Page:Memoir and correspondence of Caroline Herschel (1876).djvu/79

Rh have time to make and sell telescopes. The King ordered four ten-foot himself, and many seven-foot besides had been bespoke, and much time had already been expended on polishing the mirrors for the same. But all this was only retarding the work of a thirty or forty-foot instrument, which it was my brother's chief object to obtain as soon as possible; for he was then on the wrong side of forty-five, and felt how great an injustice he would be doing to himself and to the cause of Astronomy by giving up his time to making telescopes for other observers. Sir William Watson, who often in the lifetime of his father came to make some stay with us at Datchet, saw my brother's difficulties, and expressed great dissatisfaction. On his return to Bath he met among the visitors there several belonging to the Court (among the rest Mde. Schwellenberg), to whom he gave his opinion concerning his friend and his situation very freely. In consequence of this my brother had soon after, through Sir J. Banks, the promise that £2000 would be granted for enabling him to make himself an instrument. Immediately every preparation for beginning the great work commenced. A very ingenious smith (Campion), who was seeking employment, was secured by my brother, and a temporary forge erected in an upstairs room.

It soon became evident that the big, tumble-down old house, which had been taken possession of with such eagerness, would not do: the rain came through the ceilings; the damp situation brought on ague, and in June the brother and sister left it for a place called Clay Hall, Old Windsor. But here again unlooked-for troubles arose in consequence of the landlady being a