t as
giving the proofs of HERSCHEL'S assiduity and skill. He was always more
than the maker of telescopes, for he was never content until they were
applied to the problems of astronomy.

[13] ARAGO has implied that if HERSCHEL had directed his
telescope to _Uranus_ only eleven days earlier than he did, this
discovery would have escaped him, since at that time (March 2, 1781) the
planet was at its _station_, and had no motion relative to the star.
This is an entire misconception, since the new planet was detected by
its physical appearance, and not by its motion. Does any one suppose
that "a new and singular star" like this would have been once viewed and
then forgotten?

[14] Four of _Jupiter_, one of the earth, and one of _Saturn_.

[15] JOHN MICHELL had been a member of the Royal Society since
1760: he died in 1793. He was a philosophical thinker, as is shown by
his memoirs on the distances of the stars, and by his invention of the
method for determining the earth's density. It is not certain that he
was personally known to HERSCHEL, although his writings were familiar to
the latter.

ALEXANDER WILSON was Professor of Astronomy at Glasgow, and is chiefly
known to us by his theory of the nature of the solar spots, which was
adopted and enlarged by HERSCHEL. He died in 1786; but the families of
WILSON and HERSCHEL remained close friends.

[16] _Berliner Jahrbuch_, 1784, p. 211. In the _Connaissance
des Tems_ for 1784 he is called "HOROCHELLE."

[17] At the presentation Sir JOSEPH BANKS, the President of the
Royal Society, said: "In the name of the Royal Society I present to you
this gold medal, the reward which they have assigned to your successful
labors, and I exhort you to continue diligently to cultivate those
fields of science which have produced to you a harvest of so much honor.
Your attention to the improvement of telescopes has already amply repaid
the labor which you have bestowed upon them; but the treasures of the
heavens are well known to be inexhaustible. Who can say but your new
star, which exceeds _Saturn_ in its distance from the sun, may exceed
him as much in magnificence of attendance? Who knows what new rings, new
satellites, or what other nameless and numberless phenomena remain
behind, waiting to reward future industry and improvement?"

CHAPTER III.

LIFE AT DATCHET, CLAY HALL, AND SLOUGH; 1782-1822.

The new house at Datchet, which was o