Part 4 (1/2)
TO MISS HERSCHEL
”_July 3, 1782_”
”DEAR CAROLINA:--
”I have been sosooner The letter you sent me last Monday caood as to acquaint you and ALEXANDER with my situation, I was still , the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, Princess SOPHIA, Princess AUGUSTA, etc, Duke of MONTAGUE, Dr
HEBERDEN, M DE LUC, etc, etc, saw ave general satisfaction The king has very good eyes, and enjoys observations with telescopes exceedingly
”This evening, as the king and queen are gone to Kew, the princesses were desirous of seeing my telescope, but wanted to know if it was possible to see without going out on the grass, and were much pleased when they heard that my telescope could be carried into any place they liked best to have it About eight o'clock it was moved into the queen's apart _Jupiter_ or _Saturn_ Meanwhile I showed the princesses, and several other ladies ere present, the speculum, the s that see appeared to be totally unpro, I proposed an artificial _Saturn_ as an object, since we could not have the real one I had beforehand prepared this little piece, as I guessed by the appearance of the weather in the afternoon we should have no stars to look at This being accepted with great pleasure, I had the lahted up which illuminated the picture of a _Saturn_ (cut out in pasteboard) at the bottoarden wall The effect was fine, and so natural that the best astronohnesses and other ladies seemed to be much pleased with the artifice
”I remained in the queen's apartment with the ladies till about half after ten; when in conversation with them I found them extremely well instructed in every subject that was introduced, and they see they hope to have better luck, and nothing will give reater happiness than to be able to show them soloriously ornaoes on:
”Sir WILLIAM WATSON returned to Bath after a fort-night or three weeks' stay From him we heard that my brother was invited to Greenith the telescope, where he was entlemen, and trials of his instrued to lead an idle life, having nothing to do but to pass between London and Greenwich Sir WILLIAM received many letters, which he was so kind as to communicate to us By these, and fro wished to see the telescope at Windsor
At last a letter, dated July 2, arrived froathered that the king would not suffer ain, and by his writing several times for a supply of money we could only suppose that he himself was in uncertainty about the time of his return
”In the last week of Julyto Datchet, where he had taken a house with a garden and grass-plat annexed, quite suitable for the purpose of an observing-place Sir WILLIAM WATSON spent nearly the whole tirieved at reed to no very advantageous offers; their fears were, in fact, not without reasonThe prospect of entering again on the toils of teaching, etc, which awaited one by), appeared to him an intolerable waste of time, and by way of alternative he chose to be royal astronomer, with a salary of 200 a year Sir WILLIAM WATSON was the only one to whoht monarch honor so cheap!' To every other inquirer,had provided for hiust, 1782, the family removed to Datchet The last aret's Chapel, Bath, when the anthem for the day was of HERSCHEL'S own composition
The end of the introductory epoch of his life is reached Henceforth he lived in his observatory, and from his forty-fourth year onwards he only left it for short periods to go to London to submit his classic memoirs to the Royal Society Even for these occasions he chose periods of ht, when no observations could be er Henceforth he belongs to the whole world
FOOTNOTES:
[10] Probably on the orian telescopes, which were then the best instruments of the kind
[11] For a description of thereflectors, which will illustrate his strong hth edition, article _Telescope_
[12] These have never been published, nor is it likely at this day, when our reatly improved, that they would be of anythe proofs of HERSCHEL'S assiduity and skill He was always more than the maker of telescopes, for he was never content until they were applied to the problems of astronomy
[13] ARAGO has implied that if HERSCHEL had directed his telescope to _Uranus_ only eleven days earlier than he did, this discovery would have escaped him, since at that time (March 2, 1781) the planet was at its _station_, and had no motion relative to the star
This is an entire misconception, since the new planet was detected by its physical appearance, and not by its ular star” like this would have been once viewed and then forgotten?
[14] Four of _Jupiter_, one of the earth, and one of _Saturn_
[15] JOHN MIChell had been a member of the Royal Society since 1760: he died in 1793 He was a philosophical thinker, as is shown by his memoirs on the distances of the stars, and by his invention of thethe earth's density It is not certain that he was personally known to HERSCHEL, although his writings were familiar to the latter
ALEXANDER WILSON was Professor of Astronoow, and is chiefly known to us by his theory of the nature of the solar spots, which was adopted and enlarged by HERSCHEL He died in 1786; but the families of WILSON and HERSCHEL remained close friends
[16] _Berliner Jahrbuch_, 1784, p 211 In the _Connaissance des Tems_ for 1784 he is called ”HOROChellE”
[17] At the presentation Sir JOSEPH BANKS, the President of the Royal Society, said: ”In the naold ned to your successful labors, and I exhort you to continue diligently to cultivate those fields of science which have produced to you a harvest of so much honor
Your attention to the improvement of telescopes has already amply repaid the labor which you have bestowed upon them; but the treasures of the heavens are well known to be inexhaustible Who can say but your new star, which exceeds _Saturn_ in its distance fronificence of attendance? Who knohat new rings, new satellites, or what other na to reward future industry and improvement?”