This employed
his workmen all day, so that the proposed finish of polishing the new
mirror could not go on. I took one Camera Lucida sketch of the
instrument in the morning, dodging the heavy showers as well as I
could; then, as the afternoon was extremely fine, I took another, with
my head almost roasted by the sun. This last view is extremely pretty
and characteristic, embracing parts of the mounting not shewn well in
the others, and also shewing the Castle, the Observatory, and the
3-feet telescope. The night promised exceedingly well: but when we got
actually to the telescope it began to cloud and at length became
hopeless. However I saw that the fault which I had remarked on the two
preceding nights was gone. There is now a slight exhibition of another
fault to a much smaller extent. We shall probably be looking at the
telescope to-day in reference to it.
THE CASTLE, PARSONSTOWN,
_1848, Sept. 1_.
Yesterday we made some alterations in the mounting of the great
mirror. We found that sundry levers were loose which ought to be firm,
and we conjectured with great probability the cause of this, for
correction of which a change in other parts was necessary.
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