Page:Sir William Herschel, his life and works (1881).djvu/125

Rh ) only to have found Miss ; but there was a very old lady, the mother, I believe, of Mrs., who was at the head of the table herself, and a Scots lady (a Miss , daughter of Dr. , of Glasgow, an eminent astronomer), Miss , and a little boy. They rejoiced at the accident which had brought me there, and hoped I would send my carriage away and take a bed with them. They were sorry they had no stables for my horses.

"We soon grew acquainted—I mean the ladies and I—and before dinner was over we seemed old friends just met after a long absence. Mrs. is sensible, good-humored, unpretending, and well bred; Miss  all shyness and virgin modesty; the Scots lady sensible and harmless; and the little boy entertaining, promising, and comical., you know, and everybody knows, is one of the most pleasing and well-bred natural characters of the present age, as well as the greatest astronomer.

"Your health was drunk after dinner (put that into your pocket), and after much social conversation and a few hearty laughs, the ladies proposed to take a walk, in order, I believe, to leave and me together. We walked and talked round his great telescopes till it grew damp and dusk, then retreated into his study to philosophize.

"He made a discovery to me, which, had I known it sooner, would have overset me, and prevented my