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 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
his 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.

Now, though it was permissible for the Archdeacon to be also the
Andrews Professor, yet when the Archdeacon became a Bishop, it was
understood that he should transfer his residence from the observatory
to the palace. The chair of Astronomy accordingly became vacant.
Brinkley's subsequent career seems to have been devoted entirely to
ecclesiastical matters, and for the last ten years of his life he did