhaps Pritchard's best work as secretary was shown in 
 the preparation of the eloges, as he preferred to call them, on 
 distinguished Fellows and Associates of the society. He was 
 painstaking in collecting the facts, and his style was clear 
 and vigorous. The same good work was manifested from 
 the presidential chair in the preparation of the addresses to 
 gold medallists. Pritchard wrote the eloges of Wilhelm 
 Struve, Sir W. Rowan Hamilton. Admiral Smyth, and others ; 
 some years later, of Sir John Herschel. The eloge on 
 Wilhelm Struve was reproduced at length in the Astronomical 
 Register for April 1865, which maybe taken as evidence of 
 its importance and interest. He took a great deal of trouble 
 in drawing up the Annual Report generally. To him we 
 apparently owe the practice of dividing the Notes on the 
 Progress of Astronomy during the Year into separate para- 
 graphs with headlines. This division appears first in 1865. 
 The average reader will no doubt skim lightly over this 
 rather dry catalogue of secretarial duties : there may, however, 
 be some Fellows of the Society for whom it will call up 
 a picture of the times. In looking over the old records I 
 have found them speak so eloquently for themselves that 
 I should have liked to reproduce them here with as little 
 comment as possible, in the hope that others might find 
 them similarly effective in recalling the events and surround- 
 ings of a period only thirty years past, and yet so different 
 from our own. In this hope I here add a few extracts 
 from the reports of the meetings of the society, as given in 
 the Astronomical Register. The extracts have not been made 
 at random, but are still tolerably representative. I have 
 
250 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 naturally endeavoured to select discussions in which Pritchard 
 took some share, and which referred to matters occupying a 
 prominent place in his later life. 
 
 The first gives us a notion of the expectations beginning 
 to be formed of photography. Some are sanguine of its 
 success as a new power, others sceptical ; Pritchar.d does not 
 commit himself. 
 
 ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY MEETING, IOTH JUNE 1864. 
 (The subject of the discussion is the Orion Nebula^} 
 
 Mr Stone said that the nebula had been carefully observed 
 at the suggestion of M. Otto Struve, who thought there was 
 evidence of change in its form ; and Mr Carpenter, having 
 been entrusted with the observations, had appealed to him, 
 and he considered Mr C. correct in thinking the squareness 
 of outline in Prof. Bond's drawing exaggerated, and that 
 Sir J. Herschel's represented the object better, thus tending 
 to show that the nebula remained as when seen by Sir J. H. 
 at the Cape. The importance of the subject justified drawing 
 attention to it, and he hoped other observers would take the 
 next opportunity of comparing the drawings with the object. 
 
 Mr Pritchard : Are you speaking of drawings or engrav- 
 ings ? because, if the latter, we find it impossible to get engravers 
 to do justice to drawings. Allowing for this difficulty of engrav- 
 ing, it is probable Professor Bond's representative is very right. 
 
 Mr Hodgson : We have got the American and the 
 English drawings ; but I should like to see with them the 
 Russian drawing and exhaustive paper of Liapunow. 
 
 Mr Stone : It should not be overlooked that, with regard 
 to change in the nebula, our strong feeling of the accuracy of 
 Herschel's drawing indicates no change. As to the Russian 
 drawing, Dr Winnecke, who is here, can perhaps tell us 
 something. 
 
 Dr Winnecke: In the drawing referred to, the stars are 
 
OFFICIAL LIFE IN THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 251 
 
 laid^down with extreme accuracy; but I don't think it can 
 be relied on for exact detail of light and shade. 
 
 Mr Lockyer remarked that the Rev. Mr Webb, who had 
 looked much at the nebula last winter, agreed with Messrs 
 Stone and Carpenter. 
 
 Mr Pritchard again adverted to the difficulty of engraving 
 drawings of such objects. 
 
 Mr Vignoles : Photograph them. 
 
 Mr Hodgson : It won't do. 
 
 Mr Vignoles : It will. Excuse me, but I am in the habit 
 of having maps and drawings constantly photographed with 
 the best result, and the Government do so extensively, 
 reducing plans most perfectly. 
 
 Mr Hodgson : I suppose engineers say photographs are 
 sufficient for all practical purposes. 
 
 Mr Vignoles : Absolute correctness is required, and is 
 obtained. 
 
 Mr Hodgson : The difficulty is in the shading. 
 
 Mr Beck : Photographs can be taken so perfectly from 
 pencil drawings as not to be distinguished from the original. 
 
 Mr Hodgson : Will you reproduce a drawing of a nebula 
 we have received from Mr Lassell, and which we are afraid 
 cannot be done justice to ? 
 
 Mr Beck : I have no doubt I can, but must see it first 
 
 Mr Pritchard : Will any patriotic member do this ; that 
 is, reproduce Mr Lassell's drawing like the original ? If so, 
 we will gladly pay him ; or he may do it without if he likes. 
 Mr Lassell, in his zeal for the cause of astronomy, has built 
 a magnificent telescope, has expatriated himself, as it were, 
 and we are bound to carry out his wish of reproducing his 
 drawings properly, if possible. 
 
 Mr Vignoles : Two to one on Mr Beck ! 
 
 As regards the following extract, it need only be remarked 
 that the last piece of work completed by Professor Pritchard, 
 
252 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 for which he received a Royal Medal in 1892, was a series of 
 determinations of stellar parallaxes by the photographic 
 method. 
 
 R. A. S., JANUARY 9, 1863. 
 
 A letter was read from Herr Auwers, of Gotha, on the 
 Parallax of Stars, the result of researches carried out at 
 Konigsberg. Mr Pritchard asked if the Astronomer-Royal 
 would kindly give the meaning of the lette in plain words. 
 The Astronomer-Royal said the meaning was this that 
 Bessel found the parallax of 61 Cygni to be 
 
 o"'366, with a probable error of O'OI2 ; 
 
 while Struve, with whom Auwers very nearly agreed, found 
 it to be 
 
 o"'5iO7, with a probable error of o"'O282. 
 
 Mr Pritchard asked what was the Astronomer- Royal's own 
 opinion as to these probable errors. 
 
 Mr Airy : I say those probabilities are not worth a pin. 
 
 Mr Pritchard : Does it not throw a considerable doubt 
 on the whole subject of parallax ? 
 
 The Astronomer-Royal replied that to some degree it 
 certainly did. 
 
 Finally we have an occasion on which Pritchard occupied 
 not the secretarial, but the presidential chair. It should be 
 remarked that there are no meetings of the society in the 
 months June to October. 
 
 ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. First Meeting, 
 
 November 9th, 1866. 
 The Rev. C. Pritchard, M.A., F.R.S., President, in the chair. 
 
 Secretaries Mr Stone and Mr Hodgson. 
 
 In expressing the pleasure he felt in meeting the members 
 
 of the society after the recess, the president said it was 
 
 coupled with a regret that no great astronomical progress was 
 
 to be reported. No discovery of importance had been made 
 
OFFICIAL LIFE IN THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 253 
 
 since the last meeting ; but astronomy was an accumulative 
 science, and much valuable matter had doubtless been 
 treasured up, to become available for future use. 
 
 But at any rate he might say that something had been 
 done by astronomy something of great importance. As- 
 tronomy had, in fact, recovered the Atlantic cable ! An 
 illimitable ocean with an almost invisible thread at the 
 bottom of it, at a depth of two miles what a fine problem 
 it was to find it ! A reward of ^"30,000 was once given 
 for a chronometer for finding the longitude : this, 
 however, would not have discovered the cable, although 
 it was the longitude which was really wanted. The 
 longitude was, in fact, obtained exactly; and how was 
 it done? Not by any chronometer, but by a system 
 of signals sent direct from Greenwich ! And therefore 
 it was due to astronomy, and to the strong faith of 
 men, that the cable was picked up. 
 
 The president also wished to call the attention of 
 the members to the expected great shower of meteors 
 on the 1 3th or I4th of the month. If any man went to 
 bed on either of those nights, he was not worthy to be 
 called an astronomer; he therefore appealed to his con- 
 freres not to go to bed on this particular occasion. After 
 a few remarks as to the extraordinary variable T. Coronas, 
 and the correspondence and observations regarding it, the 
 president concluded by alluding to what had been done 
 for the comfort of the members during the recess. There 
 is such a thing as physical comfort no one could go on 
 observing night after night in a state of discomfort. Sir 
 John Herschel, in his Cape Observations, found the greatest 
 difficulty in keeping himself warm, and at last he had resort 
 to a kitten. (Laughter.) Now our difficulty has been, not 
 to keep ourselves warm, but to keep ourselves cool ; an 
 attempt has, however, been made to ventilate the room, 
 with what success remains to be seen. The president added 
 
254 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 that Mr Williams had succeeded in providing a complete 
 printed catalogue of the society's library, which any gentle- 
 man might have at a charge of 2s. 6d. 
 
 With this brief but characteristic address of Mr Prit- 
 chard from the presidential chair, we might well close this 
 chapter of his life in relation to the society ; but to prevent 
 misconception it must first be emphatically remarked that 
 his activity and interest in the affairs of the society did not 
 cease when he had passed the chair. He remained on 
 the council till 1876, several times being a vice-president, 
 and was re-elected to it in 1883 ; but in 1887 he perman- 
 ently retired, feeling the necessary journeys from Oxford 
 too great a tax on his advancing years. His interest in the 
 affairs of the society was, however, not even then lessened 
 in any degree, and only a few months before his death 
 he took a prominent part by the issue of circulars in one 
 of the elections of officers. 
 
 Of Pritchard's undertakings subsequent to his official 
 life, but connected with the society, may be specially men- 
 tioned his eloge on Sir John Herschel, his editing of the 
 Double Star Catalogue of Sir John Herschel (in collabora- 
 tion with the Radcliffe observer, Rev. Robert Main), 
 and his circular proposing a memorial to Sir William (and 
 Caroline) Herschel at St Lawrence Church, Upton, Slough. 
 All these illustrate Pritchard's great reverence for the work 
 of the Herschels, which appears in other ways in these 
 pages. The Catalogue of Double Stars forms Volume 
 xl. of the Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society ', 
 and was published in 1874. It was the result of an under- 
 taking by Sir John Herschel, to which the following two 
 letters refer. 
 
 ' FRESHWATER, 
 ' 'April 17 'th, 1866. 
 
 DEAR SIR JOHN HERSCHEL, The question of the 
 
OFFICIAL LIFE IN THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 255 
 
 catalogue of your father's double stars was brought before 
 the council of the R. Ast. Soc. on Friday last. 
 
 4 The unanimous feeling of the council was that nothing 
 on their part ought to be wanting which could conduce 
 to the completion of the catalogue for publication in the 
 memoirs of the society. At the same time it was felt 
 that the catalogue itself is now in a condition which 
 requires only the direction of a mind towards a consider- 
 able amount of mechanical work this latter we at once 
 know you ought not to undertake, hence it was resolved 
 and unanimously carried that 
 
 ' " A sum not exceeding fifty pounds be placed at the dis- 
 posal of Sir John Herschel towards defraying the expense 
 of preparing the catalogue of Sir William Herschel's double 
 stars for publication in the transactions of the R. Ast. Soc." 
 
 * Of course no restriction whatever is implied in your 
 choice of a computer, but I am not wrong in stating that 
 if Mr Alex. Herschel has the leisure and the inclination 
 to undertake the hard work, we have an idea that it would be 
 more ably and satisfactorily done, both to yourself and to 
 those who hereafter will refer to the catalogue, than by a 
 stranger having nothing beyond a pecuniary interest in the 
 work. I am, my dear Sir John, very sincerely yours, 
 
 'C. PRITCHARD.' 
 
 P. S. Airy has distinctly seen the willow-leaves the 
 assistants always see them in the large Greenwich equa- 
 torial, when the definition is really fine: power 120 about. 
 
 ' COLLINGWOOD, 
 
 ' April 23, '66. 
 
 ' MY DEAR SIR, My best thanks are due to yourself and 
 the council of the Astronomical Society for the assistance 
 you and they have been so good as to accord me towards 
 making out the catalogue of my father's double stars in as 
 
CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 complete a form as the recorded observations will permit, 
 and for the kind consideration which prompted the wish to 
 alleviate to myself as far as possible the more laborious and 
 mechanical part of the work. The sum named is, I suppose, 
 more than amply sufficient for the purpose. As soon as my 
 son Alexander returns, I shall set him to work at it. What 
 I propose is a catalogue of double entry i.e. y an index cata- 
 logue by classes and numbers, and a working catalogue in 
 order of R.A. brought up to a prospective date. These two 
 will give room in their columns for all the recorded particu- 
 lars or their mean result The identifications of the non- 
 identified stars will, however, be the chief difficulty, and I 
 have some notion of rigging up my old clumsy equatorial 
 stand as an out-door stand, and mounting my 5-inch Tulley's 
 object-glass and finder, and setting Alexander to work to 
 look them up by the descriptions given of their places, nous 
 verrons. It may be a good while about, but if it is not done 
 under my own immediate eye, I could not trust it to anyone 
 else, for it will need constant reference to myself. Believe 
 me, my dear sir, yours very faithfully, 
 
 J. F. W. HERSCHEL.' 
 
 Sir John did not, however, live to complete the work. 
 The catalogue published by Main and Pritchard corresponds 
 to the working catalogue, the second of the two proposed by 
 him. But the editors also carefully arranged his synoptical 
 tables of measures in MS. and indexed them. It may be said 
 that they carried out the wishes above expressed in the best 
 way possible under the circumstances. In a review of the 
 catalogue by Otto Struve which appeared in the Vierteljahrs- 
 schrift der Astron. Gesellschaft for 1876, it is observed that 
 
 c The Royal Astronomical Society has, by the publication 
 of the above catalogue, fulfilled an act of piety towards its 
 deceased illustrious Fellow, Sir John Herschel.' 
 
 Before passing, in the next chapter, to Professor Pritchard's 
 
OFFICIAL LIFE IN THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 257 
 
 life at Oxford, several letters of interest relating to the period 
 of his life we have just been recalling may be here put on 
 record with the briefest of comments. They practically tell 
 their own story. 
 
 ''November 17? ft, 1866. 
 
 * DEAR SIR JOHN, Thanks for the meteor paper for 
 our M.N. My own eye was steadily fixed with few interrup- 
 tions on the Sickle, and from the Sickle to Orion. I had 
 made the same note as you on the radiant point, and yester- 
 day I wrote to a friend to that effect. The radiant point 
 beyond all doubt was well within the hook, and I had in my 
 chart, the day before yesterday, put the radiant for Nov. 1 3th 
 close to the star X ! How curious ! 
 
 * The battery of meteors was so overwhelming that I 
 confined my attention to counting meteors which pelted 
 Orion, keeping an eye also on the Sickle. The rise to a 
 maximum and the fall from it was singularly uniform. 
 
 ' I observed the apparition of the new meteor stars without 
 trains in the hook of the Sickle. I saw one persistent cloud 
 for several minutes, but I observed no rotation, but only a 
 wafting onwards to the south. Ex pede leonem. I read the 
 long article in the Times. 
 
 ' I hope Aleck saw all at Glasgow, but 'tis a nebulous place. 
 Yours, dear Sir John, very truly, 
 
 ' C. PRITCHARD.' 
 
 1 March 27 tk, 1867. 
 
 ' MY DEAR SIR JOHN, A correspondence with'Mr Dawes 
 on certain astronomical " priorities " disagreeable, but I fear 
 not always evitable subjects has put a certain thought into 
 my head, which I venture to put out of it into yours if it 
 has not been there before. 
 
 ' Did you not at one time think of editing your father's 
 papers in the Phil. Trans.? The labour may" be too much 
 
 R 
 
258 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 for you to undertake unaided, but will you pardon me for 
 suggesting (it may be ignorantly and officiously, and if so, 
 forgive it for the motive's sake) that Is it possible for Aleck 
 to do it ? With a few hints from you in the way of reference 
 to the additions or corrections of modern times, he, I imagine, 
 could complete the matter sufficiently well. 
 
 ' These papers are not very accessible even to me. I can- 
 not help thinking the task might be a very grateful one to the 
 grandson, and it might assist in putting him into the scientific 
 position which he may justly claim. 
 
 ' We are binding up your star allineations, so that nothing 
 may be lost. Your star catalogue is in the printer's hands. 
 
 ( What brought up the thought of Aleck to my mind is 
 the probability that your father did see and describe the 
 ' rice grains/ ' granulations ' or ' willow - leaves ; ' but not 
 having by me the proper original, I am all at sea. 
 
 ' In Good Words of next April I give some account of 
 Frauenhofer's Lines and T. Coronse, * and at last just ven- 
 ture on the speculation that it may be an old worn-out sun 
 waxed dim Faye says with a crust on it ; and then a 
 planet and a satellite went crash or scrape into it. If so, 
 the ocean of the planet might afford the hydrogen and the 
 blue that (as when the wind blows over gas), and the crash 
 of the satellite (oceanless) might have caused the second out- 
 burst ! ( Valeat quantum?} 
 
 ' Hoping this may find you in health and happiness in- 
 cluding in you all your circle believe me dear Sir John, 
 sincerely yours, C. PRITCHARD.' 
 
 ' FRESHWATER, 
 ''March \\th, 1869. 
 
 ' MY DEAR SIR JOHN, I have recently had one of the 
 greatest intellectual treats I remember to have ever en- 
 joyed. I found a parcel of your great father's memoirs 
 
 * The 'New Star 'of 1866. 
 
OFFICIAL LIFE IN THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 259 
 
 in the library of the R. Astr. Soc. I have arranged them 
 read many, and glanced at the contents of all. I find 
 there are seventy in all, but M. Struve in Etudes Stellaires 
 speaks of seventy-three. Before I take any steps to collate 
 them with the R. S. Transactions, I hope you will ex- 
 cuse my asking you whether you have any separate copies 
 of any of these memoirs which you would feel disposed to let 
 us have in order to complete the set before I proceed to get 
 these very precious papers properly bound. If you have any 
 such by you, I will send you the list of the three or four missing 
 ones. I have seen none on the first discovery of the Georgium 
 Sidus. The first is 1780, on o Ceti (Mira) and on Lunar 
 Mountains. The last is June nth, 1818, on the relative dis- 
 tance. 
 
 * I am amazed at the grasp of mind and the unwearied 
 industry exhibited in these great memoirs always with a 
 purpose and going straight to it. I am almost as much 
 surprised that they are so comparatively little known among 
 astronomers, and have not as yet been collected so far as I 
 know. I consulted them on the subject of the structure of the 
 universe for a paper I am preparing for Good Words, and that 
 led to my examination of the whole so far as we have them. 
 
 ' This leads me to a question which puzzles me considerably, 
 and which I venture to ask you, if I am not unreasonably bold. 
 
 ' Whereabouts have we ground for supposing are the 
 nebulae and clusters which abound towards the pole of 
 the Milky Way; are they outside of our strata? You say 
 that the telescope does in places pierce through our strata. 
 Is this probably the case of the nebulae or of any or most 
 nebulae ? I hope I am not putting a very ignorant question, 
 but I feel bewildered. Sir W. H. seems to have changed 
 his views after years of patient observation if so it does 
 not appear that we know the exact form of the boundaries 
 of the galaxy, but it seems conceivable that it has been 
 pierced in its thinnest section.' 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 LIFE AT OXFORD 
 
 ON Thursday, February 10, 1870, the Rev. Charles Pritchard, 
 M.A., F.R.S., F.R.A.S., late President of the Royal Astrono- 
 mical Society, and formerly Fellow of St John's College Cam- 
 bridge, was elected to the vacant Savilian Chair of Astronomy 
 in the University of Oxford. 
 
 It was remarked in the Introductory chapter that his 
 appointment was due to the knowledge rather of what man 
 he was than of what things he had done. His concrete 
 undertakings had indeed been hitherto singularly unpro- 
 ductive. He had suggested a new form of mercury trough, 
 but it was not adopted on his suggestion ; he had made a 
 long calculation on planetary conjunctions in order to dis- 
 prove a point in theological chronology a purely negative 
 result ; he had observed the eclipse in Spain with success, 
 but his observations were quite overshadowed by De la 
 Rue's, and were not even mentioned in print ; and he had 
 undertaken a heavy piece of optical work on lines which 
 he found after its completion to lead to no useful result. 
 Carefully studied, the record is one which shows clearly 
 the ability, enterprise and versatility of the man ; but to 
 a casual glance there is very little to catch the eye. His 
 painstaking work for the Royal Astronomical Society, and 
 the trouble he took in settling questions of controversy (in 
 which a man of his varied accomplishments could venture 
 to take a prominent part, although not a principal in the 
 dispute), were not the least important part of his work 
 
 260 
 
LIFE AT OXFORD 261 
 
 up to the time of his election as Savilian Professor. Such 
 work, though not known to the general public, could not 
 fail to be appreciated by the astronomers, especially the 
 Fellows of the society. And it is creditable alike to the 
 society and to its ex-president that it was the influence 
 of several prominent Fellows which secured Pritchard his 
 appointment. Without such an organisation a man like 
 Pritchard might have been lost to astronomy ; by its help he 
 was placed in a position to do full justice to his great powers 
 powers of which he had perhaps failed to give evidence, 
 save in ways of which the society alone could take note. 
 
 As above remarked, Pritchard was elected Savilian Pro- 
 fessor of Astronomy in February 1870. In the University 
 Gazette for April 26 he announced a series of popular lectures 
 on ' Modern Astronomical Discoveries/ the first of which, 
 given on Tuesday, May 10, at noon, was his Inaugural 
 Lecture. And without following the detailed announce- 
 ments further it may be generally remarked that the Pro- 
 fessor's work soon resolved itself into two parts the delivery 
 of lectures on Mathematical Astronomy (Newton's Principia, 
 Lunar and Planetary Theories, with the purely mathematical 
 parts of spherical astronomy), and the instruction in practical 
 astronomy. The mathematical lectures were suited to the 
 requirements of those reading for the final mathematical 
 schools, and were continued on much the same lines so long 
 as Professor Pritchard was able to take an active share in the 
 teaching work. They need not further concern us here. 
 
 It is with the development of practical astronomical work 
 in the University, with the establishment, rapid development 
 and great success of the University observatory, that Pro- 
 fessor Pritchard's name is inseparably connected : and to this 
 piece of history I must now endeavour to do what justice I can. 
 
 There was a small observatory under the control of the 
 Savilian Professor when Pritchard was elected, which he 
 describes as ' a small but sufficient building, containing what 
 
262 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 had once been a good five-feet transit, a clock, and a small 
 altazimuth. The two former had been provided mainly at 
 the expense of his predecessor.' Pritchard began to make 
 use of these instruments for practical instruction in 1871, and 
 before this he had, at his own expense, repaired the instru- 
 ments and building. In 1872 he provided an assistant, who 
 attended every evening for three hours, so that the small 
 observatory might be at all times accessible to students, even 
 when the Professor was unable to be there. 
 
 But the inadequacy of this equipment was soon realised. 
 One most important defect was the absence of an equatorial 
 of any kind, and though the Professor tried to mount one of 
 his own, he found the building quite unsuitable. His thoughts 
 naturally turning to the possibilities of better instruments and 
 a better building, he determined to ask the University for a 
 large refracting telescope. He proposed * that the University 
 should be asked to provide a refracting telescope of 1 2\ inches 
 aperture, equatorially mounted, and furnished with all the 
 accessories required for the prosecution of modern astronomi- 
 cal research. Such an instrument would rank among the best 
 of modern telescopes, and be worthy of Oxford. 
 
 'The cost of this telescope and of the building to contain 
 it would not exceed the sum of ^"2500. It could be in a 
 workable condition before the end of 1873.' 
 
 This application was made through the museum delegates, 
 and brought before Convocation on March 4, 1873, when it 
 was carried nemine contradicente. 
 
 It will be clear from the estimate of time and expense 
 given above that Pritchard had already made preliminary in- 
 quiries before making his proposal. He had in fact been in 
 correspondence with Mr (now Sir Howard) Grubb, of Dublin, 
 and learnt that he had materials for a 12^-inch object-glass 
 already in hand. The earliest letter of Mr Grubb preserved 
 in the observatory records is dated Decembers, 1872, and 
 opens : 
 
LIFE At OXFORD 263 
 
 ' I have been considering the matter of the 1 2-inch equa- 
 torial, and have decided that, having the materials for the 
 objective on hand, I could supply you with the equatorial 
 complete for 1200, delivered at my works.' 
 
 After the money was voted in Convocation, a formal con- 
 tract was drawn up, and the terms definitely settled by the 
 end of May 1873. Apparently the hopes of having the equa- 
 torial erected by the end of 1873 were not based on anything 
 Mr Grubb had said, and he could not undertake to make the 
 object-glass in so short a time ; but he promised to do his 
 best for speed, and by March 4, 1874, was able to report that 
 ' the equatorial was erected, the object-glass attached, clock- 
 driving apparatus complete, and all in fact ready for trial.' 
 It was at first hoped that Professor Pritchard would go over 
 to Dublin to try it himself, but ultimately he asked Dr 
 Briinnow to do this, and a very favourable report was re- 
 ceived from him on March 25, and soon after this the instru- 
 ment was ready for delivery at Oxford. 
 
 Meanwhile the building to receive the instrument had 
 been designed by Mr Charles Barry ; a site had been chosen 
 for it in the parks, and building operations had been com- 
 menced. 
 
 But a modification of fundamental importance had been 
 made in the whole scheme. Dr Warren De la Rue (on 
 whom the University had conferred the honorary degree of 
 D.C.L.* in recognition of his astronomical work) had 
 
 * The year 1870 was that of Lord Salisbury's installation as Chancellor of the 
 University in succession to Lord Derby, and a large number of honorary degrees 
 were conferred. In the list we find the names of J. P. Gassiot, the Earl of Rosse, 
 Warren De la Rue, William Huggins. The following letter to Dr Huggins refers 
 to the ceremony : 
 
 ' OXFORD, 9 KEBLE TERRABE, 
 'June 19, 1870. 
 
 ' MY DEAR MR HUGGINS, I will see about an abbreviated robe for you 
 you will find it at Standen, a tailor in High Street but what is as necessary is a 
 cap. If you have none of your own from your recent Cambridge use, I think you 
 had better send the exact measure of your hat in its two horizontal axes and its 
 inner circumference to the above Standen to-morrow by telegram. Else you may 
 
264 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 offered to present his splendid instruments to the University, 
 and his offer had been accepted. 
 
 This valuable gift necessarily made a great change in 
 the plans for the building. Mr Barry was consulted as to 
 the housing of the new instruments, and arranged for 
 additional buildings to be attached to that already designed 
 for the refractor. But it was clear that the whole would 
 now be a well-equipped observatory. Originally it had 
 been contemplated to leave the transit where it was, in 
 the small observatory near the museum, separate from the 
 new refractor. But it was now obviously the best course 
 to do away with this small observatory and collect all the 
 instruments in one place. The result was the present fine 
 observatory in the parks, just as it stands, with the exception 
 of the large lecture room, which was added in 1877. 
 
 It was not, however, the plans for building alone which 
 were altered by Dr De la Rue's gift. An even more 
 important change was introduced into the aims and objects 
 of the general scheme. Professor Pritchard had originally 
 asked for an educational instrument a telescope 'suitable 
 for the instruction of his class,' * albeit ' furnished with all 
 the accessories required for the prosecution of modern 
 astronomical research.'! 
 
 get into some inconvenience, seeing there are 50 D.C.L.s, and you won't like a 
 greasy old cap. Both Gassiot and De la Rue have been down here to settle their 
 robes. I will tell Standen you may telegraph to him for this cap, as a contin- 
 gency. His shop is next door to St Mary's. 
 
 ' A great error has been made by omitting Lassell, but Main and I will see 
 about D.C.L. for him before a year is out. Of course you have notice about the 
 special train for all you D.C.L.s on Tuesday morning. If you find you have no 
 other engagement, you will, I hope, dine with me at my college hall (New 
 Coll. ) on Wednesday, with a heap of others. 
 
 ' Thanks for Hofman's address. Believe me, yours very sincerely, 
 
 <C. PRITCHARD.' 
 
 Pritchard was thus able, in his first year of office, to take some share in 
 honouring his friends. 
 
 * Univ. Gazette, February n, 1873. 
 t /., etc. 
 
LIFE AT OXFORD 265 
 
 He did, indeed, promise to * make it his endeavour to 
 lay in Oxford the foundation of a school of astronomical 
 physics,'* but the 'educational point of view' was kept 
 prominently forward. 
 
 But with the accession of the instruments which had 
 done such good and historic work in photography, the 
 possibility of an observatory for research in astronomical 
 physics became a reality, and henceforth the observatory 
 was ' the new Savilian Observatory for Astronomical Physics 
 at Oxford.' Under this title Professor Pritchard describes 
 it in the 'Monthly Notices' for December 1873; an d in a 
 letter to the Times (January 3, 1874) he announces that 
 1 the University has led the van in England for the first 
 foundation of an observatory for astronomical physics.'f 
 In thus insisting on a change in the character of the 
 institution, Pritchard was in no way breaking faith with 
 the University. This change was clearly put before the 
 committee on the acceptance of Dr De la Rue's gift, and is 
 clearly stated by them in their report to Convocation. 
 
 They were satisfied that the arrangements already made 
 (the refractor and building) were ' suitable to meet the 
 requirements of astronomical teaching in the University ; ' 
 and they admit that no fresh application in aid of astro- 
 nomical research might have been expected for some 
 years. Nevertheless 'there are other interesting and im- 
 portant branches of astronomical research recently opened 
 out by the rapid advance of scientific inquiry,' and the 
 ' Committee feel that the conditions of the question are 
 entirely changed by the proposal of Dr De la Rue to 
 present to the University his own instrument, already 
 famous in celestial photography, and thus to anticipate 
 
 * Univ. Gazette, February n, 1873. 
 
 t The foundation of such an observatory had been vigorously discussed at the 
 council meetings of the Royal Astronomical Society ; indeed, the question which 
 had the honour of first proposing it was in itself debated with some warmth, 
 
266 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 an improvement which, at some future time, the University 
 would itself probably be desirous of making.'* 
 
 One other point should be noticed with regard to this 
 new feature in the observatory. The term 'astronomical 
 physics' has somewhat changed its meaning since 1874. 
 It then included astronomical photography almost com- 
 pletely, as well as spectroscopic work ; to-day we should 
 not be so ready to call all photography ' astronomical 
 physics.' 
 
 It must not be supposed, therefore, that in adopting this 
 title for the observatory Pritchard meant to devote all, or 
 even the greater part of his attention to the spectroscope. 
 It was rather of the photographic camera that he was 
 thinking, and of this he never lost sight in his subsequent 
 work, though the spectroscope was practically never used. 
 This was also the view of 'astronomical physics' taken 
 by De la Rue, as will be clear from the following interest- 
 ing letter, apparently intended to be laid before the 
 committee on his proposed gift The 'use to which he 
 would like to see his reflector applied,' viz., the 'deter- 
 mining whether or not the moon has a physical libration,' 
 was one of the first pieces of work undertaken by Pritchard, 
 but we should, perhaps, now hesitate to call it ' astronomical 
 physics.' 
 
 'no BUNHILL Row, E.G., 
 
 ' 'October 21 st, 1873. 
 
 ' MY DEAR PRITCHARD,. . . I cannot give you a better 
 illustration of the fact that in order to complete your equip- 
 ment of a physical observatory at Oxford you ought to 
 possess not only as perfect a refractor as you can command, 
 but also the means of photographic work, than to recall to 
 your recollection that the Royal Society thought it expedient 
 to furnish Dr Huggins's observatory with a stand on which 
 both a refractor and reflector could be placed. Dr Huggin 
 
 *Univ. Gazette, November 18, 1873, P- 3 IQ - 
 
LIFE AT OXFORD 267 
 
 has, in fact, two telescopes, and apparatus for interchanging 
 them as required. 
 
 ' The reflector supplements the refractor in several ways 
 (first) you cannot obtain photograms of celestial objects in 
 anything like perfection with an achromatic achromatised for 
 the visual rays ; (second) in spectroscopic work the ordinary 
 refractor does not afford the opportunity of grasping the 
 chemical spectra indeed the material (glass) precludes the 
 possibility of so doing with any form of refractor ; (third) in 
 studying the colours of stars and planets the reflector, especi- 
 ally the silvered glass speculum, presents manifest advantages. 
 
 ' Were it not for the inherent difficulty of the open tube in 
 case of reflectors, I should give the preference to the reflector 
 for all purposes. The open tube increases the atmospheric 
 disturbing causes by introducing in addition to external 
 currents the currents within the tube (even a lattice tube). 
 
 ' Consequently one is enabled to use a refractor under cir- 
 cumstances (difference between internal temperatures, etc.) 
 when the reflector does not perform perfectly. 
 
 * One use which I should like to see my reflector applied 
 is the determining whether or not the moon has a physical 
 libration ; for this purpose, photograms of this planet would 
 have to be taken as often as practicable, and the original 
 negatives measured by means of a properly constructed 
 micrometer, so as to determine the apparent distance of 
 selected craters from the moon's limb after allowance for 
 the shifting produced by the optical (latitude), the orbital (long- 
 itude) and terrestrial station librations, the residue would be 
 the true libration due to the centre of gravity not coinciding 
 with the centre of figure. . . . Yours very sincerely, 
 
 'WARREN DE LA RUE.' 
 
 While the refracting telescope was being constructed by 
 Mr Grubb, the building to receive it had thus expanded into 
 the ' New Savilian Observatory for Astronomical Physics 
 
268 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 at Oxford.' For a more detailed description of the obser- 
 vatory I must refer those interested to two papers by Pro- 
 fessor Pritchard.* I content myself here with a short extract 
 from the first paper, characteristic of the writer. 
 
 ' The revolving domes are peculiar in their construction. 
 Inasmuch as by the great liberality of the University 
 permission has been given to place this observatory in 
 the most convenient position within their beautiful park, it 
 was thought proper to consider the architectural character 
 of the building, at anyrate to the small extent permitted 
 by the astronomical exigencies of the case. With this 
 view the form of a lofty, truncated dome was selected 
 for the revolving roofs, rather than the usual and con- 
 venient form of a drum. This necessitated difficult and 
 unusual contrivances for the shutters.' The contrivances 
 first devised were indeed unmanageable, and some years 
 later had to be replaced by others. What are the archi- 
 tectural merits of the domes I must leave to others to 
 judge ; I have heard them abused. 
 
 This extract is not complete without a footnote appended 
 to it in the original directly concerning the park, but leading 
 up to some considerations on the general attitude of the 
 University towards science : and I therefore reproduce this 
 footnote also. 
 
 ' The ground for this park, consisting of about sixty acres, 
 was purchased and laid out by the University, and then, with 
 admirable liberality, thrown open to the public. The situa- 
 tion of the new observatory is remarkably fortunate, and 
 free from any injurious obstruction to the view in every 
 direction. Nevertheless it lies within easy distance from and 
 communicates with the University museum, where are to be 
 found the lecture rooms and laboratories of the various 
 scientific Professors. This museum, again, is another in- 
 stance of the munificence of the University in providing at 
 
 * Monthly Notices, xxxiv,, p. 49, and xxxvi., p. i. 
 
LIFE AT OXFORD 269 
 
 vast cost for the wants of hef students in the natural sciences. 
 Should the University see fit to assign, as is proposed, a 
 portion of the park contiguous to the new observatory for 
 the purposes of a botanic garden, then this remarkable 
 aggregation of appliances for every branch of natural 
 philosophy round a common centre will form an arrange- 
 ment which, for compactness and completeness, has no present 
 rival in the world a monument and pledge of the generous 
 care of a true Alma Mater.' 
 
 We have here Pritchard's testimony to the liberality and 
 the liberal spirit of the University. Many other such pas- 
 sages might be quoted from his writings. He was deeply 
 impressed by the readiness with which the University lis- 
 tened to the demands made upon its resources by the newly- 
 established faculty of science. It may not be generally 
 known how lavishly the University has, during the last half 
 century, spent money in the endeavour to do justice to 
 studies hitherto neglected by its students I say hitherto, 
 for in spite of this endeavour the science schools do not yet 
 take their proper position in comparison with others. There 
 is an inertia about old institutions which is perhaps adequate 
 to explain this tardiness of apparent result. But the Uni- 
 versity has generally responded when application has been 
 made to it in a sound cause, by a man who could state a 
 strong case. Pritchard was recognised as a man of this 
 kind; and he on his part was prompt to recognise the 
 liberal spirit of the University. But it was a considerable 
 achievement to convince the University of Oxford of the 
 necessity for their building an astronomical observatory 
 perhaps Pritchard's greatest achievement: and I have ven- 
 tured to take this view in the introductory chapter (see 
 p. 217). 
 
 The new observatory was not built in a day, though we 
 need not follow the details of its construction and the 
 trials of the Savilian Professor in the meantime. In the 
 
270 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 second of the above-mentioned papers read to the Royal 
 Astronomical Society on November 12, 1875, the building 
 is declared complete, and the Professor tenders his grateful 
 acknowledgments to Mr Grubb and Mr Charles Barry for 
 their great care and skill. The engineer, Mr Baly, was no 
 longer alive, but letters from De la Rue refer to him in 
 terms of high praise. 
 
 There were, however, considerable trials and annoyances 
 for the Professor in the building of the observatory. The 
 details did not work out as he at first hoped, especially the 
 shutters, and a new form was devised. The contractors 
 did not fulfil their engagements to time ; and the total 
 expenses were found to be more than 1000 in excess of 
 the grants approved by Convocation. Finally, when Convo- 
 cation was petitioned, May 20, 1875, f r money to discharge 
 these excess bills, the petition was refused by one vote 
 (25 to 24) ; but a wish was generally expressed that the 
 application be repeated, and it was then acceded to (June 
 
 3, 1875). 
 
 To this account of the establishment of the observatory 
 it should be added that Dr Gassiot (who received an honor- 
 ary degree at the same time as De la Rue) presented a 
 valuable spectroscope to the University, and the thanks of 
 Convocation were conveyed to him by decree of November 
 17, 1874. 
 
 The observatory being completed, the next step was 
 to appoint an assistant or assistants. Provision for an assist- 
 ant had been made by Convocation, and the appointment 
 was made during the progress of the building. It would 
 be difficult to over-estimate the good fortune which secured 
 Mr W. E. Plummer (now Director of the Liverpool Observa- 
 tory) as the first assistant. He was thus identified with 
 the University observatory from the very beginning until 
 within a few months of Professor Pritchard's death, and 
 during the whole of that time was conspicuous for un- 
 
LIFE AT OXFORD 2/1 
 
 swerving devotion to the observatory and a skill in carry- 
 ing on its work far in excess of what might have been 
 reasonably expected from the conditions of his appointment. 
 Professor Pritchard was already an old man when the ob- 
 servatory was built. His mental activity remained unim- 
 paired to the last, but bodily infirmities came upon him, 
 and he was in consequence often compelled to conduct the 
 affairs of the observatory from a distance. That he should 
 have done this with such conspicuous success is in great 
 measure a testimony to the zeal and ability of his assist- 
 ants, and especially to the senior assistant. Mr Plummer 
 acted on many occasions for the Professor, not 'only at 
 the observatory, but elsewhere as, for instance, at the 
 International Congress on the Astrographic Chart at Paris 
 in 1887. I cannot but feel how much more adequately 
 the account of Professor Pritchard's life at Oxford would 
 have been treated by Mr Plummer, who knew it all person- 
 ally; but circumstances would not allow of this, and I may 
 perhaps derive some satisfaction from the consideration 
 that at least I am able to say something which he could 
 not of the great services rendered to the observatory by 
 himself services which Professor Pritchard so constantly 
 acknowledged during his lifetime, and would have been so 
 anxious to have placed on record here. 
 
 Mr W. E. Plummer came to Oxford from Mr Bishop's 
 private observatory at Twickenham, where he had been 
 for five years. Previously he had been at the Royal Ob- 
 servatory, Greenwich, 1864-1868. He sent an account of 
 his work and qualifications to Professor Pritchard on June 
 4, 1874, together with a letter from Mr Hind, the senior 
 assistant at Mr Bishop's observatory, and was forthwith 
 appointed. The buildings at Oxford being not yet com- 
 pleted, Mr Plummer did not remove from Twickenham 
 immediately ; but his duties had practically commenced 
 on July 2, when he sends to Professor Pritchard an account 
 
272 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 of a visit to Lambeth, where the domes were being con- 
 structed. Several such visits were made and reported upon. 
 He also, in August, drew up a list of books necessary for 
 the library of the new observatory, and was assisting 
 Professor Pritchard in other ways in July and August. 
 His definite appointment and removal to Oxford was 
 dated from September 2, 1874; and his initial salary fixed 
 at 160, leaving a very narrow margin of 4.0 from the 
 annual grant of Convocation for unskilled labour and con- 
 tingencies. It was soon seen that this was not enough, 
 and the grant was raised to 300 from January i, 1875, 
 allowing of a servant at 50 a year, the rest going for 
 taxes, gas, water, coal and photographic expenses. Con- 
 siderable economy was even then necessary in all trans- 
 actions. 
 
 When work was definitely commenced, however, it soon 
 became clear that more assistance was required. There was 
 no house for the observer (a fact which Mr Plummer deplores 
 in his letters ; he had not been able to get a house within 
 easy distance of the observatory, and suited to his small 
 salary, at all) ; and the strain of working two equatorials be- 
 sides the minor instruments, from a distance, was far too 
 great. The applications to Convocation has already been 
 numerous, and hesitation was felt about making any more at 
 the time. Dr De la Rue came to the rescue, and offered an 
 annual grant of ;ioo for three years (ultimately four) for 
 the provision of a second assistant. Mr C. A. Jenkins, of the 
 Royal Observatory, Greenwich, was thus appointed, and he 
 also remained at the observatory through practically the 
 whole of Professor Pritchard's directorate. 
 
 There was a third member of the establishment who, 
 though not styled an assistant, was by no means an unim- 
 portant part of the whole. It would be somewhat difficult 
 fully to describe the various accomplishments of Mr John 
 Mullis, and the numerous uses to which they have been put 
 
LIFE AT OXFORD 273 
 
 in the history of the observatory. As mechanic, carpenter 
 and gardener, he is equally competent and hard-working ; 
 equally ready to describe the course of an otherwise forgotten 
 drain, to make a model of a new micrometer, to build an 
 observatory hut, or to adapt a bicycle wheel for driving a 
 dynamo. He is still at the observatory, and long may he 
 remain so. His name will not occur again in these pages, 
 but his work was none the less essential to the smooth 
 working of the institution and the success of the researches 
 there carried out. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 
 
 THE history of the new observatory was prosperous from the 
 commencement, albeit rather in the direction of research 
 than of education. But this was only a movement in the line 
 of least resistance. I have already referred to the fact that 
 the lavish expenditure of the University upon scientific 
 institutions and apparatus has not yet produced any very 
 startling result in the schools. Such a result was perhaps 
 scarcely to be expected, and may not be desirable. In the 
 opinion of many competent judges, the chief strength of 
 Oxford lies in her great school of Literce Humaniores^ and 
 until 1853 this school had no rival except that of Mathe- 
 matics, which it completely overshadowed. In 1853 two new 
 schools were founded, that of Natural Science and the com- 
 bined school of Jurisprudence and Modern History, the 
 former of which may be considered an offshoot of Mathematics, 
 or at least an allied growth with it, and the latter similarly 
 allied with Literce Humaniores. And in the new schools the 
 same disproportion was manifested. The school of Juris- 
 prudence and Modern History flourished from the first like 
 its parent, Literce Humaniores , and in 1872 was divided 
 into two separate schools, each of which has grown healthily ; 
 as has also the school of Theology, added in 1870. But the 
 Natural Science school was a weakling, like Mathematics in 
 Oxford, and for many years showed only the feeblest signs 
 of life. 
 
 It may be that the previous existence of a strong growth 
 
 274 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 2/5 
 
 like the school of Literce Humaniores is inimical to the well- 
 being of organisms not akin to it ; or again, without assuming 
 any deleterious influence of one organism or the other, the 
 flourishing of the former may be an indication that the en- 
 vironment is not suited to the latter. In the one case vigorous 
 efforts to cultivate the new growth might be successful, though 
 the old growth might possibly suffer in the process ; in the 
 other case such efforts would not be so hopeful. But leaving 
 such speculations on one side, there seems to be no doubt of 
 the fact that the teaching of science as a part of the University 
 curriculum is attended with great difficulties ; and if Pritchard 
 achieved nothing very striking in this direction, it need excite 
 no surprise. He never neglected this part of his work ; his 
 formal lectures were continued, to those few who showed an 
 interest in astronomy, throughout his tenure of office, ex- 
 cepting the last year or two, in which Mr Plummer lectured 
 for him. And the MSS. of these lectures show that they 
 were prepared with great care ; indeed, his heart had been in 
 educational work all his life, as his success at the Clapham 
 Grammar School is sufficient to demonstrate. 
 
 He was untiring in his efforts to make practical work 
 with astronomical instruments easy and attractive to students. 
 Those who have ever done any teaching work of this kind 
 know the difficulties of it. The conditions of working in the 
 dark and in the open air are perplexing and often uncom- 
 fortable ; astronomical apparatus is not multiplied so readily 
 as laboratory apparatus, and several persons must be instructed 
 at the same instrument, awaiting each their turn. Finally, the 
 weather enters as a distractingly uncertain element. These 
 difficulties Professor Pritchard resolutely attacked. After 
 giving elementary instruction for some years in the open air, 
 he built in 1885 a students' observatory on the roof of the 
 lecture room, in which he placed the instruments from the 
 old museum observatory, and some of his own which he 
 presented to the University. 
 
2/6 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 This situation not being found to give a steady enough 
 foundation, after a few years' experience he determined to 
 build a more suitable structure on the ground, which, however, 
 was only completed very shortly before his death. 
 
 To those students who had acquired some knowledge of 
 the elementary facts about instruments, the course of the 
 researches being conducted by means of the chief instruments 
 of the observatory was then explained. Much more than this 
 could not be done in the few hours that students were able 
 to devote to astronomy, which was never more than a mere 
 incident in their course of study ; but considerable pains were 
 taken to achieve so much. The peculiar constitution of the 
 University made it practically impossible to do more.* 
 
 Pritchard was not satisfied with this state of things, as 
 may be imagined, and several times looked about him for 
 other students more ready to devote themselves and their 
 time to his instruction. In 1881 he refers to 'three very 
 different classes of persons ' towards whom he considers he 
 has duties. ' First there are the students and their require- 
 ments in regard to the studies prescribed by the University. 
 Next to these there are graduate members engaged in public 
 tuition, who have from time to time applied for more advanced 
 and complete information than is required for the purposes of 
 the schools. And thirdly, there is a large and increasing, and, 
 in some points of view, a very important class of young men, 
 whether connected with the University or outside of it, who, 
 without possessing any considerable knowledge of mathe- 
 matics, desire to obtain as much acquaintance with a fascinat- 
 ing science as may serve for a recreation or parergon in leisure 
 
 * Extract from the report of the Savilian Professor on June 4, 1879 : ' Until 
 some material advantages are offered to students, in some degree corresponding to 
 those valuable and numerous rewards which are at once reaped from the other 
 studies of the University, I can hardly expect that justice can be done to the diffi- 
 cult subject of astronomy, or to what I believe to be the unusually great oppor- 
 tunities provided by the University for the students at the observatory. In plain 
 language, the study of astronomy is supposed not to pay sufficiently well in the 
 public examinations to encourage students to take it up.' 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 277 
 
 hours. Each of these three classes has claimed the Professor's 
 attention during the last year.' 
 
 . In the next report (1882) he is still impressed with the 
 same idea. 
 
 ' I have adhered to the plan proposed for the lectures 
 which I indicated in my last report (June 1881). It is, as 
 there explained, intended to embrace three different classes 
 of persons ; thus lectures were offered to the students on the 
 lunar and planetary theories, and on more elementary and 
 practical subjects. On three occasions I invited the attend- 
 ance of schoolmasters of elementary schools in the city and 
 its neighbourhood, and to some twenty of these important 
 officers I expounded what I considered to be the proper 
 method of teaching geometry and cognate subjects. It 
 seemed to me that this attempt was within the lines of my 
 duty to the University. On account of the apparition of a 
 comet which was expected to present features of unusual 
 interest, I also offered lectures on the whole theory of these 
 singular bodies, both mathematical, observational and physi- 
 cal. I regret to say that no member of the University availed 
 himself of the offer. The stimulus which is applied to the 
 cultivation of other branches of learning, by means of scholar- 
 ships and other modes of practical and material encourage- 
 ment, is non-existent in the case of astronomy. The con- 
 sequences are obvious, and cannot be effectually removed 
 except by extending to that branch of science that same 
 fostering hand which is so bountiful in regard to other 
 studies.' 
 
 Enough has perhaps been said to show the kind of effort 
 made in the direction of teaching, and the reasons why only 
 a moderate success was to be expected. In later reports no 
 special comments are made on the subject, and the Professor 
 seems to have accepted the situation and turned his atten- 
 tion more completely to research ; and here the success of 
 the new observatory was assured from the very beginning. 
 
2/8 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 Two great pieces of work, on stellar photometry and stellar 
 parallax, were completed, each of which was crowned with a 
 medal ; and the inception of a third of even greater magnitude 
 occupied the closing years of Pritchard's life. Besides these, 
 several other researches of considerable importance were 
 undertaken and brought to a successful issue; but I have 
 Pritchard's own authority for dividing up the seventeen years 
 of his labours into periods, according to the aforesaid three 
 great pieces of work. In his report for 1891 he writes : ' The 
 completion of the whole scheme of the determination of 
 stellar parallax, as originally conceived, may be said to con- 
 stitute the second epoch in the history of the University ob- 
 servatory. The publication of the photometric work in the 
 Uranometria Nova Oxoniensis I regard as the first. In like 
 manner the third epoch now commences with the construc- 
 tion of the photographic star chart, or, at least, that zone of it 
 which is assigned to this observatory.' The division between 
 the first and second epoch in 1886 was well marked, one work 
 being completed before the other was projected ; but in 1891 
 much had already been done on the star chart for it turned 
 out to be no small labour to get a suitable instrument, as 
 Pritchard had done. I mention this lest it should appear 
 from the comparison of the date (1891) with that of Prit- 
 chard's death early in 1893, that he had not time to accom- 
 plish much in the third undertaking. I shall presently show 
 that this was far from being the case. The work of 
 the astrographic chart really began in 1887 with the Inter- 
 national Congress. 
 
 I do not consider it necessary here to describe in detail 
 all the pieces of work done at the observatory during Prit- 
 chard's directorate. For the purposes of biography it will be 
 better to select one or two of them as representative. But 
 before proceeding to such description of any, I give here 
 for reference a very brief summary of his Annual Reports 
 to the Board of Visitors, presented each year in June. 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 279 
 
 BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCHES, AS SHOWN IN 
 ANNUAL REPORTS TO BOARD OF VISITORS. 
 
 1876. Double stars (34 nights). Photos of moon (150). 
 Venus (21), Jupiter (18). Saturn's satellites (32 nights). 
 Observations of chromosphere (i day). 
 
 1877. Photos of moon (426). Double stars (259 measures 
 of 117 stars). Orbits graphically determined (several). 
 Comets (3 observed on 16, 48 and 23 nights; and elements 
 and ephemerides computed). Saturn's satellites (88 measures). 
 Chromosphere (22 days). 
 
 1878. Photos of moon (600). Double stars (i 10 measures 
 of 45 stars). Orbits of double stars (2). Comets (2 ob- 
 served on 4, and 14 nights ; 5 orbits computed and i 
 ephemeris). Saturn's satellites. Pleiades (31 stars in R.A. 
 and Dec., as well as distance with duplex micrometer). 
 First volume of observations published. 
 
 1879. Photos of moon (300). Measurements of these 
 for physical libration, and diameter. Comets (2) observed. 
 Pleiades measures with duplex micrometer. 
 
 1880. Lunar libration discussion nearly completed. 
 Pleiades measures. Also measures on 39 Messier. 
 
 1 88 1. Lunar libration completed. Memoir on possibility 
 of accurate measurement of photographs. Comets. Double 
 stars. Measures on 39 Messier. 
 
 1882. Memoir of last year (on photography) com- 
 pleted. Pleiades measures discussion complete, nearly ready 
 for press. Wedge photometry commenced. Comet Wells 
 (brightness of). Hours of bright sunshine. 
 
 1883. (No report printed in the Gazette, nor preserved at 
 the observatory. Professor Pritchard was in Egypt in the 
 early months of the year.) 
 
 1884. Three memoirs appear in Vol. xlvii., Mem. 
 R.A.S., from this observatory. ' On the Moon's Photographic 
 Diameter and on the Applicability of Celestial Photography 
 
280 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 to Accurate Measurement' (Pritchard). * On the Solar 
 Motion in Space' (W. E. Plummer). 'Photometric Deter- 
 mination of the Relative Brightness of the Brighter Stars 
 north of the Equator ' (Pritchard). A memoir on Pleiades 
 nearly ready. Photometric work preceeding, and Uranotnetria 
 Nova Oxoniensis projected. 
 
 1885. Pleiades memoir complete. Photometric work 
 complete. 
 
 1886. Uranometria Nova Oxoniensis published, and gold 
 medal of Royal Astronomical Society awarded. Novae 
 Andromedae and Orionis watched. Parallax work projected. 
 
 1887. Parallax of 61 Cygni determined photographically. 
 Parallaxes of /a- Cassiop. and Polaris commenced. Some 
 photographs of Pleiades with De la Rue reflector. 
 
 1888. Parallax work proceeding (ten or twelve stars). 
 Testing of capacities of two mirrors of different focal 
 lengths for the Royal Society. 
 
 1889. First volume of Parallax being printed. De la 
 Rue gave astrographic telescope, and testing of trial object- 
 glasses commenced. 
 
 1890. Parallax work proceeding. First volume of results 
 printed and distributed. Testing of trial photographic 
 objectives. 
 
 1891. Parallax nearly completed down to second-magni- 
 tude stars. Preliminary investigations for star chart. 
 
 1892. Parallax work complete, and volume ready for 
 press, with a history of the subject. Photometry of specified 
 areas for star chart. Nova Aurigas. 
 
 It will be gathered from the foregoing summary that be- 
 sides the memoirs contributed to the Royal Astronomical 
 Society and the Royal Society, four volumes of observations 
 have been issued as the definite result of work at the Oxford 
 University Observatory. The first volume, though it contains 
 some excellent work, does not call for any very special mention. 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 28 1 
 
 In a brief introduction, the director gives some particulars of 
 the observatory and its work up to the end of 1877. Then 
 follow the observations of Saturn's satellites, double stars, 
 comets ; and the calculations of the orbits of g Ursae Majoris, 
 70 Ophiuchi, and /a 2 Bootis all excellent work, but not very 
 novel ; well adapted for showing the capacities of the 
 observers (generally Mr Plummer) and the instruments, and 
 by no means useless, but not of the same striking character 
 as the work which was to follow ; like a serious and earnest 
 trial of a racing crew, and no mere paddling, though not the 
 actual race itself. There was no doubt about the race when 
 it did come. Such a metaphor would not apply to the work 
 of most observatories, which is extended over many years, if 
 not centuries, on a uniform plan. But Pritchard worked in a 
 different way, in comparatively short, sharp bursts ; and his 
 undertakings might very well be compared to races, with 
 their well-marked start and finish, their definite result, and 
 their reward for victory. 
 
 The second volume of publications of the University 
 observatory might have been expected to contain the work on 
 lunar libration. It will be remembered that this was a re- 
 search indicated by De la Rue as suitable for the employ- 
 ment of his reflector (see page 267), and Pritchard lost no 
 time in complying with the wishes of his friend and bene- 
 factor. Some thousands of photographs of the moon were 
 taken with the instrument by the second assistant, Mr 
 Jenkins. Many of them were carefully measured with a 
 ' measuring engine/ also provided by the liberality of De la 
 Rue, and the results were collected and discussed, as appears 
 in the above summary. In 1880 and 1881 Pritchard 
 announces that the discussion of the libration is nearly com- 
 plete, and suggests that when complete it will fitly form the 
 next volume of the publications. But the volume never 
 appeared. There was some hitch in the final discussion what 
 I do not exactly know and the work was laid aside. The 
 
282 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 papers are still in the observatory, and I shall hope at some 
 future time to examine them. But Pritchard certainly saw 
 some reason for withholding the publication. I do not think 
 there is any reason for not stating this fact plainly. I have 
 lost a little time myself hunting for the published results of 
 which references in reports, etc., led me to expect the exist- 
 ence ; and to have it down in plain words that the results 
 were never published may save others similar lost time in 
 searching. It is clearly another case similar to the optical 
 tables. Pritchard found, when the work was all but complete,, 
 that there was some flaw, and withheld the publication. It is 
 not likely that, as in the former case, the whole work was 
 practically useless ; but there was some cause for dissatisfac- 
 tion, and the work was laid aside. It would have been more 
 satisfactory to know the exact difficulty from Pritchard him- 
 self, but I cannot find that he has left any record of it, and 
 we must therefore be content with a general explanation. 
 Pritchard was sufficiently successful on other occasions to 
 allow of the plain statement of this comparative failure. It 
 is possibly the duty of a biographer to draw attention to such 
 failures more particularly for it is undoubtedly an encourage- 
 ment to others to know that the undertakings of a successful 
 man are not always successful. 
 
 The work on the lunar photographs was, however, not 
 without a useful issue. Incidentally it was made clear that 
 photographs were susceptible of very accurate measure- 
 ment; and this was a most important fact, and, at the 
 time, comparatively new. That a photograph is a very 
 close copy of the original must have been obvious from 
 the first it was the essential merit of a photograph. But 
 the demands of astronomers are of the most exacting 
 kind and it was in 1880 not yet clearly established that 
 they could be satisfied by the photographic method. Those 
 who have never examined a photograph closely would 
 be astonished to find what an amount of distortion can 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 283 
 
 escape notice in a general inspection by the eye. A paper 
 print of a portrait, for instance, is always more or less 
 distorted, owing to the different shrinking of the paper 
 in different directions. If the paper has a well-marked 
 grain or structure, as is usually the case, the portrait may 
 be given a long face or a wide face by suitably placing 
 this grain ; and yet the eye would still recognise the 
 likeness. - But a measuring apparatus would at once re- 
 veal these defects ; and such a photograph would be use- 
 less for astronomical purposes unless special precautions 
 were taken. 
 
 We now know that in a photograph on glass such 
 shrinkage or distortion is sufficiently small to render a 
 photograph available for measurements of great astronomi- 
 cal precision ; and Pritchard took an important share in 
 the work of establishing this fact. A few quotations will 
 show his historical position. 
 
 On the occasion of the transit of Venus in 1874, a 
 large number of photographs of the sun, with Venus in 
 transit, were taken by the British expeditions ; and it was 
 hoped that careful micrometric measures of the distance of 
 Venus from the sun's limb (as the edge of the sun is 
 termed) would supplement or even supplant the eye obser- 
 vations of the moments of ingress and egress. But after 
 many attempts and much labour, this hope was relinquished. 
 I quote the words of Sir G. B. Airy, then Astronomer- Royal, 
 under whose superintendence Major Tupman and his com- 
 puters worked: 
 
 ' After laborious measures and calculations, it was thought 
 best to abstain from publishing the results of the photo- 
 graphic measures as comparable with those deduced from 
 telescopic view. The considerations which led to this de- 
 cision are stated by Major Tupman in a paper in the 
 "Monthly Notices," R.A.S., Vol. xxxviii., p. 508. They 
 are mainly embodied in this that, however well the sun's 
 
284 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 limb on the photograph appeared to the naked eye to be 
 defined, yet on applying to it a microscope it became in- 
 distinct and untraceable, and when the sharp wire of the 
 micrometer was placed on it, it entirely disappeared.' 
 
 Again, referring to some images taken with Janssen's 
 apparatus 
 
 'They have not been further reduced. The ardour of 
 the observers had been much cooled by the apparent general 
 failure of the photographic principle, and they were unwill- 
 ing to spend further time on these reductions.* 
 
 1 1881, June 10. G. B. AIRY.' 
 
 This is historically a most important statement. Airy 
 had taken the greatest interest in everything connected with 
 the transit of Venus, and although he was getting old, and 
 was not able to deal with the mass of work done at the 
 royal observatory with the vigour and keenness of his 
 earlier years, he would not have made any such sweeping 
 assertions without being well satisfied of their general 
 correctness. We may lay all due emphasis on the fact 
 that in 1881 Airy regarded the 'photographic principle' 
 as having ' generally failed.' Fortunately for astronomers, 
 this decision was reversed within a very few months, both 
 in England and America. In May 1882 Pritchard wrote 
 his memoir ' On the Moon's Photographic Diameter and 
 on the Applicability of Celestial Photography to Accurate 
 Measurement' (Mem. R.A.S., Vol. xlvii.) ; and on p. 16 
 of this memoir he remarks, as the summary of a preceding 
 discussion : 
 
 1 So far, then, it seems that the accuracy of the photo- 
 graphic method is established on a secure basis ; ' and appends 
 a footnote: 
 
 ' Since this paper was completed for publication, the 
 elaborate discussion by the American astronomers of the 
 
 * Transit of Venus > 1874. Printed at H.M. Stationery office. Appendix V., 
 p. 19. 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 285 
 
 results of the photographic measures of the transit of 
 Mercury in May 1878, have amply confirmed the con- 
 clusions regarding the reliability of photography properly 
 applied as derived from the present investigation.' (See 
 Am. Journ. of Set., Vol. xxii., Nov. 1881.) 
 
 No comments of mine are needed to supplement these 
 striking phrases, which show at once that Pritchard was 
 one of the first to pin his faith on photographic measure- 
 ment with good reason. But the work and faith of De 
 la Rue must not be forgotten. It was De la Rue who 
 had first applied the photographic method in 1860 to a 
 solar eclipse, and who had measured his photographs 
 with great care and labour. It was De la Rue who gave 
 his own instrument to Oxford, in order that such photo- 
 graphs might be taken ; who suggested their measurement ; 
 who bought and presented the micrometer to measure them 
 with; and whose keen interest in the result was doubtless 
 a powerful factor in the progress of the work. It is no 
 disparagement to Pritchard to recall these facts; the pair 
 of friends each needed the other, and by their happy coali- 
 tion work was done which neither might have done alone, 
 but in the accomplishment of which both had ample 
 opportunity to show their powers, whether of munificence 
 and suggestion, or of appreciation, skill and determina- 
 tion. 
 
 Some years later, in the parallax work, Pritchard was 
 to test the photographic principle still more severely, but 
 after this first essay (with which, as I have already remarked, 
 he was not quite satisfied) he turned his attention in a quite 
 different direction, and it is from this point that he con- 
 sidered the real history of the University observatory to 
 begin. I proceed to describe very briefly the scope of the 
 photometric work summed up in the Uranometria Nova 
 Oxoniensis. In an introduction to this volume, Pritchard 
 has given such an admirable account of the work and its 
 
286 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 historical relations, that " little more than quotation is neces- 
 sary. Much of what follows is accordingly taken bodily 
 from this introduction ; but to avoid the use of inverted 
 commas, of which there are already so many in these pages 
 as to tire the eye, I state my acknowledgments here. 
 
 The Uranometria Nova Oxoniensis is a large octavo volume 
 containing 117 pages of tabular matter, and 27 pages of 
 introduction. It represents the work of three years on the 
 photometry of stars visible to ordinary and unaided eyes, 
 from the North Pole to about ten degrees south of the 
 Equator. This work was one of the earliest attempts to 
 measure the brightness of the stars by an instrument specially 
 designed for the purpose, called the Wedge Photometer. Up 
 to this time systematic classifications of the stars according 
 to their brightness had been conducted by means of the eye 
 alone, or the eye aided merely by a telescope ; and the 
 fundamental principle of working was the comparison of two 
 stars to see which was the brighter, or whether they were so 
 nearly equal in brightness that no difference could be de- 
 tected. It is clear that in this way a number of stars could 
 be arranged in order of brightness; or that a number of 
 classes could be formed, each containing stars brighter than 
 those in the class below. But it is also clear that the differ- 
 ences between one class and the next might not be always 
 the same ; there would at least be no guarantee of uniformity 
 in these differences. It might turn out that the eye was so 
 constituted as to assign a constant difference between the 
 classes throughout, but this would have to be established by 
 independent means. Curiously enough it did turn out very 
 nearly so. Ancient astronomers (Hipparchus and Ptolemy) 
 divided the stars into six classes. They assigned the ' first 
 magnitude,' to a small group of the brightest stars, and then 
 proceeded step by step in successive groups to the 'sixth 
 magnitude,' which included all stars shining with the feeblest 
 lustre admitting of appreciation by the naked eye. When 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 287 
 
 systematic measurements were brought to bear on these 
 classes, it was found that each was about 2\ times brighter 
 than the class below. It may excite surprise that the differ- 
 ence in lustre was so marked ; and it must not be supposed 
 that the brightness of the stars can be arranged in nearly 
 uniform classes differing so abruptly one from another. In- 
 termediate steps between these classes were soon established. 
 Ptolemy himself sub-divided each magnitude into three, an 
 amount of precision which seems to have been subsequently 
 abandoned by his successors. His work remained practically 
 unimproved from his day (A.D. 150) to that of the elder 
 Herschel at the close of the eighteenth century. In this 
 interval some few attempts were made to improve Ptolemy's 
 estimations as by Abd-al-Rahman Al Sufi (A.D. 930), Tycho 
 Brahe (circa 1570), Hevelius (circa 1680) ; while Bayer (1601) 
 applied the letters of the Greek alphabet to denote the stars 
 in a constellation more or less in the order of brightness, 
 without any re-examination of Ptolemy's work. Finally 
 Flamsteed (circa 1689), the first Astronomer- Royal, and the 
 first astronomer who applied the telescope to systematic 
 celestial measurements, re-introduced the sub-divisions of a 
 magnitude into thirds, by means of the notation now in 
 general use ; but in other respects exhibited either negligence 
 or unconcern in his estimations of relative stellar brightness. 
 It was this disregard of precision on Flamsteed's part which 
 mainly induced Sir William Herschel * to turn his own atten- 
 tion to the subject. He divided a constellation into small 
 groups of two or three or four stars of nearly equal brightness, 
 and he then arranged the stars in these small groups in the 
 order of their lustre. Stars common to two groups formed 
 the connecting links. It was, however, no part of his inten- 
 tion to form a complete catalogue of magnitudes, but to 
 record the means of detecting any the slightest variation 
 which might occur at future periods in any of the stars form- 
 
 * Phil. Trans. 1746, p. 166. 
 
288 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 ing any of his groups. His son, Sir John Herschel, during 
 his busy life at the Cape of Good Hope (1835-1838), proposed 
 to apply to the southern heavens that same sort of scrutiny 
 which his father had applied to the northern. But he ex- 
 tended and somewhat modified the scope of the work, so that 
 it might have furnished him with a systematic catalogue of 
 magnitudes if completed. Further, he invented a photometer 
 of a rude kind, but the first photometer applied to the bright- 
 ness of the stars. It consisted of a pole, a small lens of short 
 focus, a few strings and a graduated tape. With these 
 materials properly arranged, he could obtain in the focus of 
 the lens a microscopic image of the moon, and this he could 
 view in any direction, and at any measured distance from 
 the eye, so that, being brought into the line of sight of 
 any particular star, he could alter the distance of the tiny 
 image, until it and the star appeared to be equally bright. 
 In this way the brightness of some sixty-nine stars were 
 compared with that of a Centauri, and the results were 
 tabulated. 
 
 About this time Argelander was at work at Bonn on 
 astrometry, and completed a large systematic catalogue. In 
 1843 ne published his Uranometria Nova, containing the 
 estimated magnitudes of all the stars visible to the naked 
 eye in Central Europe. This, in fact, is the first successful 
 attempt made by modern astronomers to arrange in an 
 original and independent catalogue the relative brightness 
 of the stars. Argelander has not recorded the details of the 
 method which he adopted to secure his results, nor is it 
 possible to say by what means or mental impressions he 
 preserved a fair uniformity of scale, and a general con- 
 formity to the magnitudes recorded by his predecessors. 
 
 His first work was soon followed by another of far greater 
 magnitude and importance. With the most able assistance 
 of Drs Schonfeld and Kriiger, he recorded the approxi- 
 mate places and brightnesses of about 324,000 stars (down to 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 289 
 
 the ninth magnitude), using in this case a telescope to assist 
 the eye. 
 
 Other workers in the field were Heis, Houzeau, Flammarion 
 and B. A. Gould. 
 
 After this rapid glance at the history of the determina- 
 tion of star magnitude by estimation, we will briefly consider 
 the various proposed forms of photometer for measuring the 
 brightness and expressing it as a physical quantity. 
 
 Almost the first devised was that of Sir John Herschel 
 mentioned above, wherein a minute image of the moon was 
 placed at different distances from the eye. The scale of the 
 photometer was thus expressed in distance, and the brightness 
 was inferred from the law that it varies inversely as the 
 square of the distance. 
 
 About the same time, Steinheil, at Munich, was arranging 
 a more refined instrument, which was subsequently used by 
 Seidel. It consisted of a small telescope with divided object- 
 glass, each of the halves of which was furnished with a re- 
 flecting prism, so that by means of suitable mechanism the 
 images of two stars might be viewed side by side in the 
 telescope, and thus compared. 
 
 Zollner devised a photometer in which he successfully 
 applied Arago's suggestion of the method of polarization. 
 The comparison star in Zollner' s instrument was formed arti- 
 ficially by means of a lamp, the light of which could be re- 
 duced by double refraction through a measurable quantity, 
 until it was judged to have the same intensity as that of 
 any required star in the same field of view as the arti- 
 ficial star itself. This photometer has been largely used, 
 chiefly by Zollner himself, Peirce, Wolff, Miiller and Linde- 
 mann. 
 
 Professor Pickering of Harvard dispenses with the divided 
 object-glass of Steinheil and Seidel, with the lamp of Zollner, 
 but combines other principles of both instruments in his 
 1 Meridian Photometer.' There is a telescope tube placed 
 
 T 
 
290 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 horizontally at right angles to the meridian in which are 
 placed two object-glasses, with their axes slightly inclined to 
 each other, and each armed with an adjustable reflecting 
 prism. Images of Polaris and of another star to be compared 
 are thus brought near together, and equalised by the polariza- 
 tion method of Arago and Zollner. 
 
 In all these instruments the light of the star is compared 
 directly with the standard light. 
 
 We now return to the Wedge Photometer, which is of a 
 different kind. It is constructed on the principle that light, 
 in passing through a transparent homogeneous medium, 
 loses an amount of intensity depending on the thickness 
 passed through. When we adopt the usual definition of 
 stellar ' magnitude,' the law of this absorption is as follows. 
 The alteration of apparent magnitude is directly propor- 
 tional to the thickness of the medium passed through. The 
 medium adopted in the wedge photometer is a glass prism 
 or wedge of very nearly neutral-tinted glass (we may quote 
 the exact dimensions of one such wedge, viz., 6J inches long, 
 I inch broad, and 0*145 inch thick at one end, 0*02 inch thick 
 at the other). Cemented to it is a similar wedge of white 
 glass placed the reverse way, the whole forming a glass 
 plate of uniform thickness. The white glass, however, does 
 not absorb the light of a star viewed through the plate, while 
 the neutral-tinted glass does ; and the absorption is greater 
 near the thick end of the neutral-tinted wedge, less near 
 the thin end. It will be readily seen, from the law of absorp- 
 tion above quoted, and from the fact that the thickness of a 
 wedge is directly proportional to the distance from the edge, 
 that the alteration of apparent magnitude in a star caused 
 by the absorption of this wedge is directly proportional to 
 the distance from the edge of the point through which the 
 star is viewed, and in practice this principle is made use of as 
 follows. 
 
 The wedge slides in a groove on the brass cap of the 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 291 
 
 eye-piece of any telescope, close to the chromatic eye-lens, 
 and is thus placed between the eye of the observer and the 
 telescope. In the focus of the eye-lens is a diaphragm, 
 pierced with a number of small holes, which vary from the 
 hundredth of an inch to a quarter of an inch in diameter, 
 and in one of these small circular holes the telescopic image 
 of a star is carefully placed, and there viewed through the 
 wedge. Further, the eye of the observer is directed along the 
 axis of the lens and of the telescope by means of an external 
 eye-hole close to the wedge, and varying from one-twelfth to 
 one-fourth of an inch. This direction of vision is important. 
 
 Looking then through the wedge at the image of a star, 
 the observer slides the wedge in its groove until the image is 
 just extinguished by the wedge. A scale on the wedge and a 
 fiducial mark on the brass cap give the position of the wedge 
 when this happens ; and usually the image of a star is extin- 
 guished five times independently, the mean of the five scale 
 readings is taken, and the result is called the wedge reading 
 for that star. 
 
 From what has been said above, it follows that the differ- 
 ence of wedge readings for any two stars is directly propor- 
 tional to their difference of magnitude ; or in symbolic 
 language, if m be the magnitude of a star and w the wedge 
 reading, then 
 
 where A and B are two constants. The constant B is inde- 
 pendent of weather, and is 'called the scale value of the wedge. 
 The constant A, representing the magnitude of a star just 
 extinguished at the zero reading of the wedge, is affected 
 by the state of the sky on any particular night, and is 
 deduced from observations on a standard star, which must be 
 repeated sufficiently often to follow any changes in the 
 weather. Generally speaking, the determination of this con- 
 stant presents no difficulty. But the determination of the 
 constant B is fundamental, and calls for particular notice. 
 
292 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 All the measures are made in terms of this scale value, and 
 any error in it affects all the results, in the same way that all 
 measures of length depend upon the yard measure or other 
 unit of length with which they are made. 
 
 The method adopted by Professor Pritchard for the deter- 
 mination of this scale-value is described by him in Mem. 
 R.A.S., Vol. xlvii. (under date May n, 1883). It depends on 
 the use of a doubly refracting prism of quartz and a Nicol 
 prism, but the details need not be repeated here. Using the 
 scale-value so determined, the deduced star magnitudes were 
 in good accordance with those found by other observers. 
 
 Curiously enough, reason has since been found for doubt- 
 ing the accuracy of this method for determining the scale- 
 value. In the Monthly Notices for March 1890, Dr Spitta 
 describes some experiments in which he applied the wedge 
 photometer to the extinction of some artificial lights, the 
 relative intensity of which was previously and independently 
 known. The scale-value had been determined at the Oxford 
 University Observatory according to the method described 
 by Professor Pritchard, and was subsequenly confirmed by 
 Dr Spitta using the same method ; but to his astonishment 
 Dr Spitta found that the consequent evaluations of the artificial 
 lights did not agree with the independently known ratios. 
 After some considerable trouble he found that the deter- 
 mination of scale-value was interfered with by internal and 
 other reflections, which, however, could be got rid of by 
 using a suitable diaphragm ; and with this precaution he 
 obtained a scale-value corresponding to the known facts ; 
 and this value was confirmed by Captain Abney using a quite 
 independent photographic method (Monthly Not, Vol. ]., p. 
 515). Professor Pritchard promptly re-examined the scale- 
 value of the Oxford wedges, 'duly attending to his (Dr 
 Spitta's) remarks as to the necessity of using a proper 
 diaphragm in order to obviate the internal and other reflec- 
 tions which he regarded as the source of error in his own 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 293 
 
 case. The result was that no correction could possibly be 
 made in the co-efficient of absorption of the wedge used for 
 the Oxford Uranometria (Mon. Not., Vol. 1., p. 512). The 
 discrepancy is curious, and has not been explained satis- 
 factorily. Professor Pritchard was, perhaps pardonably, a 
 little impatient of criticism ; and after the brief paper from 
 which the above quotation is taken, wherein he gives the 
 figures on which this conclusion is based, refused to discuss 
 the matter further. There seems to be no doubt that the 
 scale-values adopted for the wedges in the Uranometria Nova 
 Oxoniensis are very near the truth,* though Dr Spitta's re- 
 searches point to the conclusion that this fortunate result 
 must be considered as more or less accidental. 
 
 Systematic work with the wedges was commenced at the 
 end of 1 88 1. The wedge photometer was described to the 
 Royal Astronomical Society on November 1881 (Mon. Not, 
 xlii., p. i), and sufficient observations had then already been 
 made with it to justify the expression of hopes for its 
 great utility and accuracy. The MS. of the earliest observa- 
 tions has by some accident not been preserved, the first MS. 
 book being numbered 2, and the first observation recorded in 
 it being under date 1881, December 22. Stitched to the 
 cover of this book Number 2 is a printed copy of the paper 
 from the Monthly Notices, and the following interesting letter 
 from Dr Huggins : 
 
 1 UPPER TULSE HILL S.W., 
 February 1882. 
 
 1 MY DEAR PROFESSOR PRITCHARD, In 1865 I had 
 constructed by " the last of the Dollonds " an instrument com- 
 bining Dawes's "aperture diminishing eye-piece" and his 
 " photometer of neutral-tint glass " (Mon. Not., Vol. xxv., p. 
 229). At the time I took some pains as to spectral uniformity 
 
 * In saying this, I anticipate the publication of independent re-determinations 
 made recently by Captain Abney and Dr Spitta. II. H. T. 
 
294 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 of absorption of the neutral-tint glass wedge. On referring to 
 my paper in Phil. Trans., 1866, p. 394, when this apparatus 
 was used for light of nebulae, I find that I speak on this 
 point in these words : " An examination of the neutral-tint 
 glass with a prism showed that the absorptive power of the 
 glass for all refrangibilities in the brighter portions of 
 spectrum was very nearly uniform ; " and I considered the 
 glass screen I used and also the graduated wedges to be 
 quite uniform enough for my purpose. 
 
 ' I delayed replying to your note to re-examine the wedges 
 and some other specimens of neutral-tint glass I have obtained 
 since 1865. 
 
 ' The above statement from Phil. Trans, is correct so far as 
 the dim metropolitan light we get here permits me to form 
 an opinion. 
 
 * There is absorption from about B A-wards, and there is also 
 a very faint want of uniformity of absorption in the brightest 
 part of the spectrum. 
 
 'Now as to your direct questions: i. Star Spectra. I 
 found, as a rule, that the light of stars after passing through a 
 spectroscope of the power I used was too much weakened to 
 allow of good observations below C, and therefore I did not 
 attempt to observe below that point. No doubt nearly all 
 bright stars observed through a single prism under most 
 favourable circumstances for light, "have observable light 
 about and somewhat less than B." 
 
 ' If one star had a bright line about B, and another had 
 the continuous spectrum about B nearly blotted out by 
 absorption lines, no doubt the wedge estimation would differ 
 (theoretically at least) from an eye-observation by some other 
 method. 
 
 ' Your second question is, whether practically the wedge can 
 be trusted. No doubt that in the case of the stars visible to 
 the naked eye, among which there are no very red stars, the 
 wedge would give results quite comparable probably with 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 295 
 
 those of any other method, because any small errors arising 
 from the want of absorptive uniformity would doubtless be 
 much smaller than the unavoidable errors of estimation 
 coming in from other causes. The light about B in any 
 ordinary light, giving a continuous spectrum, takes a very 
 feeble part indeed in influencing our estimation of the 
 brightness of the light. 
 
 ' Practically, for your purpose, I should think your apparatus 
 would not lead you sensibly wrong, but, of course, it is open 
 theoretically to such objections as those of Loewy. 
 
 ' I think the very faint want of uniform absorption in the 
 brightest part of the spectrum, which is so feeble in my glass 
 as to be scarcely more than suspected, would not sensibly 
 affect your results. 
 
 ' Some specimens of neutral-tint glass I have are more 
 perfect in this respect than some others. Yours sincerely, 
 
 'WILLIAM HUGGINS.' 
 
 This letter reminds us of the novelty of the enterprise 
 and the doubtful questions to be resolved at the time of 
 undertaking. The instrument was not yet thoroughly 
 proven. The road to be trodden was a new one : were 
 there pitfalls unavoidable ? Pritchard took every precaution 
 against them. He made the first few steps himself, and re- 
 ported progress to the Royal Astronomical Society ; but the 
 ease with which they were made did not render him careless. 
 He was unremitting in his care that his footing should be 
 secure ; and especially does this appear in his consultations 
 of the best possible guides to the new country. I am not sure 
 whether a certain characteristic of Pritchard has been made 
 sufficiently clear in what precedes that, namely, of always 
 asking the best advice he could get. In reading over the 
 raw material letters and notes of all kinds this character- 
 istic forces itself prominently into my view ; but it may have 
 been lost in the inevitable selection from the incoherent 
 
296 CHARLES PR1TCHARD 
 
 mass. Pritchard was thoroughly capable of striking out a 
 new line, the foregoing pages must indeed have been badly 
 written if this does not appear clearly, but he was desirous, 
 to the point of anxiety, of confirmation by the best authorities 
 available ; and his embarking on a new enterprise is always 
 marked by a crop of letters to those in whose opinions he had 
 most confidence. The above letter from Dr Huggins must 
 stand as a representative of a considerable number, wherein the 
 fundamental principle of the wedge photometer is discussed 
 with astronomers of ripest experience in this particular line. 
 This discussion guided, but did not replace, direct experiment 
 at the Oxford University Observatory. The date of the above 
 letter is, it will be noted, some months subsequent to the paper 
 describing the preliminary and successful experiments, detailed 
 to the Royal Astronomical Society in November 1881. 
 
 To return to the actual work with the wedge photometer, 
 I give here, in the words of the introduction to the Urano- 
 metria Nova Oxoniensis, the method of using the instrument. 
 About ten stars were selected for a night's work, such that 
 they could be observed at nearly the same altitude as Polaris, 
 in order that it might not be necessary to correct the measures 
 for absorption of light by the atmosphere. The two photo- 
 meters A and B were attached to two telescopes, the one of 
 four inches, the other of three inches aperture, each telescope 
 being in a separate dome the four-inch telescope being under 
 the charge of Mr Plummer, the senior assistant, and the other 
 under Mr Jenkins, the junior assistant. Each observer was 
 independently to measure the several stars specified. The 
 complete plan was that Polaris should be extinguished at the 
 beginning, the middle, and the conclusion of the observations. 
 The readings of the wedge were taken five times with the full 
 aperture of the two telescopes. A cap was then placed on 
 each object-glass, reducing the linear aperture to one-half, 
 and five readings for extinction were again made. The 
 reason for thus altering the aperture was to establish thereby 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 297 
 
 a check on the former sets of five measures by means of a 
 virtually new instrument. 
 
 Each of the other stars whose magnitude was to be com- 
 pared with that of Polaris was then observed altogether with 
 twenty extinctions consisting of independent sets of five ex- 
 tinctions. The wedge readings were usually brought to me 
 on the following morning, and were reduced to magnitude by 
 the method shown in the example on page 21, on the scale 
 that the magnitude of Polaris should be 2-05. If during 
 the observations any suspicious circumstances had arisen re- 
 garding the clearness of the sky in the neighbourhood of 
 Polaris, or of the stars observed, the sky was scrutinized out 
 of doors, and the observations if necessary discontinued. 
 
 With this representative programme for a night's work, a 
 campaign of some three years was undertaken and carried to 
 a successful conclusion. In all, 2784 stars were examined, 
 their brightnesses carefully determined, and the results 
 tabulated in a convenient form in the catalogue known as 
 the Uranometria Nova Oxoniensis. I hesitate to add further 
 details which might weary those not especially interested, 
 and which those who are will find in the volume itself. But 
 one point of some importance remains to be noticed. The 
 apparent brightness of a star varies with its altitude, because 
 of the varying thickness of the atmosphere by which its 
 light is partially absorbed. The original observations made 
 at the telescope must thus be corrected for this systematic 
 error, and for this purpose a knowledge of the law of 
 absorption of light by the atmosphere is required. Observa- 
 tions were made with this object at Oxford; but 'so im- 
 portant and essential to his inquiry did Professor Pritchard 
 consider an accurate knowledge of the value of the absorp- 
 tion constant that, with his accustomed vigour, he resolved 
 to compare the results of the observations made at Oxford 
 with others determined with the same instrument and ob- 
 server in some climate steadier and more uniform than 
 
298 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 that at Oxford. Accordingly, in January and February 
 1883, we find him, with his assistant Mr Jenkins, stationed 
 at the Khedive's observatory near Cairo, prosecuting his 
 research with such success that, after a residence of five 
 weeks, no fewer than 3385 wedge extinctions were made. 
 The absorption constant determined at the two stations, 
 though indicating a real difference of climate, differed less 
 than had been anticipated, the respective values from the 
 Oxford and Cairo extinctions being '253 and '187, show- 
 ing differences of *o66 of a magnitude a quantity 
 about equal to the probable error of observation with the 
 photometer employed.' (Extract from the president's ad- 
 dress on presenting the gold medal of the Royal Astro- 
 nomical Society to Professor Pickering and Professor 
 Pritchard conjointly. Mon. Not. R.A.S., xlvi., p. 273.) 
 
 The Uranometria Nova Oxoniensis was printed by the 
 Clarendon Press in 1885. In February of the next year 
 the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society was 
 awarded conjointly to Professor Edward C. Pickering, 
 Director of the Observatory of Harvard College, U.S., and 
 the Rev. Charles Pritchard, D.D., Savilian Professor of 
 Astronomy in the University of Oxford, for their photo- 
 metric researches. Professor Pickering had been indepen- 
 dently working at the same subject with a different instru- 
 ment, and had produced a larger catalogue about the same 
 time. The two catalogues have been compared with each 
 other, and with other similar catalogues on several occasions, 
 and considerable discussion as to their respective merits 
 has ensued; but it is not within the scope of this bio- 
 graphy to follow this discussion, or to criticise further a 
 work the value of which will become better apparent with 
 the lapse of time. It is sufficient here to record as above 
 the award of the gold medal an undoubted testimony to 
 the great merits of the work. Another sentence from the 
 president's address on the occasion of the award may 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 299 
 
 perhaps be added. ' In Professor Pritchard we observe an 
 astronomer whose opportunities for stated observatory 
 work only commenced at a time of life when most of us 
 natuarally feel a desire to be relieved from all active re- 
 search, establishing under difficulties a first-class observa- 
 tory, which has already attained a reputation for sound 
 original work, of which many older establishments might 
 well be proud a reputation that, doubtless, will be re- 
 tained at least so long as the University observatory re- 
 mains under the personal control of our esteemed col- 
 league.' 
 
 From the many letters of congratulation which the 
 veteran astronomer received when the award became 
 known, the following two may be selected as specially 
 worthy of record, if only because of the personalities of 
 the writers. 
 
 ' OXFORD, 
 ' January I2//&, 1886. 
 
 'DEAR PROFESSOR PRITCHARD, I write to thank you 
 for your letter and enclosure, which give me much pleasure. 
 I heartily sympathise with your feelings on this occasion. 
 
 ' I wish you many years of happy and useful work. 
 
 ' Will you send notice to the Gazette^ if you think it fit to 
 do so, in my name, " The Vice-Chancellor_is informed that the 
 council R.A.S.," etc., etc. I remain, yours very sincerely, 
 
 ' B. JOWETT.' 
 
 * OBSERVATORY, CAMBRIDGE, 
 ^th February 1886. 
 
 ' DEAR PROFESSOR PRITCHARD, As I find that I shall 
 not be able to attend the anniversary meeting on Friday, and 
 consequently shall not have the pleasure of seeing you re- 
 ceive the medal which you have so well deserved, and of 
 offering you my congratulations in person, I just write a 
 
300 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 line to show my goodwill and to express my hearty con- 
 gratulations on your successful work. I have unfortunately 
 been laid up lately with an attack of bronchitis, and although 
 I am now well again, I am obliged to be careful in this severe 
 weather not to expose myself to cold, and I should have to 
 return either at night or early next morning, as I have to 
 lecture on Saturday morning. Believe me to remain, yours 
 very truly, J. C. ADAMS. 
 
 'P.S. Please give our kind regards and congratulations 
 to Mrs Pritchard.' 
 
 The photometric work was no sooner completed than 
 another undertaking, equally laborious, important and novel, 
 was commened, viz., a systematic determination of the 
 parallaxes of the brighter stars by photography. The 
 parallax of a star is the inverse of its distance, and is thus 
 large for stars near us, and small for those far away. The 
 majority of stars are so remote that their parallaxes are 
 too small for discernment with our present optical appli- 
 ances. There are only very few stars a few hundreds at 
 most, probably among the many millions which the 
 telescope can count, which have a sensible parallax, that 
 is to say, which sensibly change their apparent position 
 as the earth moves round the sun in its annual orbit. 
 It is this annual motion of the earth which enables us to 
 measure the parallaxes of the stars, and thus infer their 
 distance ; for at times of the year, separated by six months, 
 the positions of the earth are separated by nearly 200 
 millions of miles. That the stars present the same general 
 aspect from two stations so widely separated shows at 
 once how remote they must be ; but it is not until we 
 make measures with the greatest nicety of which modern 
 instruments are capable, that the full truth is realised. It 
 is then found that, not only is the aspect generally the 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 301 
 
 same, but so exactly the same that only in a very few 
 cases can any change be detected. It is found, as above 
 stated, that there are a few hundred stars at most which 
 slightly change their apparent position in response to the 
 real change of position of the earth in six months. The 
 vast majority must either be rigidly attached to the earth's 
 centre (a supposition which it is no longer necessary to 
 consider), or at least 200 billions of miles away ; for, if 
 nearer, they would apparently shift their positions every 
 six months by an amount which our telescopes could 
 measure. The few exceptional stars whose parallaxes are 
 measureable are not always found among the brighter stars, 
 as would naturally be the case if the stars were bodies of 
 uniform size and structure. We infer, therefore, that their 
 size and structure varies within wide limits, and that we 
 may yet find examples among the fainter stars, which 
 have not hitherto attracted attention, of sensible parallax. 
 But, other things being equal, the brighter stars should be 
 nearer us than the fainter ; and in undertaking a systematic 
 series of measurements for parallax, Pritchard selected the 
 brighter stars as more likely to give measureable parallaxes. 
 The novelty of his work consisted in the employment of 
 the photographic method. The most successful deter- 
 minations of parallax up to that time had depended on 
 eye observations with the heliometer, and work of great 
 beauty and accuracy had been accomplished with this 
 instrument by Bessel, Kriiger, Winnecke, Auwers, Gill, 
 Elkin and others. But the heliometer is an expensive 
 instrument, costing some thousands of pounds. Could this 
 great expense be obviated? By taking a photograph of 
 the portion of sky to be examined (viz., the star whose 
 parallax is to be determined and neighbouring stars), 
 measurements can be made in the study with a micro- 
 scope instead of on the sky itself with a heliometer. Are 
 these measurements equally valuable for the particular 
 
302 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 purpose in view? We have seen how Pritchard proved 
 to his own satisfaction, in the case of the lunar photographs, 
 that * the accuracy of the photographic method is established 
 on a secure basis' (p. 284); but when we come to stellar 
 parallax we are dealing with very small quantities indeed, 
 and it is not quite certain, or at least Pritchard did not 
 consider it well enough established, that for these very 
 small quantities photographs might replace the original 
 sky. Accordingly he set to work, in the first place, to 
 settle this question by direct experiment. Taking the 
 well-known star 61 Cygni, the parallax of which had been 
 already determined many times and by many different 
 observers, he sought its parallax by the measurement of 
 photographic plates, and to his great delight obtained 
 results in thoroughly good accordance with those of others 
 and of similar ' probable error.' I quote verbatim from the 
 report presented to the Board of Visitors on June 8, 
 1887. 
 
 ' The somewhat hazardous enterprise of attempting, for 
 the first time in the history of astronomy, to obtain the 
 distance of the fixed stars from our earth by the aid of 
 photography has been attended with success. The final 
 results of the investigation have been placed in my hands 
 only during the writing of this report. The first observa- 
 tion was obtained on May 26 of last year, and the last 
 was effected on May 31 of the present year. The inter- 
 mediate computatious were systematically continued during 
 the interval. They involved the reduction of no less than 
 30,000 bisections of star images on 330 photographic plates 
 procured on eighty-nine nights. Eight 'independent deter- 
 minations of the parallax of the two components of 61 
 Cygni resulted from all this work, and these happily 
 indicate a substantial agreement between themselves, and 
 afford other necessary proof of reliability. 
 
 ' By a happy coincidence, on the very day when the final 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 303 
 
 results of these investigations were evolved, I had the 
 pleasure of a visit from her Majesty's astronomer at 
 the Cape of Good Hope, a practical observer whose experi- 
 ence in parallactic investigations is probably unrivalled. 
 His remarks, after critical examination of the entire work, 
 have encouraged and gratified me. Astronomical photo- 
 graphy is hereby placed on a secure basis as an efficient 
 and exact exponent of the highest form of astronomical 
 science.' 
 
 I may be laying too severe a stress upon a particular 
 point, but I have quoted the above paragraphs for a definite 
 reason. We again see how Pritchard, when embarking on 
 a new enterprise, was not content to satisfy himself by 
 direct experiment, but was anxious for the opinion and 
 advice of the best-known experts in the matter. As at 
 the outset of the wedge photometry he consulted Dr 
 Huggins and others, so here he lays emphasis upon the 
 opinion of Dr Gill, who was fresh from recent triumphs in 
 the domain of stellar parallax with the heliometer. If Dr 
 Gill's visit was a ' coincidence,' it was certainly one of those 
 'happy coincidences' which successful men have the knack 
 of controlling. 
 
 The value of the method being established, a systematic 
 examination of the parallaxes of second-magnitude stars 
 was undertaken. The results are contained in Volumes iii. 
 and iv. of the Oxford University Observatory publications, 
 which were printed by the Clarendon Press in 1889 and 
 1892 respectively. The parallaxes of twenty-nine stars were 
 determined, some of them more than once. Pritchard de- 
 lighted in rounding off an investigation and giving it an 
 aspect of completeness ; and he gives in these volumes not 
 only a full account of the Oxford work, but a complete 
 history of the subject of stellar parallax, and a complete 
 summary of all determinations published up to date. From 
 this it appears that there are only ninety-one stars of which 
 
304 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 the parallax has been measured with any care. Of these, 
 less than half have a parallax greater than o"'io, that is to 
 say, are nearer us than 200 billions of miles (approximately). 
 These figures will serve to illustrate the remarks made above 
 as to the total number of stars with sensible parallax. We 
 cannot with confidence assign any limit to this number, 
 because so few stars have been yet examined. It may seem 
 strange to those not previously cognisant of these matters 
 that more work has not been done in this most interesting 
 direction ; but it must be remembered that the determina- 
 tion of the parallax of even a single star is an immense 
 labour. More than that, before the applicability of the 
 photographic method was established, it involved the pur- 
 chase of a very costly instrument, the heliometer. By show- 
 ing for the first time that parallaxes might be determined 
 photographically, Pritchard materially lessened both the 
 labour and cost of such work ; and, moreover, contributed 
 a considerable share of the total knowledge at present 
 available to us. 
 
 I have refrained from giving here any details of the work 
 which can so much better be studied in the published volumes 
 above referred to. The details given in the case of the 
 photometry are sufficiently illustrative of astronomical work 
 for those not familiar with it, without a similar explana- 
 tion in each case. But it must not be supposed that the 
 parallax work was in any way less important than the photo- 
 metric, so far as contemporaries can judge. The ultimate 
 value of all such work must be settled in the future ; but con- 
 temporary recognition of the high value of the parallax work 
 was promptly forthcoming in the shape of a royal medal from 
 the Royal Society. It needs no words of mine to assess the 
 authority and importance of this recognition. The terms in 
 which the work was spoken of on the occasion of the pre- 
 sentation are given elsewhere in this volume, and it can well 
 be imagined how many congratulations and good wishes 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 305 
 
 poured in on the aged astronomer at the news of this second 
 signal mark of distinction. 
 
 He was, however, already hard at work in ' fresh fields 
 and pastures new.' This time he had not waited as before 
 for the completion of one piece of work before under- 
 taking another ; but when the project for an interna- 
 tional chart of the heavens had been mooted in 1887, 
 although the parallax work had only recently been under- 
 taken, and would certainly require some years' work, 
 Pritchard could not resist the fascinations of so novel an 
 enterprise, and eagerly joined the coalition. He was not 
 able to be present at the first Conference in Paris, 1887, 
 but he addressed the following letter to Admiral Mouchez, 
 here reproduced from the volume of Proce's- Verbaux, etc., 
 published by the French Academy at the conclusion of the 
 Conference. 
 
 'THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVATORY, OXFORD, 
 
 12th April, 1887. 
 
 4 A Monsieur le Contre-A miral Mouchez, Directeur de 
 ( C Observatoire National a Paris. 
 
 'MONSIEUR L'AMIRAL, C'est avec le plus profond regret 
 que je vous annonce que je ne puis pas, a cause de circon- 
 stances imprevues, assister a votre Congres a Paris. 
 
 ' i. Si j'avais ete present, j'aurais fait remarquer 1'utilite 
 de prendre encore des renseignements definitifs sur la forme 
 de 1'instrument qui produira avec la plus grande exacti- 
 tude la forme circulaire des impressions stellaires sur 
 les cliches photographiques et aussi pour assurer la plus 
 grande immunite de distorsion dans la distribution des 
 images. 
 
 'J'ai moi-meme photographic un champ de 81' de rayon 
 angulaire, ou toutes les impressions stellaires sont sensible- 
 ment circulaires ; ceci est, je crois, la plus grande etendue de 
 champ comme exactitude qui ait jamais ete produite jusqu'a 
 present ; j'ai soumis ce negatif au jugement de quelques-uns 
 
 U 
 
306 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 des membres anglais du Congres et ils peuvent en parler, 
 ainsi que de 1'execution du cliche; 1'instrument employe 
 est bien connu : c'est un telescope-reflecteur de 1 3 pouces 
 d'ouverture et de 120 pouces de foyer. Maintenant je 
 m'occupe d'experiences avec d'autres ouvertures et foyers, 
 dans le but d'obtenir la plus grande etendue de champ 
 pour laquelle toutes les etoiles paraitront rondes et non 
 ovales. 
 
 ' 2. Je crains que 1'essai de photographier les etoiles d'une 
 faiblesse qui excede la i6 e grandeur ne soit un projet un peu 
 trop ambitieux pour le moment, et, vu la longue duree de 
 1'exposition necessaire a ce but, il se presentera d'enormes 
 difficultes. 
 
 * J'imagine que, pour passer de la I5 e a la i6 e grandeur, la 
 duree de 1'exposition necessaire sera au moins aussi longue 
 que celle employee pour obtenir jusqu'a la I5 e ; il y a d'autres 
 difficultes dont il est superflu de parler a MM. les membres 
 du Congres. 
 
 'J'ose suggerer que bien des difficultes pratiques seront 
 evitees en Hmitant le projet a la I5<L grandeur de 1'echelle 
 Pogson, si meme cette grandeur peut etre fixee. Un tel 
 projet restreindra, je suppose, les reproductions imprimees 
 permanentes destinies a la distribution, jusqu'a la I4 e gran- 
 deur approxmative. En meme temps, il sera peut-etre de- 
 sirable de prendre des images de plusieurs parties du Ciel 
 d'apres les methodes des deux Herschel, nominees en Anglais 
 gauges ou echantillons, et ces images pourront donner la re- 
 production d'etoiles plus faibles. 
 
 4 Je crois que quatre annees peuvent etre suffisantes pour 
 developper ce plan, qui est plus modeste, mais nean moins 
 tres vaste et utile ; dans 1'intervalle, 1'experience et des 
 moyens plus efficaces et plus forts peuvent etre acquis pour 
 une entreprise de plus grande importance. 
 
 ( De mon cot6, si je puis faire quelque chose pour avancer 
 le projet qui sera adopte a Paris par le Congres, je mettrai 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 307 
 
 avec plaisir les ressources de 1'observatoire de I'Universite 
 d'Oxford a sa disposition. 
 
 ' J'ai 1'honneur d'etre, Monsieur 1'Amiral, votre tres humble 
 et tres devoue serviteur, 
 
 ' CHARLES PRITCHARD, F.R.S., 
 
 ' Director of 'the University Observatory ', Oxford? 
 
 The Conference was attended by fifty-six astronomers of 
 different nationalities, who determined to make a complete 
 map or chart of the sky, as it appears to us at the end of the 
 nineteenth century, by photographic means. To explain the 
 magnitude of the undertaking, it must be remarked that to be 
 of sufficient astronomical value one photograph cannot cover 
 more than a very small portion of sky. The images of stars 
 near the centre of a plate are round ; but further from the 
 centre they become elliptical ; and further still their shape is 
 very irregular. By properly constructing the photographic 
 telescope the available ' field ' (i.e., that portion of the plate 
 of which the images are sufficiently round) can be enlarged 
 within certain limits, but these limits no efforts have yet 
 been able to surpass. It will be seen from the above letter 
 that Professor Pritchard was devoting his attention to this 
 point. 
 
 The available field of one photograph is about two degrees 
 square or four square degrees ; and as there are about 42,000 
 square degrees in the whole sky, some 10,000 or 11,000 photo- 
 graphs at least are required to cover it all over, without allow- 
 ing for any overlap. To take all these photographs properly 
 would occupy a single observatory for many years ; and 
 hence the necessity for co-operation if the work was to be 
 accomplished within a limited time. Ultimately seventeen 
 observatories have united their forces for the work, and a 
 special portion of the sky has been assigned to each. It was 
 decided at the Conference in 1887 that the co-operating ob- 
 servatories should all use telescopes of the same pattern, so 
 
308 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 that the photographs might all be comparable ; and minute 
 directions, all with the view of securing uniformity and 
 homogeneity in the work, have been given to the different 
 observatories by the Central Committee at different 
 times. 
 
 The decision as to a standard pattern of instrument for 
 the work was at first rather a blow to Professor Pritchard, 
 for such an instrument did not exist at Oxford, and would 
 have to be constructed if he were to take any part in the 
 work. 
 
 In the letter to Admiral Mouchez he refers to a photograph* 
 he had taken with the reflector which he already possessed, 
 and he probably hoped that this instrument might be avail- 
 able for the work proposed. It was decided at the Con- 
 ference, however, to work with refracting telescopes, and 
 these hopes were thus disappointed. 
 
 But the generosity of Dr Warren De la Rue again solved 
 
 * The following letter from the Astronomer- Royal, referring to this photo- 
 graph, is of interest : 
 
 ' ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH, 
 ' 1887, March z^th. 
 
 ' MY DEAR PRITCHARD, Huggins has sent me your beautiful photo of Perseus 
 cluster, on which I heartily congratulate you. 
 
 ' It compares favourably with Henry's negative of the same cluster which Gill 
 has left with me. 
 
 ' Your stars are round up to the edge of the plate, whilst corresponding stars on 
 Henry's plate (70' to 80') from centre are decidedly oval. Also for the bright 
 stars, the images on your plate are much smaller (in angular measure) than those 
 on Henry's. 
 
 ' (This, I think, arises from the secondary spectrum with a refractor. ) 
 
 'But Henry's plate (32m. exposure, I believe) shows many more faint stars 
 than the Oxford, and the smallest images near the centre of Henry's plate are 
 much smaller, being only 3" in diameter (including the penumbral fringe). Thus 
 each of the two plates has its own special merits. 
 
 ' I take it the Henrys have a great advantage in the high optical power of the 
 directing telescope as regards keeping a star exactly on the cross-wires, their 
 instrument having been made specially for the purpose, whilst you have had to 
 adapt the De la Rue reflector to the work as well as you could. 
 
 * With congratulations on your success. Ever yours sincerely, 
 
 <W. H. M. CHRISTIE.' 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 309 
 
 the difficulty. We can well imagine with what joy the follow- 
 ing letter was received : 
 
 * THE ROYAL SOCIETY, BURLINGTON HOUSE, 
 'LONDON, W.,June i6th, 1887. 
 
 ' MY DEAR PRITCHARD, It gave me very great pleasure 
 to learn that the visitors of the Oxford University Observa- 
 tory, recognising the value of your photo-astronomical work, 
 are about to request the University to vote for five years 
 the sum of 600 per anumn to enable you to continue the 
 work. 
 
 ' I am myself deeply sensible of the value of your work, 
 and, provided the University will accept my offer, I will 
 present to it, in your honour, the sum of $oo, to enable 
 it to procure the conversion of the Grubb telescope 
 into an astronomical photographic of the very highest 
 order. 
 
 ' A cheque will immediately follow the acceptance of this 
 offer. Yours sincerely, WARREN DE LA RUE/ 
 
 The offer was ultimately accepted by the Convocation on 
 November I, 1887. On Wednesday, November 2, Dr De 
 la Rue enclosed a cheque to the Vice-Chancellor for 600, 
 after having seen Sir H. Grubb's estimate for the new photo- 
 graphic telescope for 575. He wrote that the 2$ might 
 go for any incidental expenses, and added that he wished 
 an incription to be affixed to the telescope to the effect 
 ' The gift of Warren De la Rue in honour of Professor 
 Pritchard.' 
 
 Dr De la Rue died on April 19, 1889, at the age of 
 seventy-four, from an attack of pneumonia. It would be 
 difficult to over-estimate the value of his help so generous 
 and so well timed. On at least two occasions his liberality 
 made all the difference. In 1874 it converted a refracting 
 telescope into a well-equipped observatory; and in 1887 it 
 
310 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 enabled that observatory to retain its place among those 
 engaged in the very newest and most important work, when 
 it otherwise might have had to fall behind. It is not easy to 
 lay out money to the best advantage, even in science ; and the 
 same amount might easily have been practically wasted. De 
 la Rue's judgment in selecting opportunities commands our 
 admiration quite as much, if not more, than the liberality 
 itself. 
 
 No time was lost in giving the order for the telescope to 
 Sir Howard Grubb, but the construction was no easy matter. 
 The pattern selected at the Conference was a refractor of the 
 same dimensions as the instrument which had been con- 
 structed by the brothers Henry, of Paris, who had shown what 
 beautiful photographs could be obtained with it. Similar 
 instruments were at once ordered from the brothers Henry by 
 some of the observatories, more especially and naturally those 
 on French soil, but for obvious reasons the British observa- 
 tories preferred a British maker, and Sir Howard Grubb was 
 unanimously chosen as that maker. He has accordingly 
 supplied instruments to the royal observatories at Greenwich 
 and the Cape, to the University observatory, Oxford, and to 
 the Melbourne and Sydney and Mexican observatories. But 
 the difficulties of construction were new to him, and he 
 necessarily went through much experimental work. He 
 began with objectives of small size, and the performances of 
 these were tested at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. 
 Feeling his way, he advanced to larger glasses, and in testing 
 these Professor Pritchard was indefatigable. The events of 
 this search by trial and error for a satisfactory photographic 
 object-glass are, however, too recent for detailed description 
 here. Briefly, several objectives were made, sent to Oxford, 
 photographs taken with them and examined, the defects 
 classified, the objectives returned to Sir H. Grubb for correc- 
 tion, corrected by him accordingly, returned to Oxford and 
 tried again, and so on. A constant interchange of letters with 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 311 
 
 the Astronomer-Royal, who was similarly testing object-glasses 
 of smaller size, was kept up throughout this period. Such 
 work could only proceed slowly and carefully, and took much 
 time. In the hope of accelerating it, Professor Pritchard in 
 October 1889 sent over his second assistant, Mr Jenkins, to 
 stay a month in Dublin, and there to take photographs with 
 the objectives on the spot, and so save the journeys to and fro 
 between each trial. It will be remembered that this work 
 was proceeding contemporaneously with the heavy work on 
 stellar parallax, and the resources of the observatory were 
 strained to the utmost. A fairly satisfactory object-glass was 
 received in December 1889, but its focal length was not 
 sufficiently accurate, and it was not until July 1890 that the 
 instrument was finally ready. 
 
 The experimental work was, however, by no means over. 
 The next two years were spent in experiments of all kinds, 
 and it was not until 1892 that actual work on the chart 
 of the heavens commenced. This work was in full swing 
 before Professor Pritchard 's death in May 1893, 255 plates 
 having been taken ; and on coming to the observatory I did 
 not find it necessary to change in any essential point the 
 routine of work which he had started and got into regular 
 going order. 
 
 In September 1889, two and a half years after the General 
 Conference of 1887, the Central Committee met in Paris to con- 
 sider details. It was by that time known what observatories 
 were to take part in the work, and many of them were already 
 provided with instruments. Oxford was, unfortunately, as 
 we have seen, an exception; and Professor Pritchard wrote 
 that he had learnt, by long experience, that the actual 
 performance of a new instrument was a much better guide 
 than theories as to its use, and he would therefore not 
 trouble the Committee with any remarks on this occasion. 
 In March 1891, the Committee again met, and now Pritchard 
 .had been in possession of his object-glass for some months. 
 
312 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 He was unable to attend the meeting in person, but sent his 
 first assistant, Mr Plummer, to represent him ; and, further 
 contributed an admirable summary of the experimental 
 work which he had done. The summary deals with seven 
 points. 
 
 1. The time of exposure necessary to obtain star images 
 susceptible of measurement, and not liable to escape notice 
 on the negative. 
 
 He considers that, on a good night, a ninth-magnitude star 
 would be photographed in 20 sec. ; on an ordinary night in 
 55 sec.; a fourteenth-magnitude star in 45 min. on a good 
 night ; 80 min. on an average night. 
 
 2. Impression of eleventh and fourteenth-magnitude stars, 
 so as to be clearly visible. 
 
 3. Increase of diameter of stellar images, with time of 
 exposure. 
 
 4. Measurements of images near the edge of the field. 
 
 5. The method of determining photographic magnitudes 
 at Oxford. 
 
 6. Extent of the field susceptible of exact measures. 
 
 7. The plate-carrier. 
 
 The mention of Mr Plummer's name reminds me that 
 far too little has been said of his indefatigable and excellent 
 work as assistant. Professor Pritchard's great age precluded 
 his taking any share in the active work of the observatory, 
 as a younger director might possibly have done; and thus 
 the whole of this work was carried on by the assistants. 
 Further, the Professor was often absent for considerable 
 periods owing to ill-health, and the actual initiative then 
 fell, in many instances, to Mr Plummer. That he should go 
 to Paris as the representative of Professor Pritchard was 
 a fitting tribute to the position he had made for himself 
 by great zeal and skill. The Astronomer-Royal wrote to 
 Professor Pritchard, expressing his great satisfaction at the 
 arrangement ; and the Central Committee paid Mr Plummer 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 313 
 
 the further compliment of putting him on a sub-committee 
 appointed to examine and report upon the photographic 
 specimens contributed by the various observatories. Professor 
 Pritchard was himself a member of another sub-committee 
 appointed to consider the best means of carrying on the 
 adopted scale of stellar magnitudes to the fainter stars, to 
 which it had not yet been accurately applied. The matter 
 is somewhat technical. The proposal adopted involved the 
 use of wire gauze screens, placed before the object-glass, 
 to intercept a portion of the light. These were ultimately 
 found unsatisfactory, and rejected by a large majority of the 
 Committee; but not before a considerable amount of ex- 
 perimental work had been done. Especially heavy work 
 was undertaken at Oxford, where an alternative method, 
 based on previous experience with the wedge photometer, 
 was worked out at the cost of considerable labour, and found 
 satisfactory. 
 
 The amount of work of this and other kinds got through 
 at Oxford during these, the last, years of Pritchard's life, 
 is plainly visible from the heavy correspondence preserved 
 in the observatory. I have read through these letters, hoping 
 to find some to reproduce ; but the selection is particularly 
 difficult. Many of the writers are still alive (the Astronomer- 
 Royal, Dr Gill, Dr Huggins, Dr Roberts), and their letters 
 are so often of that friendly and semi-private character which 
 precludes reproduction. Others, again, such as those to the 
 late Admiral Mouchez, are too much concerned with the 
 technical details of the work for the astrographic chart. 
 
 From Professor Pritchard's own letters of about this time, 
 I select the following example : 
 
 October 1 890. 
 
 'DEAR ADMIRAL MOUCHEZ, The instrumental equip- 
 ment for the international chart is, I rejoice to say, now 
 apparently complete, and I feel that at this observatory 
 
3 14 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 we are at last launched, i.e., launched for groping to know 
 our instrument and how to use it. 
 
 'After all my many years' experience, I feel that our 
 knowledge is very dark upon the very wide questions of 
 celestial photography on which we are all embarked. To 
 me one important conclusion is very apparent, viz., that 
 the Congress will be wise not at present to lay down 
 rules of the Medes and Persians ; also that very much 
 already apparently determined by the Congress had better 
 be regarded at the next meeting thereof as subject to a 
 revision. The experience of the members of the Congress 
 in the nature and use of the new instrument is as yet 
 necessarily very limited, and for my own part I hardly 
 know yet what may turn out to be the case. I am dili- 
 gently groping and inquiring. 
 
 ' Happily I conclude that the instruments and reti- 
 cule are a great success, and that the scheme of the 
 Congress is practicable, provided only that we do not in 
 the first instance require too much i.e., too wide a field 
 in respect of the faintness of the stars to be photographed. 
 I think that our efforts would in the first instance be 
 wisely confined to the limits of mag. n. We should 
 thereby gain experience and knowledge. 
 
 ' The question of the plates to be used, I now practically 
 find, is a very important one, and of some difficulty. I do 
 not find in your last fasciculus that Dr Eder has yet 
 helped us by reporting his experience. It occurs to me 
 that some arrangement should be made with some com- 
 mercial firm to supply us with plates having a given 
 emulsion, to be selected by competent authority. 
 
 'The question of the glass is also important the ex- 
 pense thereof may be serious and I yet await the reply 
 of the glass manuufacturers whom you mention in your 
 fasciculus. I believe I have devised a very rapid method 
 of measuring the photo, mags., and also another for an 
 
WORK IN THE OXFORD OBSERVATORY 315 
 
 exact and rapid method for copying the photod. plates, 
 of which more by-and-by. I am, dear Admiral, yours 
 truly, C. PRITCHARD.' 
 
 The end of my journey should be within sight, but 
 I look back with dismay on the poverty of the ill-kept 
 log. It is one thing to be a traveller and see things of 
 interest, quite another to give an account of them which 
 will convey a tithe of that interest to others. Would 
 that this story of Professor Pritchard's astronomical work 
 could have been so complete and workmanlike as his 
 own memoirs ! As it is, perhaps these straggling notes, 
 though lacking in symmetry, may here and there catch 
 the attention of those patient enough to turn over the 
 leaves. 
 
 There is some abruptness in this termination ; but an 
 abruptness perhaps not altogether unfitting the subject. 
 In some ways Professor Pritchard's death was fore- 
 shadowed his physical health could not but suffer with 
 advancing years. He lost his 'right hand/ Mr Plummer, 
 who was appointed Director of the Liverpool Observatory 
 in 1892, and he did not fill his place at the observatory. 
 Mr F. A. Bellamy was appointed assistant, but neither 
 Mr Jenkins nor he was advanced into the vacant position, 
 and Professor Pritchard frankly assigned as a reason 
 that he wished to leave his successor unembarrassed in 
 the choice of a first assistant. But though the signs of 
 failing health were thus apparent, not only to others 
 but to himself, there was no corresponding decadence 
 in the work, which was carried on to the very last ; 
 and, even after that, continued on the same lines by virtue 
 of the momentum imparted to it. As I am dealing here 
 not with the whole of Professor Pritchard's personality 
 and life, but with his astronomical work only, a certain 
 abruptness in terminating my task is thus almost inevit- 
 
316 CHARLES PRITCHARD 
 
 able, and I therefore not ungratefully accept the situa- 
 tion. At this point, the Oxford University Observatory 
 having been built, and made thoroughly efficient; the 
 Uranometria Nova Oxoniensis having been published ; 
 the parallaxes of the second-magnitude stars having 
 been determined ; and the Oxford share of the astro- 
 graphic chart having been successfully incepted- at this 
 point the masterhand was withdrawn from the work. 
 
INDEX 
 
 ABNEY, W. de W., 292-293. 
 Adams, Professor J. C., 94, 238, 300. 
 Acland, Sir Henry, Letter to, 127. 
 
 Letter from, 138. 
 
 Airy, Sir G. B., 56, 230, 235, 242, 252, 
 
 255, 283, 284. 
 Allen, 33. 
 Al Sufi, 287. 
 Analogies in the Progress of Nature and 
 
 Grace, 176. 
 Antarctic Survey, 246. 
 Arago, D. F. J., 290. 
 Argelander, F. W. A., 288. 
 Assistant Secretary R.A.S., 248, 249, 
 
 254. 
 Astrographic Chart, 271, 278, 280, 
 
 305-316. 
 Astronomical Physics, Observatory for, 
 
 265, 266, 267. 
 Atlantic Cable, 253. 
 Auwers, A., 252, 301. 
 
 B 
 
 BATH, 146. 
 
 Baily, Francis, 237. 
 
 Bakerian Lecture, 230. 
 
 Baly, P. P., 270. 
 
 Barry, Chas., 263, 264, 270. 
 
 Bayer, Johannes, 287. 
 
 Beaufoy Clock, 246, 247, 248. 
 
 Beck, Joseph, 251. 
 
 Bellamy, F. A., 26, 315. 
 
 Bessel, F. W., 301. 
 
 Bethlehem, Star of, 233. 
 
 Bible and Science, 188. 
 
 Birkenhead, 144. 
 
 Bishop, George, 271. 
 
 Blomefield, 147. 
 
 Blunt, J.J., 40. 
 
 Board of Visitors, 276, 277, 278, 279, 
 
 302. 
 
 Bolland, Rev. William, 35. 
 Bond, G. P., 242, 250. 
 Bonn, 288. 
 
 Bonomi, Joseph, 229, 230. 
 Borrodale, 226. 
 Bradlaugh, 128. 
 Bradley, Dean, 40, 153. 
 
 Account of Schoolboy Days, 68. 
 
 British Association, 90, 175. 
 
 British Astronomical Association, 145. 
 
 Brixton, 8. 
 
 Briinnow, F. F. E., 263. 
 
 Buckingham, James, 231. 
 
 Butler's Analogy, 40. 
 
 Butler, Dr, Letter to, 101. 
 
 CAIRO, 131, 298. 
 
 Cambridge, 12, 37, 217, 260, 263, 299. 
 
 Cameron, Mrs, Letter from, 89. 
 
 Campbell, Miss Rosalind, 22. 
 
 Cape Observations, 241, 245, 253. 
 
 Observatory, 310. 
 
 317 
 
INDEX 
 
 Carlsbad, no. 
 
 Carpenter, James, 250, 251. 
 
 Carrington, R. C., 238. 
 
 Catton, Mr, 35. 
 
 Central France, Journey to, 117. 
 
 Christ's Hospital, 30-31. 
 
 Christian Evidence Society, 113. 
 
 Christie, W. H. M., 308, 311. 
 
 Church Congresses, 175. 
 
 Clapham, 6, 24, 54, 144, 219, 222, 223, 
 
 227, 275. 
 
 Colenso, Bishop, 84. 
 Coleridge, 41. 
 Collingwood, 255. 
 Continuity, Law of, 204. 
 Convocation of Oxford University, 262, 
 
 263, 265, 270, 272, 309. 
 
 DARWIN, Charles, Letter from, 94. 
 
 George, 60. 
 
 Dawes, Rev. W. R., 220, 238, 241, 243, 
 
 244, 245, 246, 257, 293. 
 Dealtry, Rev. Dr, 64. 
 De la Rue, Warren, 223, 230, 238, 239, 
 
 240, 241, 243, 244, 260, 263, 264, 
 
 265, 266, 267, 270, 272, 280, 281, 
 
 285, 308, 309. 
 
 Denza, Father, Letter from, 158, 159. 
 Diagram of Corona, 227. 
 Dictionary of the Bible, 177. 
 Dollond, 224, 241, 293. 
 Dublin, 263, 311. 
 Dufferin, Lord, I, 34. 
 Dunkin, Edwin, 244, 298. 
 
 ECLIPSE, Total solar, of 1860, 220, 231, 
 
 238, 239. 
 
 Eclipse, Total solar, of 1868, 238. 
 Eder, J. M., 314. 
 Egypt, Journey to, 130. 
 
 Letters from, 131-137. 
 , 279, 298. 
 
 Elkin, W. L., 301. 
 Evolution, 181. 
 
 FARADAY, Michael, 219. 
 
 Farmer, Professor J. Brettand, 161. 
 
 Farrar, Canon, 152, 171. 
 
 Fasel, Vincent, 223, 229. 
 
 Faye, H. A. E., 258. 
 
 Fellowship at St John's College, Cam- 
 bridge. 44. 
 
 Ffoulkes, Rev. Edmund, Letters to, 116, 
 174. 
 
 Flammarion, Camille, 289. i 
 
 Flamsteed, John, 287. 
 
 Fletcher, Isaac, 238. 
 
 Foucault, Leon, 229. 
 
 Frauenhofer's lines, 220, 240, 258. 
 
 Freshwater, 82, 219, 240, 241, 242 246, 
 247, 254. 
 
 GASSIOT, J. P., 56, 219, 220, 263, 264, 
 
 270. 
 
 Genesis Cosmogony, 190, 191, 192. 
 Georgium Sidus, 259. 
 Giberne, Miss Agnes, Letters to, 197, 
 
 200. 
 
 Gill, Dr David, 301, 303, 313. 
 Good Words, 258, 259. 
 Gould, B. A., 289. 
 Grant's History of Astronomy, 221. 
 Grove, Sir George, Reminiscences by, 
 
 71. 
 
 Sir William, 56, 182. 
 
 Grubb, Sir H., 262, 263, 267, 270, 309, 
 
 3io. 
 
 Guardian , The, 177, 190. 
 Gwatkin, Mr, Letter to, 40. 
 
 II 
 
 HADDENHAM, 246. 
 Hamilton, Sir W. R., 56. 249 
 
INDEX 
 
 319 
 
 Hare, Archdeacon, 40. 
 Harvard, 298. 
 Hastings, 154. 
 Hatherley, Lord, 92, 101. 
 Heis, Eduard, 289. 
 Heliometer, 301, 302, 303, 304. 
 Hemming, George, Q.C., 68. 
 Henry, Paul and Prosper, 308, 310. 
 Herschel, Alexander, 219, 255, 256, 
 
 257, 258. 
 
 Caroline, 254. 
 
 - Sir John, 218, 219-229, 231, 232, 
 235 237, 246, 249, 250, 253, 258, 
 288, 289, 306. 
 
 - Lady, 247. 
 
 - Sir William, 239, 254, 255, 257, 
 
 258, 259, 287, 306. 
 
 Sir W. J., Reminiscences by, 
 
 73- 
 
 Letter to, 145. 
 
 - 162, 218. 
 
 Hevelius, Johannes, 287. 
 Higher Criticism, 194-197. 
 Himalayan Expedition, 223-230. 
 Hind, J. R., 271. 
 Hipparchus, 286. 
 Hippisley, Mr, 146. 
 Hodgson, Richard, 241, 243, 251, 252. 
 Hook, Dean, Letters from, 91, 102, 
 
 103, 173- 
 Hopefield, 246. 
 Houzeau, J. C., 289. 
 Howlett, Rev. F., 238, 243. 
 Huggins, Dr William, 218, 238, 243, 
 
 266, 296, 313. 
 
 Letters from, 94, 293-295. 
 
 Letters to, 146, 155, 263. 
 
 Hulsean Lectureship, 94. 
 
 Lectures, 176. 
 Hurst Hill (Freshwater, I. of W.), 82, 
 
 240, 241, 242, 246, 247. 
 Huxley, Professor, 160. 
 Huyghenian Eye-piece, 240. 
 
 IDELER, Ludwig, 233, 
 Inaugural Lecture, 261. 
 
 J 
 
 JACOB, W. C., 226, 228, 231. 
 
 Janssen, Jules, 284. 
 
 Jeffreys, Charles, 39. 
 
 Jenkins, C.A., 130, 144, 216, 272, 281, 
 
 296, 298, 311, 315. 
 Jowett, Professor, 151, 299. 
 
 K 
 
 KELVIN, Lord, 160. 
 
 Khedive of Egypt, 298. 
 
 King's College, 45. 
 
 Konigsberg, 252. 
 
 Knowles, Mr James, Letters from, 97, 
 
 149. 
 Kriiger, Adalbert, 288, 301. 
 
 LAKES (English), 20. 
 
 Lambeth, 272. 
 
 Lassell, William, 251, 264. 
 
 Leo XIII., 159. 
 
 Liapunow, M., 250 
 
 Liddon, Canon, Letter from, 113. 
 
 Lindemann, Eduard, 289. 
 
 Litera Humaniores, 274, 275. 
 
 Liverpool Observatory, 144. 
 
 Lloyd, 2. 
 
 Lockyer, J. N., 251. 
 
 Lunar Libration, 267, 279, 281, 282. 
 
 M 
 
 MAIN, Rev. Robert, 238, 254, 256, 
 
 264. 
 
 Malvern, 116. 
 Marsh's Test, 241. 
 Martin, Sir William, 42. 
 Martyn, Henry, 35. 
 Mathematical Tripos, 41. 
 Maurice, 56. 
 
3 20 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Melbourne Observatory, 310. 
 Meole, 5. 
 
 Merchant Taylor's School, 26. 
 Mercury, Transit of, 1878, 285. 
 Meridian Photometer, 289. 
 Metaphysical Society, 97. 
 Miller, W. A., 238. 
 Miracles, 178, 179, 187. 
 Mitchell, Mr Chalmers, 156. 
 Mortimer, R. Thomas, 34. 
 Mouchez, Admiral E., 308. 
 
 Letters to, 305-307, 313-315. 
 
 Muller, G., 289. 
 
 Mullis, John, 112, 149, 272. 
 
 Munich, 220, 289. 
 
 N 
 
 NASMYTH, James, 239, 240, 242, 243, 
 
 244, 245. 
 
 Natural Selection, 184. 
 Nature, Laws of, 179. 
 Newman, Cardinal, 172. 
 Newton, Miss Emily, 19. 
 Nicol Prism, 292. 
 Nile, Voyage up the, 133. 
 Northampton, Address at, 128. 
 Nottingham Sermon, 90, 182. 
 November Meteors, 238, 253, 257. 
 
 
 
 OGIER Ward, Mrs, Reminiscences by, 
 
 1-23. 
 
 Oom, F.A., 223. 
 Origin of Species, 185. 
 Orion, 257. . 
 Orion, Nebula, 250. 
 Oxford, Life at, 105-167. 
 
 PARALLAX, Stellar, 278, 280, 285, 300- 
 304. 
 
 Paris, 229, 232, 271, 305, 306. 
 
 Peirce, C. S., 289. 
 
 Pepys, 33. 
 
 Pickard, Lord Mayor of London, 2. 
 
 Pickering, E. C., 289, 298. 
 
 Plummer, W. E., Letter from, 107. 
 
 , 144, 154, 216, 270, 271, 272, 
 
 275, 280, 281, 296, 312, 315. 
 Pollock, Sir Frederick, Letter from, 
 
 95- 
 
 Poplar, 10, 30. 
 Pritchard, Rev. Professor 
 
 Birth of, Feb. 28, 1808, 8. 
 Cambridge, 1826, 35. 
 
 Clapham Grammar School, 24-67. 
 
 Council of Royal Society 1885, 
 141. 
 
 Fellowship St John's College, 
 Cambridge, 1833, 44. 
 
 Freshwater, 1861, 82-104. 
 
 Fellowship, Honorary, St John's 
 College, Cambridge, 1886, 141. 
 
 Gold Medal Royal Astronomical 
 
 Society, 1886, 141. 
 
 Hulsean Lectureship at Cam- 
 bridge, 1867, 94. 
 
 Marriage to Miss E. Newton, 
 
 1833, 19- 
 
 Marriage to Miss Rosalind Camp- 
 bell, 1858, 59. 
 
 Nottingham Sermon, 1866, 90. 
 
 Royal Medal of the Royal Society, 
 
 1892, 1 60. 
 Savilian Professorship at Oxford, 
 
 1870, 105. 
 Wrangler, Fourth, at Cambridge, 
 
 1830, 13. 
 Pritchard, Ada, Reminiscences by, 105- 
 
 167. 
 
 Sir Charles, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., 
 
 1-21. 
 
 Capt. Charles, I. 
 
 Eric, Reminiscences by, 117-125. 
 
 Frederick, Letter from, 141. 
 
 George, 10. 
 
 John, 8. 
 
 John, Letter to, 151. 
 
 Rosalind, Reminiscences by, 82- 
 
 104. 
 
 William, 7. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Ptolemy, 286, 287. 
 Pusey, Rev. Dr, 172. 
 
 R 
 
 RADCLIFFE Observatory, 127. 
 
 Ranyard, A. C., 230. 
 
 Ramsgate, 20. 
 
 Revelation, 179-180. 
 
 Roberts, Isaac, 313. 
 
 Rome, 220, 243. 
 
 Rosse, Earl of, 263. 
 
 Rowton, 8. 
 
 Royal Astronomical Society, 98, 141, 
 217, 228, 229, 232, 236, 237, 242, 
 245, 246, 247, 250, 252, 256, 259, 
 260, 261, 265, 270, 280, 293, 295, 
 296. 298. 
 
 Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 218, 
 232, 242, 244, 253, 271, 310. 
 
 Royal Society, 141, 246, 247, 259, 266, 
 280, 304. 
 
 Ruskin, John, 115. 
 
 SABINE, Sir Edward, 247. 
 Salisbury, Lord, 263. 
 Sanday, Professor, Letter to, 196. 
 Savilian Professorship, 105, 216, 260, 
 
 261. 
 
 Schonfeld, Eduard, 288. 
 Secchi, Angelo, 243. 
 Seidel, Ludwig, 289. 
 Shrewsbury, 2. 
 Shropshire, 4. 
 Sickle, 257. 
 Smyth, W. H., 249. 
 South, Sir James, 236. 
 Southern Cross, 134. 
 Spain, Visit to, 220. 
 Spitta, E. J.. 144, 292, 293. 
 St John's College, Cambridge, 35, 
 
 153- 
 
 Standen, 263, 264. 
 Star of the Magi, 177, 233. 
 
 Steel, Rev. C, 164. 
 
 Steinheil, C. A. von, 289. 
 
 Stock, John, 10, 30. 
 
 Stockwell, 16, 18, 47. 
 
 Stone, E. J., 242, 244, 250, 251, 252. 
 
 Struve, Otto, 243, 250, 256. 
 
 - Wilhelm, 249, 259. 
 Summary of Researches at Oxford, 279. 
 Sumner, Bishop of Winchester, 78. 
 
 Letter from, 86. 
 Sydney Observatory, 310. 
 Sylvester, Professor, Letter to, 162. 
 
 TACUBAYA, 310. 
 
 T. Coronae, 253, 258. 
 
 Tennyson, Lord, 90. 
 
 Letter to, 100-150. 
 
 Mrs, Letter to, 100. 
 Thame, 246. 
 
 Times Newspaper, 226, 227, 257, 265. 
 Turner, Prof. H. H., Astronomical 
 
 Chapters by, 215-316. 
 Twickenham, 27. 
 Tycho Brahe, 287. 
 
 U 
 
 University Observatory, Oxford, 274- 
 
 Upper Tulse Hill, 293. 
 Urano'metria Nova, 288. 
 
 Oxoniensis, 278, 280, 285, 286, 
 
 293, 296, 297, 298, 316. 
 Uxbridge, 10. 
 
 VATICAN, Letter from, 159. 
 Venus, Transit of, 1874, 283, 284. 
 Vignoles, Rev. O., 227, 251. 
 Vittoria, 223, 228. 
 Vulcan, 222, 228. 
 
 X 
 
3 22 
 
 INDEX 
 
 W 
 
 WEBB, E. J., Preface. 
 
 Webb, Rev. T. W., 251. 
 
 Wedge Photometry, 278, 279, 285- 
 
 290. 
 Weld, Miss Agnes, Letter from, 100. 
 
 Reminiscences by, 138, 140. 
 Whewell, William, 227. 
 Whitley, Canon, 146. 
 Willow - leaves, 239, 241, 242, 243, 
 
 244, 245, 255, 258. 
 Winnecke, F. A. T., 250, 301. 
 
 Wolff, J. T., 289. 
 
 Woolwich, 247. 
 
 Worcester, Bishop of, Letters to, 152, 
 
 1 60, 162. 
 
 Reminiscences by, 77-81. 
 Theological Chapter by, 171-212. 
 
 Zollner, J. C. F., 289, 290. 
 
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