DR. BURNEY'S VISIT AND POEM 201 



"I drove through Slough in order to ask at Dr. 

 Herschel's door when my visit would be least incon- 

 venient to him that night or next morning. The 

 good soul was at dinner, but came to the door himself 

 to press me to alight immediately, and partake of his 

 family repast: and this he did so heartily that I 

 could not resist. ... I expected (not knowing that 

 Herschel was married) only to have found Miss Her- 

 schel; but there was a very old lady, the mother, I 

 believe, of Mrs. Herschel, who was at the head of the 

 table herself, and a Scots lady (a Miss Wilson, daughter 

 of Dr. Wilson of Glasgow, an eminent astronomer), 

 Miss Herschel, and a little boy. They rejoiced at the 

 accident, which had brought me there, and hoped I 

 would send my carriage away and take a bed with 

 them. 



" We soon grew acquainted I mean the ladies and 

 I and before dinner was over we seemed old friends 

 just met after a long absence. Mrs. Herschel is 

 sensible, good-humoured, unpretending, and well-bred ; 

 Miss Herschel all shyness and virgin modesty; the 

 Scots lady sensible and harmless; and the little boy 

 entertaining, promising, and comical. Herschel, you 

 know, and everybody knows, is one of the most 

 pleasing and well-bred natural characters of the pre- 

 sent age, as well as the greatest astronomer." 



" The shyness and virgin modesty " of little Miss 

 Herschel, at the youthful age of forty-eight, are over- 

 done in this word-picture by Dr. Burney. Could we 

 have got her views of their visitor's flattery and 

 folly, they would perhaps have been an amusing 

 addition to the fund of drollery and acidity, with 

 which her recollections are pleasantly flavoured. And 



