[339] Caroline Herschel (1750-1848), Sir William's sister, assisted him in recording his observations.—T.
[340] King Alfred (849-901), known as the Great, is said to have founded the University of Oxford in 872.—T.
[341] Thomas Gray (1716-1771).—T.
[342] Elegy, I.—T.
[343] Purgatorio, viii. 5.—B.
[344] Ode, 11-15, 18-21, 28-30, 51-55.—T.
[345] Cymbeline, iii. 4.—T.
[346] Queen Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1768-1821) married the Prince of Wales, afterwards King George IV., in 1795. The Prince and Princess of Wales separated by mutual consent in 1796, after the birth of Princess Charlotte.—T.
[347] Charles James Fox (1749-1806) entered Parliament for Midhurst in 1768; held office under North, but left him and joined Burke in his opposition to the American War; was Foreign Secretary in the Rockingham Ministry; joined North's short-lived Coalition Ministry of 1783; and during the next fourteen years distinguished himself as the great and eloquent opponent of Pitt's Government. On Pitt's death, in 1806, he again came into office as Foreign Secretary, but himself died shortly after.—T.
[348] Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (1751-1816) had produced all his plays and was owner of Drury Lane Theatre when he entered Parliament in 1780 under Fox's patronage. In 1782 he became Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs in Rockingham's Ministry. His two most famous speeches were those impeaching Warren Hastings in 1787 and supporting the French Revolution in 1794.—T.