54 
HISTORY OF THE 
[1830-40 
The instrument had thus been freed from the imperfections 
complained of, but South remained obstinate, stopped further 
work and continued to refuse to pay Troughton’s bill. Proceed 
ings were therefore commenced towards the end of 1833 to compel 
him to do so ; but as so many technical questions were involved, 
the court recommended arbitration, which was agreed to. Mr. 
William Henry Maule, who was made arbitrator, had been Senior 
Wrangler in 1810 ; he became afterwards a Justice of the Common 
Pleas.* Counsel for Troughton & Simms was Mr. Starkie (Senior 
Wrangler in 1803), with Sheepshanks as his adviser ; for South 
was Mr. Drinkwater Bethune, a high wrangler of 1823 (Airy’s 
year).f Maule at once insisted that Troughton & Simms should 
be allowed to finish their work according to the plan proposed by 
Sheepshanks, but only to be paid for if successful. In 1834 July, 
after most of the time allowed had been spent on getting a screw 
made and the clock put up,J the instrument was shown to and 
tested by Pond and Donkin, who had to acknowledge that it was 
perfectly fit for the work it was intended for, viz. micrometric 
measures of double stars. Measures of several pairs were success 
fully taken by Airy and others. 
The legal proceedings went on for a couple of months longer, 
and in 1834 December the whole claim was awarded, including 
payment for the additions. But although the instrument had been 
proved to be satisfactory, South w r as not to be turned from his 
desire of posing as a martyr. He smashed the whole mounting to 
pieces, and in 1836 December advertised the fragments for sale 
by auction, by means of a scurrilous poster, in which the R.A.S., 
Troughton & Simms, and “ their Assistants, Mr. Airy and the Rev. 
R. Sheepshanks,” came in for a good deal of abuse. His folly 
cost him fully £8000. Lord Rosse offered to design and even to 
make an equatoreal for him, but he declined.§ We get an 
insight into his mind through a conversation he had with the 
American astronomer, O. M. Mitchel, in 1842. Exhibiting what 
he called the wreck of all his hopes (fragments of the mounting), 
South said in reply to a remark that the telescope might yet be 
mounted : “No, Struve has reaped the golden harvest among 
the double stars and there is little now for me to hope or expect.” || 
* It is a great pity that no record is left of the proceedings, as Maule is 
said to have been probably the greatest wit on the English Bench. For a 
delightful account of him, see What the Judge Thought, by E. A. Parry 
(London, 1922). 
f Held afterwards a high Government appointment in India; died 1850. 
Wrote lives of Galileo and Kepler in the Library of Useful Knowledge, and 
with Sir John Lubbock a little book “ On Probability,” in the same series. 
X Described by Sheepshanks in a paper, M.N. , 3 , pp. 40-46. 
§ According to Robinson, Proc. Roy. Soc., 16 , xlvi. (Obituary of South). 
[[ Publications of the YerTces Observatory, 1 , xiv.