HERSCHEL. 199 



able to examiue the heavens with a Newtonian telescope of five English 

 feet focus, entirely made by himself. This success tempts him to under- 

 take still more difficult enterprises. Other telescopes of seven, of eight, 

 of ten, and even of twenty feet focal distance, crown his eftbrts. As if 

 to answer in advance those critics who would have accused him of a 

 superfluity of apparatus, of unnecessary luxury, in the large size of the 

 new instruments, and his extreme minutiae in their execution, Nature 

 granted to the astronomical musician, on the 13th of March, 1781, the 

 unprecedented honor of commencing his career of observation with the 

 discovery of a new planet, situated on the confines of our solar system. 

 Dating from that moment, Herschel's reputation, no longer in his 

 character of musician, but as a constructor of telescopes and as an 

 astronomer, spread throughout the world. George III, a lover of 

 science, and much inclined besides to protect and patronize both men 

 and things of Hanoverian origin, had Herschel presented to him. He 

 was charmed with the simple yet lucid and modest account that the 

 astronomer gave of his repeated endeavors ; he caught a glimpse of 

 the glory that such an observer might reflect on his reign ; granted him 

 a pension of three hundred guineas a year, and furnished him with a resi- 

 dence near Windsor Castle, first at Clay Hall and then at Slough. The 

 anticipations of George III were completely realized. We may confidently 

 assert, relative to the little house at Slough, that it is the place of all 

 the world where the greatest number of astronomical discoveries have 

 beeu made. The name of that village will never perish. Science will 

 transmit it religiously to our latest posterity. 



I shall avail myself of this opportunity to rectify a mistake, of which 

 ignorance and idleness wish to make a triumphant handle, or, at all 

 events, to wield in their cause as an irresistible justification. It has 

 been repeated to satiety that at. the time when Herschel entered on his 

 astronomical career he knew nothing of mathematics. But I have already 

 said that, during his residence at Bath, the organist of the Octagon 

 Chapel had familiarized himself with the principles of geometry and 

 algebra; and a still more positive proof of this is, that a difficult 

 question on the vibration of strings loaded with small weights having 

 been proi)osed for discussion in 1779, Herschel gave it a solution which 

 was thought worthy to be inserted in several scientific periodicMs-of the 

 year 1780. " "^ 



The adventurous life of Herschel is here closed. The great astrono- 

 mer will not quit his observatory any more, except to submit the sublime 

 results of his laborious vigils to the Eoyal Society of London. These 

 results are contained in his memoirs ; they constitute one of the principal 

 riches of the celebrated collection known under the title of Fhilosophical 

 Transactions. 



Herschel was even elected as a member of the principal academies of 

 Europe, and about 181G he was named a Knight of the Guelphic Order 

 of Hanover. According to the English custom, from the time of that 



