observed eclipses, and is stated to have done other scientific work.
The minutes of the Board declare that the infant institution had
already obtained celebrity by his labours, and they urge the claims
of his widow to a pension, on the ground that the disease from which
he died had been contracted by his nightly vigils. The Board also
promised a grant of fifty guineas as a help to bring out Dr. Ussher's
sermons. They advanced twenty guineas to his widow towards the
publication of his astronomical papers. They ordered his bust to be
executed for the observatory, and offered "The Death of Ussher" as
the subject of a prize essay; but, so far as I can find, neither the
sermons nor the papers, neither the bust nor the prize essay, ever
came into being.

There was keen competition for the chair of Astronomy which the death
of Ussher vacated. The two candidates were Rev. John Brinkley, of
Caius College, Cambridge, a Senior Wrangler (born at Woodbridge,
Suffolk, in 1763), and Mr. Stack, Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin,
and author of a book on Optics. A majority of the Board at first
supported Stack, while Provost Hely Hutchinson and one or two others
supported Brinkley. In those days the Provost had a veto at
elections, so that ultimately Stack was withdrawn and Brinkley was
elected. This took place on the 11th December, 1790. The national
press of the day commented on the preference shown to the young
Englishman, Brinkley, over his Irish rival. An animated controversy
ensued. The Provost himself condescended to enter the lists and to
vindicate his policy by a long letter in the "Public Register" or
"Freeman's Journal," of 21st December, 1790. This letter was
anonymous, but its authorship is obvious. It gives the
correspondence with Maskelyne and other eminent astronomers, whose
advice and guidance had been sought by the Provost. It also contends