56 Caroline Lucrctia Herschel. [1784-1785. 



ting broken shins by falling over the rack-bar, which projects 

 in high altitudes in front of the telescope, when in the hurry 

 the cap had been forgotten to be put over it. 



Tn the long days of the summer months many ten- and 

 seven-foot mirrors were finished ; there was nothing but 

 grinding and polishing to be seen. For ten-foot several had 

 been cast with ribbed backs by way of experiment to reduce 

 the weight in large mirrors. In my leisure hours I 

 ground seven-foot and plain mirrors from rough to fining 

 down, and was indulged with polishing and the last finishing 

 of a very beautiful mirror for Sir William Watson, 



An account of the discoveries made with the twenty-foot 

 and the improvements of the mechanical parts of that instru- 

 ment during the winter of 1785, is given with the Catalogue 

 of the first 1000 new nebulae. By which account it must 

 plainly appear that the expenses of these improvements, and 

 those which were yet to be made in the apparatus of the 

 twenty-foot (which in fact proved to be a model of a larger 

 instrument), could not be supplied out of a salary of 200 

 a year, especially as my brother's finances had been too 

 much reduced during the six months before he received 

 his first quarterly payment of fifty pounds (which was 

 Michaelmas, 1782). Travelling from Bath to London, 

 Greenwich, Windsor, backwards and forwards, transporting 

 the telescope, &c., breaking up his establishment at Bath 

 and fonning a new one near the Court, all this, even 

 leaving such personal conveniences as he had for many 

 years been used to, out of the question, could not be obtained 

 for a trifle; a good large piece of ground was required 

 for the use of the instruments, and a habitation in which he 

 could receive and offer a bed to an astronomical friend, was 

 necessary after a night's observation. 



It seemed to be supposed that enough had been done when 

 my brother was enabled to leave his profession that he might 



