200 HERSCHEL AND HIS WORK 



and pardonably showed, may have been akin to a 

 warmer feeling; but his marriage for money, partly 

 at least, somewhat cooled her raptures, or her hopes. 



Dr. Burney has also presented the world with word- 

 pictures of himself and Herschel, which are full of 

 life and amusement. As time went on, he was fired 

 with the ambition of distinguishing himself in poetry 

 as well as music. He believed he had wing-power 

 sufficient to soar to heights of poetry as high as 

 Newton or Herschel reached in prose. He proposed 

 in fact to write a Newtoniad and a Herscheliad for 

 the enlightenment of future ages. He made no secret 

 of his purpose; his daughters encouraged him to 

 undertake the work; Herschel was consulted, was 

 flattered, was persuaded or cajoled. The King, the 

 Queen, the Princesses heard of the great work ; the 

 Court, of course, whatever some people of sense may 

 have thought or said, echoed the wishes and praises 

 of their superiors, and the poet proceeded, amidst 

 applause, to complete his Poetical History of Astro- 

 nomy. It was the age of didactic poems. Darwin's 

 Botanic Garden had been a success, and parts of it 

 were so written that they deserved and won the 

 applause of intelligent readers. Probably Dr. Burney 

 imagined that astronomy, which was then filling the 

 world with wonder, was an equally good field for 

 a great poem. He certainly believed that it was a 

 book he was competent to write : but, while he was 

 convinced of his ability to ascend to the heights of 

 Parnassus, he had doubts of his knowledge of the 

 science. To solve these doubts an interview with 

 Herschel was necessary. The story then proceeds, 

 September 28, 1798. 



