Old and new London : a narrative of its history, its people, and its places . in the hedge close to the well-knowncircular building in Avhich the equatorial instrument 132 OLD AND NEW LONDON. was at first placed. On entering the grounds, tothe left appeared the wreck of the instrument whicha few years ago excited the interest of men ofscience throughout the world, lying arranged inJots numbered from o to 14, lot 15 being the frag-ment of mahogany spoken of in the bill, and lot16 a plaster bust of Professor Airy, which was•mounted on the ledge of a window above thecentre lot. On th
Old and new London : a narrative of its history, its people, and its places . in the hedge close to the well-knowncircular building in Avhich the equatorial instrument 132 OLD AND NEW LONDON. was at first placed. On entering the grounds, tothe left appeared the wreck of the instrument whicha few years ago excited the interest of men ofscience throughout the world, lying arranged inJots numbered from o to 14, lot 15 being the frag-ment of mahogany spoken of in the bill, and lot16 a plaster bust of Professor Airy, which was•mounted on the ledge of a window above thecentre lot. On the right, on the spacious lawn, tainly be futile. Even the portions of the enormoustube were bored with holes, and battered to attainthat object. Sir James South, in answer to an in-quiry by a gentleman present as to the cause of somuch deterioration in the value of the propertyhaving been made, said he had been told that heshould get only the value of old metal for it; andknowing that those who purchased the material, hadthe parts been sold in a perfect state, would take. CAMPDEN HOUSE, I72O. was erected a large beam and scales, with weightsfor the purpose of ascertaining the weights of thedifferent metals. Sir James South was presentduring the sale. He appeared in high spirits, andconversed with the company with his accustomedurbanity. The sale not being conducted by hammer,but by hand, was a very silent proceeding, andafforded no scope for either the eloquence or inge-nuity of the auctioneer. The iron portion of theinstrument, consisting of bolts, screws, &c., as wellas the copper part, was unmutilated. The formerfetched ^3, and the latter yd. per pound. The greatequatorial instrument itself—viz., the tube, circle,&c., made of brass, had been broken into numerouspieces, which were divided into several lots, sothat any attempt to reunite them would most cer- them to the manufacturers, and from them receivea valuable consideration for them, he therefore de-termined to preve
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublisherlondoncassellpette
