assistant, who stands below it. . . . Near the instrument is a clock
regulated to sidereal time. . . . In the room near it sits HERSCHEL'S
sister, and she has FLAMSTEED'S Atlas open before her. As he gives
her the word, she writes down the declination and right ascension
and the other circumstances of the observation. In this way
HERSCHEL examines the whole sky without omitting the least part. He
commonly observes with a magnifying power of one hundred and fifty,
and is sure that after four or five years he will have passed in
review every object above our horizon. He showed me the book in
which his observations up to this time are written, and I am
astonished at the great number of them. Each sweep covers 2 deg. 15'
in declination, and he lets each star pass at least three times through
the field of his telescope, so that it is impossible that anything
can escape him. He has already found about 900 double stars and
almost as many nebulae. I went to bed about one o'clock, and up to
that time, he had found that night four or five new nebulae. The
thermometer in the garden stood at 13 deg. Fahrenheit; but, in spite of
this, HERSCHEL observes the whole night through, except that he
stops every three or four hours and goes in the room for a few
moments. For some years HERSCHEL has observed the heavens every hour
when the weather is clear, and this always in the open air, because
he says that the telescope only performs well when it is at the same
temperature as the air. He protects himself against the weather by
putting on more clothing. He has an excellent constitution, and
thinks about nothing else in the world but the celestial bodies. He
has promised me in the most cordial way, entirely in the service of
astronomy, and without thinking of his own interest, to see to the
telescopes I have ordered for European observatories, and he will
himself attend to the preparation of the mirrors."

It was at this time, 1783, May 8, that HERSCHEL married. His wife was
the daughter of Mr. JAMES BALDWIN, a merchant of the city of London, and
the widow of JOHN PITT, Esq. She is described as a lady of singular
amiability and gentleness of character. She was entirely interested in
his scientific pursuits, and the jointure which she brought removed all
further anxiety about money affairs. They had but one child, JOHN
FREDERICK