Such a work, however, was far beyond his limited
private resources; and he did not venture to undertake it until promised
a royal bounty of L2000. Then he removed from Datchet to Clay Hall, Old
Windsor; and again, in 1786, to Slough, where he finally settled, and
succeeded in erecting a commodious and well-equipped observatory. "We
may confidently assert," says Arago, "relative to the little house and
garden of Slough, that it is the spot of all the world where the
greatest number of discoveries have been made. The name of that village
will never perish: science will transmit it religiously to our latest
posterity."
At Slough, as at Datchet, prevailed the most enthusiastic industry; and
the house was soon as full of well-ordered labour as a bee-hive. Smiths
were kept constantly at work on different parts of the new telescopic
leviathan; and a whole troop of labourers was engaged in grinding the
tools required for shaping and polishing its mirror. Had not a cloudy or
moonlight night sometimes intervened, Herschel and his sister must have
died of sheer exhaustion, for they toiled with unremitting ardour both
day and night.
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