After the great circle had been at last erected, Brinkley was able to begin his astronomical work in earnest. Nor was there much time to lose. He was already 45 years old, a year older than was Herschel when he commenced his immortal career at Slough. Stimulated by the consciousness of having the command of an instrument of unique perfection, Brinkley loftily attempted the very highest class of astronomical research. He resolved to measure anew with his own eye and with his own hand the constants of aberration and of nutation. He also strove to solve that great problem of the universe, the discovery of the distance of a fixed star. These were noble problems, and they were nobly attacked. But to appraise with justice this work of Brinkley, done seventy years ago, we must not apply to it the same criteria as we would think right to apply to similar work were it done now. We do not any longer use Brinkley’s constant of aberration, nor do we now think that Brinkley’s determinations of the star-distances were reliable. But, nevertheless, his investigations exercised a marked influence on the progress of science: they stimulated the study of the principles on which exact measurements were to be conducted. Brinkley had another profession in addition to that of an astronomer. He was a divine. When a man endeavours to pursue two distinct occupations concurrently, it will be equally easy to explain why his career should be successful, or why it should be the reverse. If he succeeds, he will, of course, exemplify the wisdom of having provided two strings to his bow. Should he fail, it is, of course, because he has attempted to sit on two stools at once. In Brinkley’s case, his two professions must be likened to the two strings rather than to the two stools. It is true that his practical experience of a clerical life was very slender. He had made no attempt to combine the routine of a parish with his labours in the Observatory. Nor do we associate a special eminence in any department of religious work with his name. If, however, we are to measure Brinkley’s merits as a divine by the ecclesiastical preferment which he received, his services to theology must have rivalled his services to astronomy. Having been raised step by step in the church, he was at last appointed to the See of Cloyne in 1826 as the successor of Bishop Berkeley.