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Biographies of Working Men by Grant Allen
page 79 of 154 (51%)
gets a letter from William at Bath, asking her to come over to
England and join him at that gay and fashionable city. He would
try to prepare her for singing at his concerts; but if after two
years' trial she didn't succeed, he would take her back again to
Hanover himself. In 1772, indeed, William in person came over to
fetch her, and thenceforth the brother and sister worked
unceasingly together in all their undertakings to the day of the
great astronomer's death.

About this time Herschel had been reading Ferguson's "Astronomy,"
and felt very desirous of seeing for himself the objects in the
heavens, invisible to the naked eye, of which he there found
descriptions. For this purpose he must of course have a telescope.
But how to obtain one? that was the question. There was a small
two-and-a-half foot instrument on hire at one of the shops at Bath;
and the ambitious organist borrowed this poor little glass for a
time, not merely to look through, but to use as a model for
constructing one on his own account. Buying was impossible, of
course, for telescopes cost much money: but making would not be
difficult for a determined mind. He had always been of a
mechanical turn, and he was now fired with a desire to build
himself a telescope eighteen or twenty feet long. He sent to
London for the lenses, which could not be bought at Bath; and
Carolina amused herself by making a pasteboard tube to fit them in
her leisure hours. It was long before he reached twenty feet,
indeed: his first effort was a seven-foot, attained only "after
many continuous determined trials." The amateur pasteboard frame
did not fully answer Herschel's expectations, so he was obliged to
go in grudgingly for the expense of a tin tube. The reflecting
mirror which he ought to have had proved too dear for his still
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