Herschel's telescope

Introduction

The Thrales had made William Herschel's acquaintance in his home at 19 New King Street, Bath in the spring of 1784, three years after he discovered the planet Uranus. Samuel Johnson wrote to Susannah Thrale: 'With Mr. Herschel it will certainly be very right to cultivate an acquaintance; for he can show you in the sky what no man before him has ever seen, by some wonderful improvements which he has made in the telescope.'

I ought likewise to have recorded my Admiration of Herschel's Telescope, and its Object the Moon; We could not however say we saw the Volcano; but it appears that the Place is all over Mountains, many of which have burned out I fancy, for one can see the empty Craters quite plain, and as to Water or Collection of Water, no Appearance can be found to be sure: all the dark Spots are solid Bodies only hollow, but luminous at bottom of the Dell where perhaps there is a new still formed by some Accident or other. For my own part it gave me the Idea of a ruined, not a habitable World, but such a State as ours is likely enough to be thrown into by that general Conflagration the Scriptures bid us expect.

Written by Hester Lynch Thrale.
Thraliana entry dated September 1787. Hester Thrale's spelling, grammar and capitalisation, some of which may not conform to today's standards, are reproduced faithfully throughout.