"He continued... to fulfill the duties [of holy orders]... though at this time he had made such observations as laid the foundation those discoveries which afterwards distinguished him as one of the greatest astronomers of his age. Though these observations were made as it were by stealth, they gained him first the notice, and then the friendship of lord chancellor Macclessield, Mr. Newton, afterwards Sir Issac, and Mr. Halley, and many other members of the royal society, into which he was soon elected a member."