Page - 195 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

195The North Beckons 3 From Vienna to Vardø The Arctic part of the expedition might have lasted only a few months, but al- ready in the negotiating phase, von Bachoff reported home that he had re- quested that Hell consider the importance of the mission and not wait with the journey until 1769, and that the astronomer himself was thinking of de- parting already in the autumn of 1768.76 The proposition of the Danish court was to set the date even earlier: the spring, so that the summer could be care- fully turned to preparations in Copenhagen, and observations could be carried out en route in Trondheim, where he could conveniently spend the winter be- fore proceeding north to Vardø early in the spring of 1769.77 Von Bachoff was instructed not to be thrifty on advances, and he duly provided Hell with an acquittance on 1,314 florins (the full cost of the expedition being estimated at 6,398 Reichsthalers).78 With regard to the aftermath of the expedition itself, Hell had even more ambitious plans. In March 1768, just a few weeks before his departure from Vienna, he sent the following letter to the pope: Most humble prayers to His Holiness Pope Clement xiii for obtaining permission for dispensations because of a journey to be undertaken through non-Catholic lands upon call from the king of Denmark. Since upon invitation from His Most Serene King of Denmark, com- municated through His Ambassador to the Imperial Court in Vienna Count von Bachoff, and upon permissions from Her Highness the Em- press Maria Theresa and from the general of the Society of Jesus His Most Reverend Father Laurentius Ricci, a long journey is to be undertaken, funded by the king of Denmark, beginning this spring and lasting for sev- eral years, passing through Saxony, Brandenburg, Denmark, and Sweden to the farthest island of Norway by the Arctic Sea, called Vardøhus, a place where I will have to stay for a rather long period of time because of astronomical observations that I have been ordered by the king of Den- mark to undertake, followed by a return journey to Vienna, through the whole of Sweden and Denmark and then perhaps through Holland, Bel- gium, England, France, and the entire [Holy Roman] Empire, and since this journey and sojourn will befall me and my assistant in non-Catholic lands of this kind, in which neither official churches nor other places of 76 Bachoff to Bernstorff in Copenhagen, dated Vienna, October 29, 1767 (RA). 77 Bernstorff to Bachoff in Vienna, dated Copenhagen, February 20, 1768 (RA). 78 Pinzger, Hell Miksa, 1:80.