Faraday to John Frederick William Herschel   21 August 1827

Royal Institution | Aug 21 1827

My dear Sir

I have just returned to town and have your letter of last month[.] Pray excuse me for being (necessarily) unable to attend to your desires. - I called on you twice before I left town and not finding you had some conversation with Dr Young about the furnace which you probably heard of[.] We agreed that there were some points which must be well considered & provided against as for instance the emission of much smoke and the chance of our neighbours disturbing us by calling the furnace a nuisance and also that it would be proper to defer the creation of it till I could watch it in every part[.] I shall now remain in town except for a day or two at a time & have written to the builder to come & discuss certain points in his specification and after having seen him I should be glad to see you. If I knew what your days & hours were at Slough I would come down by the coach - I could make nobody hear at your house this morning but heard from Mr Babbages servant that you were at Slough to which place I now write. Favour me with a line & let me know how we can meet for half an hour. I was unlucky yesterday in trying to see Mr Dollond but hope to meet with him in day or two[.]

I am sorry to hear that you have resigned the Secretaryship¹[.] I hope it does not imply that you must withdraw your attention from the glass committee[.] It would alter my views of the Committee & its usefulness very much if you were[.]

I am dear Sir | Truly Yours | M. Faraday

J.F.W. Herschel Esq | &c &c &c