s occupied; even poor
PIAZZI did not go home without getting broken shins by falling over
the rack-bar.

"In the long days of the summer months many ten and seven foot
mirrors were finished; there was nothing but grinding and polishing
to be seen. For ten-foot, several had been cast with ribbed backs,
by way of experiment, to reduce the weight in large mirrors. In my
leisure hours I ground seven-foot and plain mirrors from rough to
fining down, and was _indulged_ with polishing and the last
finishing of a very beautiful mirror for Sir WILLIAM WATSON.

"An account of the discoveries made with the twenty-foot and the
improvements of the mechanical parts of the instrument during the
winter of 1785 is given with the catalogue of the first 1,000 new
nebulae. By which account it must plainly appear that the expenses of
these improvements, and those which were yet to be made in the
apparatus of the twenty-foot (which, in fact, proved to be a model
of a larger instrument), could not be supplied out of a salary of
L200 a year, especially as my brother's finances had been too much
reduced during the six months before he received his _first_
quarterly payment of _fifty pounds_ (which was Michaelmas, 1782).
Travelling from Bath to London, Greenwich, Windsor, backwards and
forwards, transporting the telescope, etc., breaking up his
establishment at Bath and forming a new one near the court, all
this, even leaving such personal conveniences as he had for many
years been used to, out of the question, could not be obtained for a
trifle; a good large piece of ground was required for the use of the
instruments, and a habitation in which he could receive and offer a
bed to an astronomical friend, was necessary after a night's
observation.

"It seemed to be supposed that enough had been done when my brother
was enabled to leave his profession that he might have time to make
and sell telescopes. The king ordered four ten-foot himself, and
many seven-foot besides had been bespoke, and much time had already
been expended on polishing the mirrors for the same. But all this
was only retarding the work of a thirty or forty foot instrument,
which it was my brother's chief object to obtain as soon as
possible; for he was then on the wrong side of forty-five, and felt
how great an injustice he would