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His introduction to the learned world of Bath was thus described by himself:—

“About the latter end of December, 1779, I happened to be engaged in a series of observations on the lunar mountains; and the moon being in front of my house, late in the evening I brought my seven-feet reflector into the street, and directed it to the object of my observations. Whilst I was looking into the telescope, a gentleman, coming by the place where I was stationed, stopped to look at the instrument. When I took my eye off the telescope, he very politely asked if he might be permitted to look in, and this being immediately conceded, he expressed great satisfaction at the view.”

The inquisitive stranger called next morning, and proved to be Dr. (later Sir William) Watson. He formed on the spot an unalterable friendship for the moon-struck musician, and introduced him to a Philosophical Society which held its meetings at his father’s house. Herschel’s earliest essays were read before it, but they remained unpublished. His first printed composition appeared in the “Ladies’ Diary” for 1780. It was an answer to a prize question on the vibration of strings.