CHAP. II.] Life in Bath. 43 



absence did not last above three or four days, when my 

 brother returned alone, Sir William remaining with his father. 



"Now a very busy winter was commencing; for my 

 brother had engaged himself to conduct the oratorios con- 

 jointly with Ronzini, and had made himself answerable for 

 the payment of the engaged performers, for his credit ever 

 stood high in the opinion of every one he had to deal with. 

 (He lost considerably by this arrangement.) But, though 

 at times much harassed with business, the mirror for 

 the thirty-foot reflector was never out of his mind, and if a 

 minute could but be spared in going from one scholar to 

 another, or giving one the slip, he called at home to see how 

 the men went on with the furnace, which was built in a room 

 below, even with the garden. 



" The mirror was to be cast in a mould of loam prepared 

 from horse dung, of which an immense quantity was to be 

 pounded in a mortar and sifted through a fine sieve. It was 

 an endless piece of work, and served me for many an hour's 

 exercise ; and Alex frequently took his turn at it, for we were 

 all eager to do something towards the great undertaking. 

 Even Sir William Watson would sometimes take the pestle 

 from me when he found me in the work-room, where he 

 expected to find his friend, in whose concerns he took so 

 much interest that he felt much disappointed at not being 

 allowed to pay for the metal. But I do not think my brother 

 ever accepted pecuniary assistance from any one of his 

 friends, and on this occasion he declined the offer by saying 

 it was paid for already. 



"Among the Bath visitors were many philosophical gentle- 

 men who used to frequent the levees at St. James's, when 

 in town. Colonel Walsh, in particular, informed my brother 

 that from a conversation he had had with His Majesty, 

 it appeared that in the spring he was to come with his seven- 

 foot telescope to the King. Similar reports he received 



