FRANCIS BAILY. 45 



Sir John Herschel, the Astronomer Royal, Lord Wrottesley, 1831. 

 Rev. Richard Sheepshanks, Admiral Manners, Mr. Gallo- 

 way, and a few others. Mr. Sheepshanks and Mr. Galloway 

 had houses in the immediate neighbourhood of Gower 

 Street, and Mr. Baily lived at 37 Tavistock Place a 

 pleasant house in a garden sheltered by sycamores. This 

 house, rendered famous by the repetition of the Cavendish 

 experiment, had formerly belonged to Mr. Perry, of the 

 6 Times.' In it my mother had met Porson, and heard 

 him repeat Greek poetry. 1 



Mr. Baily was well fitted by his clear-headed steadiness 

 of character, as well as by his excellent temper and 

 geniality, to form the centre of a knot of friends sharing 

 in the same pursuits. The same qualities made him an 

 excellent host, and a better President of the Astronomical 

 Society than if he had been a more brilliant talker. His 

 kindly, simple bearing gained the love of those who could 

 only look at his work with wonder. I remember feeling 

 proud of having played a game of chess, in which I was of 

 course beaten, with him. His house and appointments were 

 just what they should be, made perfect to his friends by the 

 cordiality of his reception. After his sister came to live 

 with him, when this welcome was extended to his friends' 

 wives and sisters, no house in London, I suppose, had held 

 more happy parties than 37 Tavistock Place. 



I find an anecdote showing his characteristic order and 

 neatness in a letter left by my husband for the Institute 

 of Actuaries. The proposal referred to was made in 1835, 

 and related to the Cavendish experiment. 



6 That every rule must have its exceptions is true even 

 of Baily's accuracy, though I should have thought the 

 assertion must have failed if I had not known the con- 

 trary. Few persons, however, know that this assertion 

 contradicts itself. For, if it be a rule that every rule has 

 its exception, this rule must have its exception ; that is, 



1 This house was left by Miss Baily to Sir J. Herschel, and until 

 very lately was inhabited by Mr. Digby Wyatt. 



