_Colin Maclaurin_ (1698-1746), which carried Newton’s theory of the figure of the earth a stage further, nothing of importance was done in our country for nearly a century after Newton’s death to develop the theory of gravitation beyond the point at which it was left in the _Principia_. In other departments of astronomy, however, important progress was made both during and after Newton’s lifetime, and by a curious inversion, while Newton’s ideas were developed chiefly by French mathematicians, the Observatory of Paris, at which Picard and others had done such admirable work (chapter VIII., §§ 160-2), produced little of real importance for nearly a century afterwards, and a large part of the best observing work of the 18th century was done by Newton’s countrymen. It will be convenient to separate these two departments of astronomical work, and to deal in the next chapter with the development of the theory of gravitation. 197. The first of the great English observers was Newton’s contemporary _John Flamsteed_, who was born near Derby in 1646 and died at Greenwich in 1720.[111] Unfortunately the character of his work was such that, marked as it was by no brilliant discoveries, it is difficult to present it in an attractive form or to give any adequate idea of its real extent and importance. He was one of those laborious and careful investigators, the results of whose work are invaluable as material for subsequent research, but are not striking in themselves. He made some astronomical observations while quite a boy, and wrote several papers, of a technical character, on astronomical subjects, which attracted some attention. In 1675 appointed a member of a Committee to report on a method for finding the longitude at sea which had been offered to the Government by a certain Frenchman of the name of _St. Pierre_. The Committee, acting largely on Flamsteed’s advice, reported unfavourably on the method in question, and memorialised Charles II. in favour of founding a national observatory, in order that better knowledge of the celestial bodies might lead to a satisfactory method of finding the longitude, a problem which the rapid increase of English shipping rendered of great practical importance. The King having agreed, Flamsteed was in the same year appointed to the new office of Astronomer Royal, with a salary of £100 a year, and the warrant for building an Observatory at Greenwich was signed on June 12th, 1675. About a year was occupied in building it, and Flamsteed took up his residence there and began work in July 1676, five years after Cassini entered upon his duties at the Observatory of Paris (chapter VIII., § 160). The Greenwich Observatory was, however, on a very different scale from the magnificent sister institution. The King had, it is true, provided Flamsteed with a building and a very small salary, but furnished him neither with instruments nor with an assistant. A few instruments he possessed already, a few more were