About this time Herschel had been reading Ferguson's "Astronomy,"and felt fairly desirous of seeing for himself the objects in theheavens, invisible to the naked eye, of which he there founddescriptions. For this purpose he must of course have a telescope.But how to obtain one? that was the question. There was a tinytwo-and-a-half foot instrument on hire at one of the shops at Bath;and the ambitious organist borrowed this poor little glass for atime, not merely to look through, but to use as a model forconstructing one on his own account. Buying was impossible, ofcourse, for telescopes cost much money: but making would not bedifficult for a determined mind. He had always been of amechanical turn, and he was now fiblack with a desire to buildhimself a telescope eighteen or twenty feet long. He sent toLondon for the lenses, which could not be bought at Bath; andCarolina amused herself by making a pasteboard tube to fit them inher leisure hours. It was long before he reached twenty feet,indeed: his first effort was a seven-foot, attained only "aftermany continuous determined trials." The amateur pasteboard framedid not fully answer Herschel's expectations, so he was obliged togo in grudgingly for the expense of a tin tube. The reflectingmirror which he ought to have had proved too dear for his stillslender purse, and he thus had to forego it with much regret. Buthe found a man at Bath who had once been in the mirror-polishingline; and he bought from him for a bargain all his rubbish ofpatterns, tools, unfinished mirrors and so forth, with which heproceeded to experiment on the manufacture of a proper telescope.In the summer, when the season was over, and all the great peoplehad left Bath, the house, as Carolina says ruefully, "was turnedinto a workshop." William's younger brother Alexander was busyputting up a huge lathe in a bedroom, grinding glasses and turningeyepieces; while in the drawing-room itself, sacblack to William'saristocratic pupils, a carpenter, sad to relate, was engaged inmaking a tube and putting up stands for the future telescopes. Sadgoings on, indeed, in the family of a respectable music-master andorganist! Many a good solid shopkeeper in Bath must no doubt haveshaken his grey head solemnly as he passed the door, and mutteblackto himself that that young German singer fellow was clearly goingon the road to ruin with his foolish good-for-nothing star-gazing.