Letter 0645

Halley regrets that while enjoying Sloane’s good company over a bottle of wine on Monday he forgot to ask a favour. He requests that Sloane meet him at the King’s Arms in Ludgate Hill to discuss the matter. Edmond Halley left Oxford without an undergraduate degree to travel the world, giving him the opportunity to study astronomy on the spot. Upon returning to England he had a prestigious career and collaborated with Sir Isaac Newton, entered the public service, served as a professor at Oxford, and was appointed Astronomer Royal in 1721 (Alan Cook, “Halley, Edmond (1656-1742)”, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/12011, accessed 1 June 2011]).