CHAP, ii.] Life in Bath. 35 



during the winter months, he used to retire to bed with a 

 bason of milk or glass of water, and Smith's ' Harmonics and 

 Optics,' Ferguson's 'Astronomy,' c., and so went to sleep 

 buried under his favourite authors ; and his first thoughts 

 on rising were how to obtain instruments for viewing those 

 objects himself of which he had been reading. There being in 

 one of the shops a two and a half foot Gregorian telescope to 

 be let, it was for some time taken in requisition, and served 

 not only for viewing the heavens but for making experiments 

 on its construction. ... It soon appeared that m}'- brother 

 was not contented with knowing what former observers had 

 seen, for he began to contrive a telescope eighteen or 

 twenty feet long (I believe after Huyghens' description). . . 

 . . I was much hindered in my musical practice by nry help 

 being continually wanted in the execution of the various con- 

 trivances, and I had to amuse myself with making the tube of 

 pasteboard for the glasses which were to arrive from Lon- 

 don, for at that time no optician had settled at Bath. But 

 when all was finished, no one besides my brother could get 

 a glimpse of Jupiter or Saturn, for the great length of the 

 tube would not allow it to be kept in a straight line. This 

 difficulty, however, was soon removed by substituting tin 



tubes My brother wrote to inquire the price of a 



reflecting mirror for (I believe) a five or six foot telescope. 

 The answer was, there were none of so large a size, but a 

 person offered to make one at a price much above what my 



brother thought proper to give About this time he 



bought of a Quaker resident at Bath, who ha'd formerly 

 made attempts at polishing mirrors, all his rubbish of pat- 

 terns, tools, hones, polishers, unfinished mirrors, &c., but 

 all for small Gregorians, and none above two or three 

 inches diameter. 



" But nothing serious could be attempted, for want of 

 time, till the beginning of June, when some of my brother's 



D 2 



