the direction of the boat, and assured him that the same thing invariably happened in all cases." No great or cardinal discovery ever results from an accident. Accident is a simple indication of law, as indeed the whole world is: it is the Intellect capable of generalizing, that alone can extract the secret. Previous to this time Römer had discovered that light has a definite although a marvellous velocity, the velocity, viz., of nearly 200,000 miles in a second of time. But the Earth moves in its orbit at a rate of about eighteen miles in a second; and just as the motion of the boat affected the apparent direction of the wind, so must this motion of our globe necessarily affect the apparent direction of the rays of light entering the eye. Every star must therefore undergo an amount of displacement, inasmuch as we infer the place of objects from the apparent direction of the ray emanating from them. The amount of this displacement could be theoretically determined,—depending on the proportion of those two velocities: and Bradley found that the irregularities which so puzzled him, received here their complete solution. It is farther of importance to remark, that this discovery constitutes our earliest physical demonstration of the reality of the orbital motion of the Earth.—Secondly, There are other displacements caused by the instability of the pole or axis around which our globe rotates. We refer all stars to the pole of the heavens, that is, to the point opposite the pole of the earth. Were that point steadfast, determinations of polar distance made at one epoch would be the same for every epoch. But if that point varies, determinations made at different times would not be comparable. So long ago as Hipparchus, that great motion of the pole, manifested by its describing a circle in the heavens every 25,000 years—a motion that is termed Precession—was known and estimated. But the pole does not describe a regular circle; on the contrary, it moves through a waving line, thus originating other and important although minor irregularities, which Bradley was the first to comprehend. The irregularity we now speak of is termed Nutation. Bradley detected the connection of the period of Nutation with the revolution of the Moon's Nodes; and subsequent researches, partly theoretical, partly by observation, have traced the physical cause of the change to its remotest consequences, and finally removed this last ground of uncertainty from among the obstacles to the conquests of Astronomy.—Concerning the private life of a man to whom the most imposing of the sciences owes so much, it is not unnatural that a certain curiosity should be felt. But Bradley's existence was a very quiet one. He married a niece of the astronomer Pound, to whom he was earnestly recommended by Halley. After a brief excursion into the fields of Theology he resigned his ecclesiastical appointments, and became Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford. He observed chiefly at Kew and Wanstead, until he was selected to the office of Astronomer Royal by Sir Robert Walpole, on the eve of his retirement. Bradley's nomination was probably the last official act of patronage by that great, but in many respects somewhat unsatisfactory Minister.—Bradley's observations were published in three volumes folio (superseded in great measure by the Fundamenta Astronomiæ by the university he adorned; and to whose well-known and considerate munificence we have recently been indebted for an account of his life and a collection of his papers, in a quarto volume, edited by Professor Rigaud.—J. P. N.
BRADLEY, Ralph, an English conveyancing lawyer, was born in 1717 at Greatham in the county of Durham, and died and was there buried in 1788. His parentage was humble, and his education self-acquired. His name is not associated with that of any patron or friend; and the attainment of provincial eminence almost unrivalled as a property counsel was due to his own judgment and exertions. He was called to the bar at Gray's inn, but his place of business was Stockton-upon-Tees, the neighbour town to Greatham; and his practice ruled over near half a century. Among his pupils were Ritson, an eccentric genius, and Holliday, C. Butler's master. His style of expressing opinions and drawing instruments was chargeable with the vices of tautology and diffusiveness. Bradley was never married. He possessed social qualities to a great degree; and the ultimate disposition of his property denotes the benevolence of his heart, although its frustration by the chancellor, Thurlow, proved the fallibility of its author's legal judgment. Having no near relations, he by his will directed that the income (except £500 a year for twenty years, and £1000 a year afterwards) of the bulk of his property should accumulate for seventy years. The income of the principal and its accumulations was then, and the £500 a year and the £1000 a year were in the meantime, to be from time to time for ever applied in the purchasing of such books as might have a tendency to promote the interests of virtue and religion and the happiness of mankind. This charitable purpose to be carried out by the court of chancery. When application was made to establish this charity. Lord Thurlow, ignoring the existence of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, said he did not know what books had a tendency to promote the happiness of mankind, and set aside the bequest in favour of the next of kin. In 7 ves. 50 n. the charitable trusts are set forth at length. They are characteristic of the style of their author. If he had described more fully the main purpose and elaborated less the details of the scheme, a different result might have been expected. To commemorate his bounty, a suitable inscription had, on the occasion of his burial, been put upon his tomb in Greatham churchyard, and after the decree his relations annexed to this inscription a few words to show how his intentions had miscarried.—S. H. G.
BRADLEY, Richard, a popular writer on gardening and agriculture, lived in the early part of the 18th century. He made himself known at first by papers on the nature of the sap in vegetables, and on the quick growth of Mouldiness on Melons, which were published in the Philosophical Transactions. He became a fellow of the Royal Society, and was chosen professor of botany at Cambridge in 1724, but he does not appear to have conducted himself well, and Dr. Martyn was appointed to lecture for him. He published a treatise on husbandry and gardening, a gardener's calendar, a philosophical account of the works of nature, a "Botanical Dictionary," and a history of succulent plants. He lectured on materia medica in London in 1729. This course of lectures was published. Died in 1732.—J. H. B.
BRADSHAW, John, an English barrister, better known as President Bradshaw, because he presided in the court which condemned Charles I. He was born in 1586 of an old Lancashire family, and became a student at Gray's inn. He was warmly attached to the parliamentary party, and obtained among them a considerable amount of chamber practice. He was one of the commissioners to whom the custody of the great seal was intrusted by the house of commons in 1646, and in the following year he was appointed chief justice of Chester by a vote of both houses. In 1648 he was raised to the rank of Serjeant. When the republican party had resolved to put King Charles to death under colour of judicial forms, Bradshaw's name was inserted in the record or revised list of commissioners for trying the king, and he was by them chosen president of the court. He displayed considerable self-possession throughout that memorable trial; but treated the unfortunate monarch in an exceedingly insolent and unfeeling manner. His party seem to have been satisfied with his behaviour, for they rewarded him with a gratuity of £5000, a town house, and country seat, the gift of Lord Cottington's estate in Wiltshire, and other landed property, yielding in all a rental of £1000 a year, and made him chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. Bradshaw was a sincere republican, and, therefore, opposed the ambitious designs of Cromwell, who deprived him of the office of chief justice of Chester. After the death of the protector, Bradshaw was elected president of the council. He died November 22, 1659, and was buried with great pomp in Westminster abbey; but after the Restoration his body was disinterred, and exposed on a gibbet along with the bodies of Cromwell and Ireton. Clarendon describes him with apparent truth as a man of some ability, but insolent and ambitious.—J. T.
BRADSHAW, William, an English puritan, born at Market Bosworth, Leicestershire, in 1571. He was educated at Emanuel college, Cambridge, after leaving which, through the influence of Dr. Laurence Chasterton, he became in succession tutor to the family of Sir Thomas Leighton, and fellow of Sidney Sussex college. Having obtained orders in a way which indulged his scruples on the subject of ordination, he was for some time employed as lecturer in the churches of Abington and Steeple Morden, near Cambridge, and afterwards at Chatham in Kent. From Chatham, on occasion of a dispute with his ordinary, he removed to London, and was appointed lecturer of Christ Church, Newgate Street. A treatise of his on some litigated points of ecclesiastical rule caused his demission from this office, and he retired to his native county, where he died in 1618. He is chiefly remarkable as the author of a small treatise, entitled
