The Project Gutenberg eBook, Memoir and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel, by Mrs. John Herschel

CAROLINE HERSCHEL.

Joseph Brown sc
Caroline Herschel.
ÆTAT 92.

MEMOIR AND CORRESPONDENCE
OF
CAROLINE HERSCHEL.

By MRS. JOHN HERSCHEL.

WITH PORTRAITS.

SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

1879.

INTRODUCTION.

Familiar to all as is the name this volume bears, it is not without hesitation that the following pages are given to the world. To subject the memorials of a deeply earnest life to the eyes of a generation overcrowded with books, raises a certain amount of diffidence.

Of Caroline Herschel herself most people will plead ignorance without feeling ashamed, and yet may we not assert that Caroline Herschel is well worth knowing.

Great men and great causes have always some helper of whom the outside world knows but little. There always is, and always has been, some human being in whose life their roots have been nourished. Sometimes these helpers have been men, sometimes they have been women, who have given themselves to help and to strengthen those called upon to be leaders and workers, inspiring them with courage, keeping faith in their own idea alive, in days of darkness,

When all the world seems adverse to desert.

These helpers and sustainers, men or women, have all the same quality in common—absolute devotion and unwavering faith in the individual or in the cause. Seeking nothing for themselves, thinking nothing of themselves, they have all an intense power of sympathy, a noble love of giving themselves for the service of others, which enables them to transfuse the force of their own personality into the object to which they dedicate their powers.

Of this noble company of unknown helpers Caroline Herschel was one.

She stood beside her brother, William Herschel, sharing his labours, helping his life. In the days when he gave up a lucrative career that he might devote himself to astronomy, it was owing to her thrift and care that he was not harassed by the rankling vexations of money matters. She had been his helper and assistant in the days when he was a leading musician; she became his helper and assistant when he gave himself up to astronomy. By sheer force of will and devoted affection, she learned enough of mathematics and of methods of calculation, which to those unlearned seem mysteries, to be able to commit to writing the results of his researches. She became his assistant in the workshop; she helped him to grind and polish his mirrors; she stood beside his telescope in the nights of midwinter, to write down his observations, when the very ink was frozen in the bottle. She kept him alive by her care; thinking nothing of herself, she lived for him. She loved him, and believed in him, and helped him, with all her heart and with all her strength. She might have become a distinguished woman on her own account, for with the “seven-foot Newtonian sweeper” given to her by her brother, she discovered eight comets first and last. But the pleasure of seeking and finding for herself was scarcely tasted. She “minded the heavens” for her brother; she worked for him, not for herself, and the unconscious self-denial with which she gave up her own pleasure in the use of her “sweeper,” is not the least beautiful feature in her life. She must have been witty and amusing, to judge from her books of “Recollections.” When past eighty, she wrote what she called “a little history of my life from 1772-1778” for her nephew, Sir John Herschel, the son of her brother William, that he might know something of his excellent grandparents, as well as of the immense difficulties which his father had to surmount in his life and labours. It was not to tell about herself, but of others, that she wrote them. There is not any good biography of Sir William Herschel, and the incidental revelations of him in these Recollections are valuable. They show how well he deserved the love and devotion she rendered to him. Great as were his achievements in science, and his genius, they were borne up and ennobled by the beauty and worth of his own inner life.

These memorials of his father and his aunt were much valued by Sir John Herschel, and they are carefully preserved by the family along with her letters. The perusal of them is like reading of another world. The glimpses of the life of a soldier’s family in Hanover at the time the Seven Years’ War was going on are very touching. Both father and mother must have been remarkable persons, and the sterling quality of character developed in William and Caroline Herschel was evidently derived from them. All the family seem to have been endowed with something like touches of genius, but William and Caroline were the only two who had the strong back-bone of perseverance and high principle which made genius in them fulfil its perfect work.

Her own recollections go back to the Great Earthquake at Lisbon; she lived through the American War, the old French Revolution, the rise and fall of Napoleon, and all manner of lesser events and wars. She saw all the improvements and inventions, from the lumbering post waggon in which she made her first journey from Hanover, to the railroads and electric telegraphs which have intersected all Europe, for she lived well down into the reign of Victoria. But her work of “minding the heavens” with her brother engrossed all her thoughts, and she scarcely mentions any public event.

Her own astronomical labours were remarkable, and in her later life she met with honour and recognition from learned men and learned societies; but her dominant idea was always the same—“I am nothing, I have done nothing; all I am, all I know, I owe to my brother. I am only the tool which he shaped to his use—a well-trained puppy-dog would have done as much.” Every word said in her own praise seemed to be so much taken away from the honour due to her brother. She had lived so many years in companionship with a truly great man, and in the presence of the unfathomable depths of the starry heavens, that praise of herself seemed childish exaggeration.

The Letters and Recollections contained in this volume will show what she really was. She would have been very angry if she could have foreseen their publication, yet, in consideration of the great interest they possess, we hope to be justified for making known to the world such an example of self-sacrifice and perseverance under difficulties.

The spelling has been modernised,—an old lady who had discovered eight comets might be allowed to spell in her own way; but it is pleasanter to read what is written in an accustomed manner. A word has been altered occasionally where the sense required it, otherwise no change has been made, and as little has been added as was possible, and only with the view of giving a slight connecting thread of narrative.

If these Recollections convey as much pleasure to the readers of them as they have given to the Editor, they will feel that they have gained another friend in Caroline Lucretia Herschel.

December, 1875.

NOTE.

When past ninety a second memoir was undertaken, and in order to encourage her to continue it her niece, Lady Herschel, wrote to her as follows:—.... “Now, my dearest aunt, you must let me make an earnest petition to you, and that is, that you will go on with your memoir until you leave England and take up your residence in Hanover. How can I tell you how much my heart is set upon the accomplishment of this work?... You know you cannot be idle while you live. But indeed, if I could tell you the influence which a short account by a stranger of your labours with your dear Brother had upon me when a child, and of my choosing you (then so unknown to me) as my guiding star and example, you would understand how the possession of such a record by your own hand would make me almost believe in auguries and presentiments, and perhaps inspire some future generations more worthily, as the record would be more genuine.”

August 9, 1841.

May we not echo this hope, and feel indeed that “SHE BEING DEAD YET SPEAKETH.”

M. C. H.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

EARLY LIFE IN HANOVER—MUSICAL TALENTS OF HER BROTHER WILLIAM—MARRIAGE OF HER SISTER—THE REGIMENT ORDERED TO ENGLAND—HER FATHER’S INDUSTRY—TYPHUS FEVER—CONFIRMATION—DEATH OF FATHER—ACCOMPANIES WILLIAM TO ENGLAND

[1]

CHAPTER II.

LIFE IN BATH—HEIMWEH—THE MIGHTY TELESCOPE—LAST PERFORMANCE IN PUBLIC—CASTING THE GREAT MIRROR—WILLIAM HERSCHEL GOES TO LONDON—MADE ROYAL ASTRONOMER—REMOVAL TO DATCHET—ACCIDENTS—GRANT OF £2,000—LIFE AT SLOUGH—LETTERS FROM HANOVER—DISCOVERY OF A COMET

[29]

CHAPTER III.

WILLIAM HERSCHEL’S MARRIAGE—DISCOVERY OF THE EIGHTH COMET—EXTRACTS FROM DAY-BOOK AND DIARY—VISIT TO BATH—RETURN TO SLOUGH—RESIDES AT UPTON—ILLNESS—FEAR OF BLINDNESS

[78]

CHAPTER IV.

EXTRACTS FROM DIARY—WILLIAM HERSCHEL KNIGHTED—FAILING HEALTH—HER BROTHER’S PORTRAIT—DEATH OF ALEXANDER—DEATH OF SIR WILLIAM—HER RETURN TO HANOVER—RECOLLECTIONS WRITTEN AT HANOVER

[118]

CHAPTER V.

RETROSPECTION—LIFE IN HANOVER—HER HUMILITY—HER WORKS—MADE HON. MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY—HER SWEEPINGS—BLANK IN HER LIFE AT HANOVER—LETTERS TO LADY HERSCHEL—LETTERS BETWEEN HER AND HER NEPHEW—VISIT FROM HER NEPHEW—FINISHES HER CATALOGUE OF THE NEBULÆ

[141]

CHAPTER VI.

LIFE IN HANOVER CONTINUED—LETTERS BETWEEN HER AND HER NEPHEW—HER WILL—FIRST CHAPTER OF HER HISTORY—RECEIVES THE GOLD MEDAL OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY—FEARFUL STORM—HER PORTRAIT—HER NEPHEW’S MARRIAGE—PREPARATION FOR HER DEATH—PAGANINI—HER NEPHEW KNIGHTED—LADY HERSCHEL’S DEATH—RETROSPECTION

[196]

CHAPTER VII.

LETTERS FROM THE CAPE—HON. MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY—CATALOGUE OF OMITTED STARS—LETTERS—SATURN AND HIS SIXTH SATELLITE—HER NEPHEW’S VISIT—HON. MEMBER OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY—EXTRACTS FROM DAY-BOOK—ANECDOTE OF THE OLD TELESCOPE—CHRISTMAS IN HANOVER—GOLD MEDAL FROM THE KING OF PRUSSIA—DECLINING STRENGTH—DEATH—FUNERAL

[262]

TO BINDER.

Portrait of Caroline Herschel. [Frontispiece.]

Portrait of Sir William Herschel, after the original by Abbott, in the National Portrait Gallery, to face p. [118].

Herschel’s Forty-foot Telescope, to face p. [29].

CAROLINE HERSCHEL.

CHAPTER I.
RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY LIFE IN HANOVER.

Caroline Lucretia Herschel was born at Hanover on the 16th of March, 1750. She was the eighth child and fourth daughter of Isaac Herschel, by Anna Ilse Moritzen, to whom he was married in August, 1732. The family consisted of ten children, four of whom died in early childhood.

A memorandum in the handwriting of Isaac Herschel, transcribed by his daughter in the original German at the beginning of her Recollections, traces the family back to the early part of the seventeenth century, about which time, it appears that three brothers Herschel left Moravia on account of their religion (which was Protestant), and became possessors of land in Saxony. One of these brothers, Hans, was a brewer at Pirna, a little town two miles from Dresden, and the father of two sons, one of whom, Abraham by name, was born in 1651, was the father of the above-mentioned Isaac, and the grandfather of Caroline Lucretia Herschel. Abraham Herschel was employed in the royal gardens at Dresden, he received commissions from various quarters on account of his taste and skill as a landscape gardener. Of his four children, Eusebius, the eldest, appears to have kept up little or no intercourse with his family after the father’s death in 1718. The second child, Apollonia, married a landed proprietor, Herr von Thümer. Benjamin, the second son, died in his third year; and Isaac, the youngest, was born 14th of January, 1707, and was thus an orphan at the early age of eleven years. His parents wished him to be a gardener like his father, but a passionate love of music led him to take every opportunity of practising on the violin, besides studying music under a hautboy-player in the royal band. When he was about one and twenty he resolved to seek his fortune, and went to Berlin, where the style of hautboy playing was so little to his taste that he soon left it, and went to Potsdam, where he studied for a year under the celebrated Cappell Meister Pabrïch, the means for so doing being supplied by his mother and sister; his brother, as he quaintly remarks, contenting himself with writing him letters in praise of the virtue of economy! In July, 1731, he went to Brunswick, and in August to Hanover, where he at once obtained an engagement as hautboy-player in the band of the Guards, and in the August following he married as above stated.

1675-1731. Early Recollections.

The family group to which Miss Herschel’s autobiography introduces us consisted of—

1. Sophia Elizabeth, born in 1733. [Afterwards Mrs. Griesbach.]

2. Henry Anton Jacob, born 20th November, 1734.

(4) 3. Frederic William, born 15th November, 1738.

(6) 4. John Alexander, born 13th November, 1745.

(8) 5. Carolina Lucretia, born 16th March, 1750; and

(10) 6. The little Dietrich, born 13th September, 1755.

With the exception of frequent absences from home which attendance on a regiment made inevitable, the family life went on smoothly enough for some years, the father taking every opportunity, when at home, to cultivate the musical talents of his sons, who depended for the ordinary routine of education on the garrison school, to which all the children went from the age of two to fourteen. Here the splendid talents of William early displayed themselves, and the master confessed that the pupil had soon got beyond his teacher. Although four years younger than Jacob, when the two brothers had lessons in French, the younger had mastered the language in half the time needed by the elder, and he in some measure satisfied his eager desire for knowledge by attending out of school hours to learn all that his master could teach of Latin and arithmetic. At fourteen he was an excellent performer both on the oboe and violin.

1743-1754. Early Recollections.

The first serious calamity recorded was the irreparable injury caused to the father’s health by the hardships of war. After the battle of Dettingen (June 16th, 1743) the troops remained all night on the field, which was soaked by heavy rains. The unfortunate bandmaster lay in a wet furrow, which caused a complete loss of the use of his limbs for some time, and left him with an impaired constitution and an asthmatical affection which afflicted him to the end of his life. During the dark times of the Seven Years’ War, the little Caroline, then her mother’s sole companion, often heard this grievous trouble spoken of, and the shadow of it cast a gloom over her childish recollections, most of which are of a sombre character. At three years old she was a deeply interested participator in all the family concerns, and of that period she writes:—

“It must have been in 1753 when my brother [Jacob, aged 19] was chosen organist to the new organ in the garrison church; for I remember my mother taking me with her the first Sunday on its opening, and that before she had time to shut the pew door, I took fright at the beginning of a preludium with a full accompaniment, so that I flew out of church and home again. I also remember to have seen my brother William confirmed in his new oböisten uniform.”

The next interesting event was the marriage of the eldest daughter, who was living with a family at Brunswick, and whom her sister says she had never seen until she came home to be married. The bridegroom, Mr. Griesbach, also a musician in the Guard, found no favour in the eyes of his sister-in-law, and it is evidently some satisfaction to her to have been told that her father never cordially approved the match,

“for ... he knew him at least to be but a very middling musician, and this alone would have been enough for my father’s disapprobation.”

Great preparations were made for

“providing and furnishing a habitation (which happened to be in the same house where my parents lived), which they did in as handsome a manner as their straitened income would allow, and to which my dear brothers took delight in contributing to the best of their ability. I remember how delighted I was when they were showing me the pretty framed pictures with which my brother William had decorated his sister’s room, and heard my mother relate afterwards, that the brothers had taken two months’ pay in advance for the wedding entertainment.... Though for stocking a family with household linen my mother was prepared at all times, as perhaps never a more diligent spinner was heard of; but to keep pace with the wishes of my dear brothers, by whom my sister was, as well as by her parents, exceedingly beloved—the whole family were kept for a time in an agreeable bustle to see that nothing that could give either pleasure or comfort might be wanting in her future establishment.... The fête (without which it would have been scandalous in those days to get married) ended with a ball, at which I remember to have been dancing among the rest without a partner.”

1753-1755. Early Recollections.

A little later, when war troubles broke up the household, and the bride returned to her mother, we are told:

“my sister was not of a very patient temper, and could not be reconciled to have children about her, and I was mostly, when not in school, sent with Alexander to play on the walls or with the neighbour’s children, in which I seldom could join, and often stood freezing on shore to see my brother skating on the Stadtgraben (town ditch) till he chose to go home. In short, there was no one who cared anything about me.”

The earthquake which destroyed Lisbon on the 1st November 1755, was strongly felt at Hanover, and became closely associated in the poor little girl’s mind with the trials and troubles which shortly afterwards fell upon the family. She says:—

“One morning early I was with my father and mother alone in the room, the latter putting my clothes on, when all at once I saw both standing aghast and speechless before me; at the same time my brothers, my sister, and Griesbach came running in, all being panic-struck by the earthquake.”

For a little while the family enjoyed a peaceful interval, during which the extraordinary proficiency of his two eldest sons was a growing source of delight to the father, whose utmost ambition was to see them become accomplished musicians; while the wider flights of William met with his most cordial sympathy. The following passage is one of the very few which reflect the brighter side of the picture:—

“My brothers were often introduced as solo performers and assistants in the orchestra of the court, and I remember that I was frequently prevented from going to sleep by the lively criticism on music on coming from a concert, or conversations on philosophical subjects which lasted frequently till morning, in which my father was a lively partaker and assistant of my brother William by contriving self-made instruments.... Often I would keep myself awake that I might listen to their animating remarks, for it made me so happy to see them so happy. But generally their conversation would branch out on philosophical subjects, when my brother William and my father often argued with such warmth, that my mother’s interference became necessary, when the names Leibnitz, Newton, and Euler sounded rather too loud for the repose of her little ones, who ought to be in school by seven in the morning. But it seems that on the brothers retiring to their own room, where they shared the same bed, my brother William had still a great deal to say; and frequently it happened that when he stopped for an assent or reply, he found his hearer was gone to sleep, and I suppose it was not till then that he bethought himself to do the same.

“The recollection of these happy scenes confirms me in the belief, that had my brother William not then been interrupted in his philosophical pursuits, we should have had much earlier proofs of his inventive genius. My father was a great admirer of astronomy, and had some knowledge of that science; for I remember his taking me, on a clear frosty night, into the street, to make me acquainted with several of the most beautiful constellations, after we had been gazing at a comet which was then visible. And I well remember with what delight he used to assist my brother William in his various contrivances in the pursuit of his philosophical studies, among which was a neatly turned 4-inch globe, upon which the equator and ecliptic were engraved by my brother.”

1755-1756. Early Recollections.

Towards the end of the year 1755 the regiment was under orders for England, and the little household was at once broken up. A place in the court orchestra had been promised to Jacob, but the vacancy did not, unfortunately, occur in time, and he was obliged to smother his discontent, lower his ambition, and accept a place in the band with his younger brother. At length the sad hour of parting arrived:—

“In our room all was mute but in hurried action; my dear father was thin and pale, and my brother William almost equally so, for he was of a delicate constitution and just then growing very fast. Of my brother Jacob I only remember his starting difficulties at everything that was done for him, as my father was busy to see that they were equipped with the necessaries for a march.... The whole town was in motion with drums beating to march: the troops hallooed and roared in the streets, the drums beat louder, Griesbach came to join my father and brothers, and in a moment they all were gone. My sister fled to her own room. Alexander went with many others to follow their relatives for some miles to take a last look. I found myself now with my mother alone in a room all in confusion, in one corner of which my little brother Dietrich lay in his cradle; my tears flowed like my mother’s, but neither of us could speak. I snatched a large handkerchief of my father’s from a chair and took a stool to place it at my mother’s feet, on which I sat down, and put into her hands one corner of the handkerchief, reserving the opposite one for myself; this little action actually drew a momentary smile into her face.... My father left half his pay for our support in the hands of an agent in Hanover, but Griesbach, instead of following my father’s example, gave up his lodging and brought his wife with her goods and chattels to her mother, which arrangement was no small addition to our uncomfortable situation.”

Even at this early age, it is not difficult to trace in these childish recollections the influence of that intense affection for her brother William which made him more and more the centre of all her interests; next to him, her father filled a large place in her heart. Of the long year of separation, nothing is recorded. At last Jacob arrived (having “out of aggravation” got permission to resign his place when the hoped-for vacancy in the orchestra had been otherwise filled) he had travelled by post, while his father and brother, “who never forsook him for self-consideration,” were still toiling wearily on the march home.

“My mother being very busy preparing dinner, had suffered me to go all alone to the parade to meet my father, but I could not find him anywhere, nor anybody whom I knew; so at last, when nearly frozen to death, I came home and found them all at table. My dear brother William threw down his knife and fork, and ran to welcome and crouched down to me, which made me forget all my grievances. The rest were so happy ... at seeing one another again, that my absence had never been perceived.”

1756-1757. Early Recollections.

The visit to England appears to have further developed the love of show and luxury which painfully distinguished Jacob, who must needs import specimens of English goods and English tailoring, while all that William brought back was a copy of Locke on the Human Understanding, the purchase of which absorbed all his private means, as he never willingly asked his father for a single penny. But it was becoming apparent that he had not the physical strength to continue in the Guard during war time, and after the disastrous campaign of 1757, and the defeat at Hastenbeck,[^[1]] 26th July, 1757 (between 20 and 30 miles from Hanover), his parents resolved to remove him—a step apparently attended by no small difficulty, as our faithful chronicler narrates:—

“I can now comprehend the reason why we little ones were continually sent out of the way, and why I had only by chance a passing glimpse of my brother as I was sitting at the entrance of our street-door, when he glided like a shadow along, wrapped in a great coat, followed by my mother with a parcel containing his accoutrements. After he had succeeded in passing unnoticed beyond the last sentinel at Herrenhausen he changed his dress.... My brother’s keeping himself so carefully from all notice was undoubtedly to avoid the danger of being pressed, for all unengaged young men were forced into the service. Even the clergy, unless they had livings, were not exempted.”

During these times of public and private peril, the little girl was sent regularly to the garrison school with her brother Alexander till three in the afternoon, when she went to another school till six, to learn knitting.

“From that time forward I was fully employed in providing my brothers with stockings, and remember that the first pair for Alexander touched the floor when I stood upright finishing the front. Besides this my pen was frequently in requisition for writing not only my mother’s letters to my father, but for many a poor soldier’s wife in our neighbourhood to her husband in the camp: for it ought to be remembered that in the beginning of the last century very few women, when they left country schools, had been taught to write.”

In addition to these occupations, she was called upon to make herself useful when the fastidious Jacob honoured the humble table with his presence, “and poor I got many a whipping for being awkward at supplying the place of footman or waiter.” The sight of her mother constantly in tears; the prolonged absence of her father; the sister’s unhappiness at being homeless when about to become a mother; all these circumstances combined to sadden the personal recollections of a time of almost unsurpassed national calamity. After the loss of the battle at Hastenbeck, the Recollections thus conclude this period.

1757-1760. Early Recollections.

“Nothing but distressing reports came from our army, and we were almost immediately in the power of the French troops,[^[2]] each house being crammed with men. In that in which we were obliged to bewail in silence our cruel fate, no less than 16 privates were quartered, besides some officers who occupied the best apartments, and this lasted for about two years

A gap occurs here, between the years 1757 and 1760, several pages having been torn out in both the original “Recollections” and the unfinished memoir commenced in 1840. In the former, a sentence beginning “the next time I saw him [Jacob] was when he came running to my mother with a letter, the contents of which,” remains unfinished, and the narrative recommences with: “After reading over many pages, I thought it best to destroy them, and merely to write down what I remember to have passed in our family.” Accordingly there is no record of anything preserved during this interval until May, 1760, when the head of the family returned to it for good—broken in health and worn out by hardships to which he was no longer equal, but strong in purpose and devoting himself at once to the musical education of his children and to giving lessons to the numerous pupils who soon came to seek instruction from so excellent a master. Jacob returned for the second time from England at the end of 1759, and obtained the place of first violin in the court orchestra. As usual the appearance of this member of the family caused a general upset of domestic comfort, for

“when he came to dine with us, it generally happened that before he departed his mother was as much out of humour with him as he was at the beefsteaks being hard, and because I did not know how to clean knives and forks with brickdust.”

1760-1761. Early Recollections.

The younger children made great progress under their father’s careful training, and with all her propensity for seeing the dark side, the daughter’s recollections of this period afford glimpses of a tolerably happy household. If it was “a helpless and distracted family” to which, as she writes, her father returned, those epithets could ill apply to the father himself, for there is abundant evidence that he was a man of no ordinary character—one who, in spite of constant suffering of a most distressing kind, persisted in hard work to the very end, and who set his children a noble example of patience, unselfishness, and self-denial. To the last, as his daughter records,—

“Copying music employed every vacant moment, even sometimes throughout half the night, and the pen was not suffered to rest even when smoking a pipe, which habit he indulged in rather on account of his asthmatical constitution than as a luxury; for, without all exception, he was the most abstemious liver I ever have known; and in every instance, even in the article of clothing, the utmost frugality was observed, and yet he never was seen otherwise than very neat.... With my brother [Dietrich] now a little engaging creature of between four and five years old—he was very much pleased, and [on the first evening of his arrival at home] before he went to rest, the Adempken (a little violin) was taken from the lumbering shelf and newly strung and the daily lessons immediately commenced.... I do not recollect that he ever desired any other society than what he had opportunities of enjoying in many of the parties where he was introduced by his profession; though far from being of a morose disposition; he would frequently encourage my mother in keeping up a social intercourse among a few acquaintances, whilst his afternoon hours generally were taken up in giving lessons to some scholars at home, who gladly saved him the troublesome exertion of walking.... He also found great pleasure in seeing Dietrich’s improvement, who, young as he was, and of the most lively temper imaginable, was always ready to receive his lessons, leaving his little companions (with whom our neighbourhood abounded) with the greatest cheerfulness to go to his father, who was so pleased with his performances that—I think it must have been in October or November—he made him play a solo on the Adempken in Rake’s concert, being placed on a table before a crowded company, for which he was very much applauded and caressed, particularly by an English lady, who put a gold coin in his little pocket.

“It was not long before my father had as many scholars as he could find time to attend, for some of those he had left behind returned to him again, and several families who had sons of about the age of my little brother, became his pupils and proved in time very good performers. And when they assembled at my father’s to make little concerts, I was frequently called to join the second violin in an overture, for my father found pleasure in giving me sometimes a lesson before the instruments were laid by after practising with Dietrich, for I never was missing at those hours, sitting in a corner with my knitting and listening all the while.”

A serious interruption of this and all other occupations was caused by a severe attack of typhus fever which in the summer of 1761 threatened to be fatal, and

“reduced my strength to that degree that for several months after I was obliged to mount the stairs on my hands and feet like an infant; but here I will remark that from that time to this present day (June 5, 1821) I do not remember ever to have spent a whole day in bed.”

In spite of her strong objections to learning, the worthy mother had too correct a view of her duties to stand in the way of the necessary preparation for her daughter’s confirmation, who was accordingly, but not without complaints at the loss of time, released from her household avocations for this purpose. Alexander, who had been taken as a sort of apprentice by Griesbach, was now of an age to turn his great musical talents to profitable account, and returned to Hanover, where he obtained the somewhat mysterious situation of Stadtmusicus (Town Musician), the duties of which office involved

“little else to do but to give a daily lesson to an apprentice and to blow a Corale from the Markt Thurm; so that nearly all his time could be given to practice and receiving instruction from his father. There was no doubt but that he would soon become a good violin player, for his natural genius was such that nothing could spoil it.”

1761-1764. Early Recollections.

Although the absent brother William kept up regular correspondence with Hanover, many of his letters were written in English and addressed to Jacob, on such subjects as the Theory of Music, in which the family in general could not participate. Year after year went by, and William showed no inclination to leave England, to which country he was becoming more and more attached; the poor father, who felt his strength steadily declining, became painfully eager for his return. On the 2nd April, 1764, they were thrown into “a tumult of joy” by his appearance among them. The visit was a very brief one, offering no hope of any intention to settle in Hanover; the father was well aware that he at least could not look forward to another meeting on earth, while to the poor little unnoticed girl, this visit and its attendant circumstances stood out in her memory as fraught with anguish, which even her unskilled pen succeeds in representing as a grief almost too deep for words.

“Of the joys and pleasures which all felt at this long-wished-for meeting with my—let me say my dearest brother, but a small portion could fall to my share; for with my constant attendance at church and school, besides the time I was employed in doing the drudgery of the scullery, it was but seldom I could make one in the group when the family were assembled together.

“In the first week some of the orchestra were invited to a concert, at which some of my brother William’s compositions, overtures, &c., and some of my eldest brother Jacob’s were performed, to the great delight of my dear father, who hoped and expected that they would be turned to some profit by publishing them, but there was no printer who bid high enough.

“Sunday the 8th was the—to me—eventful day of my confirmation, and I left home not a little proud and encouraged by my dear brother William’s approbation of my appearance in my new gown.”

Not only was she disappointed in her fervent hope that the longed-for brother would not come at the very time when she was obliged to be much from home, but several of the precious days of his stay were spent in a visit to the Griesbachs at Coppenbrügge, and the Sunday fixed for his departure was the very day on which she was to receive her first communion.

1764-1767. Early Recollections.

“The church was crowded and the door open: the Hamburger Postwagen passed at eleven, bearing away my dear brother, from whom I had been obliged to part at 8 o’clock. It was within a dozen yards from the open door; the postilion giving a smettering blast on his horn. Its effect on my shattered nerves, I will not attempt to describe, nor what I felt for days and weeks after. I wish it were possible to say what I wish to say, without feeling anew that feverish wretchedness which accompanied my walk in the afternoon with some of my school companions, in my black silk dress and bouquet of artificial flowers—the same which had served my sister on her bridal day. I could think of nothing but that on my return I should find nobody but my disconsolate father and mother, for Alexander’s engagements allowed him to be with us only at certain hours, and Jacob was seldom at home except to dress and take his meals.”

From the state of hopeless lethargy in which the poor sister describes herself as going mechanically about her daily tasks after that memorable day, she was roused by a calamity which affected all alike. The father had a paralytic seizure the August following, by which he lost the use of his right side almost entirely, and although he so far recovered as to be able still to receive pupils in his own house, he never regained his former skill on the violin, and was reduced to a sad state of suffering and infirmity; a few months later he was pronounced to be in a confirmed dropsy. Changes of abode, not always for the better; anxieties, on account of Alexander’s prospects and Jacob’s vagaries; disappointment, at seeing his daughter grow up without the education he had hoped to give her; were the circumstances under which the worn-out sufferer struggled through the last three years of his life, copying music at every spare moment, assisting at a Concert only a few weeks before his death, and giving lessons until he was obliged to keep wholly to his bed. He was released from his sufferings at the comparatively early age of sixty-one on the 22nd March, 1767, leaving to his children little more than the heritage of his good example, unblemished character, and those musical talents which he had so carefully educated, and by which he probably hoped the more gifted of his sons would attain to eminence.

Miss Herschel describes herself as having fallen into “a kind of stupefaction,” which lasted for many weeks after the loss of her father, and the awakening to life had little of hope in the present or promise for the future, so far as she could see then. At the age of seventeen she had learned little beyond the first elements of education, and she was now deprived of the one friend who encouraged and sympathised with her desire for better instruction. The parents had never agreed on the subject. “When I had left school,” she writes,

1767. Early Recollections.

“My father wished to give me something like a polished education, but my mother was particularly determined that it should be a rough, but at the same time a useful one; and nothing farther she thought was necessary but to send me two or three months to a sempstress to be taught to make household linen. Having added this accomplishment to my former ingenuities, I never afterwards could find leisure for thinking of anything but to contrive and make for the family in all imaginable forms whatever was wanting, and thus I learned to make bags and sword-knots long before I knew how to make caps and furbelows.... My mother would not consent to my being taught French, and my brother Dietrich was even denied a dancing-master, because she would not permit my learning along with him, though the entrance had been paid for us both; so all my father could do for me was to indulge me (and please himself) sometimes with a short lesson on the violin, when my mother was either in good humour or out of the way. Though I have often felt myself exceedingly at a loss for the want of those few accomplishments of which I was thus, by an erroneous though well-meant opinion of my mother, deprived, I could not help thinking but that she had cause for wishing me not to know more than was necessary for being useful in the family; for it was her certain belief that my brother William would have returned to his country, and my eldest brother not have looked so high, if they had had a little less learning.

* * * * *

But sometimes I found it scarcely possible to get through with the work required, and felt very unhappy that no time at all was left for improving myself in music or fancy-work, in which I had an opportunity of receiving some instruction from an ingenious young woman whose parents lived in the same house with us. But the time wanted for spending a few hours together could only be obtained by our meeting at daybreak, because by the time of the family’s rising at seven, I was obliged to be at my daily business. But during the summer months of 1766 very few mornings passed without our spending a few hours together, to which I was called by my friend’s loud cough at her window by way of notice that she was ready for me [she could not sleep, and was glad of my company. I lost her soon after, for she died of consumption]. Though I had neither time nor means for producing anything immediately either for show or use, I was content with keeping samples of all possible patterns in needlework, beads, bugles, horsehair, &c., for I could not help feeling troubled sometimes about my future destiny; yet I could not bear the idea of being turned into an Abigail or housemaid, and thought that with the above and such like acquirements with a little notion of Music, I might obtain a place as governess in some family where the want of a knowledge of French would be no objection.”

It was with the same object of fitting herself to earn her bread, that, after her father’s death, she obtained permission to go for a month or two to learn millinery and dress-making; her eldest brother Jacob, before leaving them to join William at Bath, having graciously given his consent, “if it was only meant to learn to make my own things, but positively forbidding it for any other purpose.” The following account of this episode shows how customary such apprenticeship was among young ladies of good family, as a part of their education:—

1768. Early Recollections.

“My mother found some difficulty in persuading the lady to whom I wished to go, to receive me without paying the usual premium, but at last she gave me leave to come on paying one thaler per month. I felt myself rather humbled on going the first time among twenty-one young people with an elegant woman, Madame Küster, at their head, directing them in various works of finery. Among the group were several young ladies of genteel families, and as I came there on rather reduced terms, I expected that I should be kept in the back ground, doing nothing but the plain work of the business; but contrary to my fears, I gained in the school-mistress a valuable friend.... Here I found myself daily happy for a few hours, and one of the young women,[^[3]] after a lapse of thirty-five years, when I was introduced to her at the Queen’s Lodge, received me as an old acquaintance, though I could but just remember having sometimes exchanged a nod and smile with a sweet little girl about ten or eleven years old. But I soon was sensible of having found what hitherto I had looked for in vain—a sincere and disinterested friend to whom I might have applied for counsel and comfort in my deserted situation.”

A proposal from Jacob that Dietrich, whom the father on his deathbed had specially commended to his care, should be sent to England, caused his mother the utmost distress, on account of his being still too young to be confirmed; but her scruples were overcome and Dietrich was despatched in the summer as soon as a fitting escort could be found.

“But what was yet more aggravating was, that the loss of his company was supplied by a country cousin whom my mother permitted to spend the summer with us in order to have the advantage of my mother’s advice in making preparation for her marriage.... This young woman, full of good-nature and ignorance, grew unfortunately so fond of me that she was for ever at my side, and by that means I lost what little interval of leisure I might then have had for reading, practising the violin, &c., entirely. Besides this, I was extremely discomposed at seeing Alexander associating with young men who led him into all manner of expensive pleasures which involved him in debts for the hire of horses and carioles, &c., and I was (though he knew my inability of helping him) made a partaker in his fears that these scrapes should come to the knowledge of our mother.

“My time was, however, filled up pretty well with making household linen, &c., against Jacob’s return.... It was not, however, till the middle of the following summer that we saw him again, and I suppose his stay must have been prolonged on account of waiting till he had had the honour of playing before their Majesties, for which (in consequence of having composed and dedicated a set of six sonatas to the Queen) he was informed he would receive a summons.... After this his salary was augmented by 100 thalers,” and the promise of not being overlooked in future.

[Note.—Before I leave this subject I cannot help remembering the sacrifices these good people were making to pride. They played nowhere for money, for even when in 1768 (I think it was) the King’s theatre was first opened to the Public, and the Court orchestra was called upon to play there, they did it without any emolument, so that there was no way left to increase their small salaries but by giving a few subscription concerts in the winter, or by teaching. So much, by way of apology, for the emigration of part of my family to England.]

1768-1770. Early Recollections.

“We passed the winter in the utmost quiet, except when Alexander took it into his head to entertain gentlemen in his own apartment, which always made my mother very cross, else in general nothing disturbed us in our occupation. My mother spun, I was at work on a set of ruffles of Dresden-work for my brother Jacob, whilst Alexander often sat by us and amused us and himself with making all sorts of things in pasteboard, or contriving how to make a twelve-hour Cuckoo clock go a week.... As my mother saw that Dietrich’s confirmation was still uncertain, she insisted on having him back again.... Accordingly at the end of July they [Jacob and Dietrich] arrived, and Dietrich entered school again immediately,” but remained only until his confirmation the following Easter.

A new direction was suddenly given to all their plans by the arrival of letters from the absent brother William, who proposed that his sister should join him at Bath—

... “to make the trial if by his instruction I might not become a useful singer for his winter concerts and oratorios, he advised my brother Jacob to give me some lessons by way of beginning; but that if after a trial of two years we should not find it answer our expectation he would bring me back again. This at first seemed to be agreeable to all parties, but by the time I had set my heart upon this change in my situation, Jacob began to turn the whole scheme into ridicule, and, of course, he never heard the sound of my voice except in speaking, and yet I was left in the harassing uncertainty whether I was to go or not. I resolved at last to prepare, as far as lay in my power, for both cases, by taking, in the first place, every opportunity when all were from home to imitate, with a gag between my teeth, the solo parts of concertos, shake and all, such as I had heard them play on the violin; in consequence I had gained a tolerable execution before I knew how to sing. I next began to knit ruffles, which were intended for my brother William in case I remained at home—else they were to be Jacob’s. For my mother and brother D. I knitted as many cotton stockings as would last two years at least.”

Jacob remained with his family until the following July, when he returned to Bath, this time taking Alexander with him for two years’ leave of absence, the young Dietrich being deemed competent not only to supply his place in the orchestra, but also to attend his private pupils.

1772. Early Recollections.

Nothing is recorded in the interval between Jacob’s return to Hanover in the autumn and the long expected arrival of William in April, 1772, except one of the changes of abode, which were of such frequent occurrence, involving abundance of employment in making and altering articles of household use, which afforded some relief to the conscientious daughter, who was sorely troubled by uncertainty as to her duty in the matter of going to England or staying with her mother, although the latter had given her consent to the change.

“In this manner” [making prospective clothes for them] “I tried to still the compunction I felt at leaving relatives who, I feared, would lose some of their comforts by my desertion, and nothing but the belief of returning to them full of knowledge and accomplishments could have supported me in the parting moment, which was much embittered by the absence of my brother Jacob, who was with the Court which attended on the Queen of Denmark at the Görde, where my brother Dietrich had also been for some time, and but just returned when my brother William, for whose safety we had for several weeks been under no small apprehension, at last quite unexpectedly arrived.... His stay at Hanover could at the utmost not be prolonged above a fortnight.... My mother had consented to my going with him, and the anguish at my leaving her was somewhat alleviated by my brother settling a small annuity on her, by which she would be enabled to keep an attendant to supply my place.” They all went over to Coppenbrügge “to see my sister—I to take leave of her; the remaining time was wasted in an unsatisfactory correspondence: the letters from my brother Jacob expressed nothing but regret and impatience at being thus disappointed, and, without being able to effect a meeting, I was obliged to go without receiving the consent of my eldest brother to my going....

* * * * *

“But I will not attempt to describe my feelings when the parting moment arrived, and I left my dear mother and most dear Dietrich on Sunday, August 16th, 1772, at the Posthouse, and after travelling for six days and nights on an open (in those days very inconvenient) Postwagen, we were on the following Saturday conveyed in a small open vessel from the quay at Helvotsluis on a stormy sea, to the packet boat, which lay two miles distant at anchor; from which we were again obliged to go in an open boat to be set ashore, or rather thrown like balls by two English sailors, on the coast of Yarmouth.[^[4]] For the vessel was almost a wreck, without a main and another of its masts.

“After having crawled to one of a row of neat low houses, we found the party previously arrived from the ship devouring their breakfast; several clean-dressed women employed in cutting bread and butter (from fine wheaten loaves) as fast as ever they could. One of them went upstairs with me to help me to put on my clothes, and after taking some tea we mounted some sort of a cart to bring us to the next place where diligences going to London would pass. But we had hardly gone a quarter of an English mile when the horse, which was not used to go in what they called the shafts, ran away with us, overturning the cart with trunk and passengers. My brother, another person, and myself all throwing themselves out, I flying into a dry ditch. We all came off however, with only the fright, owing to the assistance of a gentleman who, with his servant, was accompanying us on horseback. These persons had come in the packet with us, and it was settled not to part till in London, where we arrived at noon on the 26th at an inn in the City. Here we remained till the evening of the 27th. My brother having business at the West-end of the town, left me under the care of our fellow travellers; but after his return, in the evening when the shops were lighted up, we went to see all that was to be seen in that part of London, of which I only remember the opticians’ shops, for I do not think we stopped at any other.

“The next day the mistress of the inn lent me a hat of her daughter’s—mine was blown into one of the canals of Holland, for we had storms by land as well as at sea—and we went to see St. Paul’s, the Bank, &c., &c. Mem: only the outside, except of St. Paul’s and the Bank, and we were never off our legs, except at meals in our inn. Towards evening we went to the West of the town, where, after having called on Despatch Secretary Wiese and his lady (Mr. Wiese conducted our correspondence with Hanover) we went to the inn, from whence we at ten o’clock in the evening started by the night coach for Bath on the 28th of August.... After taking some tea I went immediately to bed, and I did not awake till the next day in the afternoon, when I found my brother had but just left his room. I for my part was, from the privation of sleep for eleven or twelve days (not having above twice been in what they called a bed) almost annihilated.”

END OF RECOLLECTIONS, VOL. I.

The only allusion to this journey in Sir W. Herschel’s Journal is the brief entry:—“August 16, 1772. Set off on my return to England in company with my sister.”

SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL’S FORTY-FOOT TELESCOPE AT SLOUGH.
[To face page 29.

CHAPTER II.
LIFE OF THE BROTHER AND SISTER IN BATH.

At the time when William Herschel brought his sister back with him to Bath, he had established himself there as a teacher of music, numbering among his pupils many ladies of rank. He was also organist of the Octagon Chapel, and frequently composed anthems, chants, and whole services for the choir under his management. On the retirement of Mr. Linley (father of the celebrated singer, afterwards the beautiful Mrs. Sheridan) from the direction of the Public Concerts, he at once added this to his other avocations, and was consequently immersed in business of the most laborious and harassing kind during the whole of the Bath season. But he considered all this professional work only as the means to an end; devotion to music produced income and a certain degree of leisure, and these were becoming every day more imperatively necessary. Every spare moment of the day, and many hours stolen from the night, had long been devoted to the studies which were compelling him to become himself an observer of the heavens. Insufficient mechanical means roused his inventive genius; and, as all the world knows, the mirror for the mighty forty-foot telescope was the crowning result. To his pupils he was known as not a music-master alone. Some ladies had lessons in astronomy from him, and, at the invitation of his friend Dr. Watson, he became a member of a philosophical society then recently started in Bath, to which he for several years contributed a great number of papers on various scientific subjects. It soon came to pass that the gentlemen who sought interviews with him, asking for a peep through the wonderful tube, carried stories of what they had seen to London, and these were not long in finding their way to St. James’s.

1772. Life in Bath.

It was thus at the very turning-point of her brother’s career that Caroline Herschel became his companion and fellow-worker. No contrast could be sharper than that presented by the narrow domestic routine she had left to the life of ceaseless and inexhaustible activity into which she was plunged;—unless, indeed, it be that presented by the nature of the events she has to record, and the tone in which they are recorded. For ten years she persevered at Bath, singing when she was told to sing, copying when she was told to copy, “lending a hand” in the workshop, and taking her full share in all the stirring and exciting changes by which the musician became the King’s astronomer and a celebrity; but she never, by a single word, betrays how these wonderful events affected her; nor ever indulges in the slightest approach to an original sentiment, comment, or reflection not strictly connected with the present fact. Whether it be to record the presentation of the “golden medal,” or the dishonesty of the incorrigible Betties who then, and till her life’s end, so sorely tried her peace of mind, there is no difference in the style or spirit of the “Recollections.” Partly as apology and partly as complaint, the one grievance is harped on, even when fifty years’ experience might have convinced her that she had done something more for herself and the world than earn her bread by her own labour. “In short,” she writes, “I have been throughout annoyed and hindered in my endeavours at perfecting myself in any branch of knowledge by which I could hope to gain a creditable livelihood.” It is seldom, however, that she is diverted from the main theme to write about herself otherwise than incidentally, and in a note addressed to her nephew, she says:—“My only reason for saying so much of myself is to show with what miserable assistance your father made shift to obtaining the means of exploring the heavens.”

“On the afternoon of August 28th, 1772, I arrived with my brother at his house No. 7, New King Street, Bath, where we were received only by Mr. Bulman’s family, who occupied the parlour floor, and had the management of his servant and household affairs. My brother had formerly boarded with them at Leeds, whence, on Mr. Bulman’s failure in business, they had removed to Bath, where my brother procured for him the place of Clerk at the Octagon Chapel.... On our journey he had taken every opportunity to make me hope to find in Mrs. Bulman a well-informed and well-meaning friend, and in her daughter, a few years younger than myself, an agreeable companion. But as I knew no more English than the few words which I had on our journey learned to repeat like a parrot, it may be easily supposed that it would require some time before I could feel comfortable among strangers. But as the season for the arrival of visitors to the Baths does not begin till October, my brother had leisure to try my capacity for becoming a useful singer for his concerts and oratorios, and being very well satisfied with my voice, I had two or three lessons every day, and the hours which were not spent at the harpsichord were employed in putting me in the way of managing the family.... On the second morning, on meeting my brother at breakfast, he began immediately to give me a lesson in English and arithmetic, and showed me the way of booking and keeping accounts of cash received and laid out.... By way of relaxation we talked of astronomy and the bright constellations with which I had made acquaintance during the fine nights we spent on the Postwagen travelling through Holland.

“My brother Alexander, who had been some time in England, boarded and lodged with his elder brother, and with myself, occupied the attic. The first floor, which was furnished in the newest and most handsome style, my brother kept for himself. The front room containing the harpsichord was always in order to receive his musical friends and scholars at little private concerts or rehearsals.... Sundays I received a sum for the weekly expenses, of which my housekeeping book (written in English) showed the amount laid out, and my purse the remaining cash. One of the principal things required was to market, and about six weeks after coming to England I was sent alone among fishwomen, butchers, basket-women, &c., and I brought home whatever in my fright I could pick up.... My brother Alex, who was now returned from his summer engagement, used to watch me at a distance, unknown to me, till he saw me safe on my way home. But all attempts to introduce any order in our little household proved vain, owing to the servant my brother then had—a hot-headed old Welshwoman. All the articles, tea-things, &c., which I was to take in charge, were almost all destroyed: knives eaten up by rust, heaters of the tea-urn found in the ash-hole, &c. And what still further increased my difficulty was, that my brother’s time was entirely taken up with business, so that I only saw him at meals. Breakfast was at 7 o’clock or before (much too early for me, who would rather have remained up all night than be obliged to rise at so early an hour)....

“The three winter months passed on very heavily. I had to struggle against heimweh (home sickness) and low spirits, and to answer my sister’s melancholy letters on the death of her husband, by which she became a widow with six children. I knew too little English to derive any consolation from the society of those who were about me, so that, dinner-time excepted, I was entirely left to myself.”

1774-1775. Life in Bath.

Introductions to her brother’s scholars led to occasional evening parties, where her voice was in demand as well for single songs as to take part in duets and glees, and one of these ladies, Mrs. Colebrook, invited her to go to London on a visit. This visit was prolonged for several weeks owing to the deep snow, which rendered the roads impassable. The Duchess of Ancaster is said to have offered any sum to have a passage cut near Devizes, but without success, her Grace was in consequence unable to be present on the 18th January, when the Queen’s birthday was kept. Operas, plays, auctions, and all the usual amusements of the town, gave Miss Herschel a glimpse of the gay world; but the expense of dress and chairmen troubled her spirit too much to allow of her finding pleasure in these dissipations; and although Mrs. Colebrook is allowed to be both “learned and clever,” her society does not appear to have contributed much more to her happiness than that of some younger ladies whose companionship was offered, but whose visits she did not encourage, because, as she bluntly explains, she “thought them very little better than idiots.”

“The time when I could hope to receive a little more of my brother’s instruction and attention was now drawing near; for after Easter, Bath becomes very empty; only a few of his scholars whose families were resident in the neighbourhood remaining. But, I was greatly disappointed; for, in consequence of the harassing and fatiguing life he had led during the winter months, he used to retire to bed with a bason of milk or glass of water, and Smith’s ‘Harmonics and Optics,’ Ferguson’s ‘Astronomy,’ &c., and so went to sleep buried under his favourite authors; and his first thoughts on rising were how to obtain instruments for viewing those objects himself of which he had been reading. There being in one of the shops a two and a half foot Gregorian telescope to be let, it was for some time taken in requisition, and served not only for viewing the heavens but for making experiments on its construction.... It soon appeared that my brother was not contented with knowing what former observers had seen, for he began to contrive a telescope eighteen or twenty feet long (I believe after Huyghens’ description).... I was much hindered in my musical practice by my help being continually wanted in the execution of the various contrivances, and I had to amuse myself with making the tube of pasteboard for the glasses which were to arrive from London, for at that time no optician had settled at Bath. But when all was finished, no one besides my brother could get a glimpse of Jupiter or Saturn, for the great length of the tube would not allow it to be kept in a straight line. This difficulty, however, was soon removed by substituting tin tubes.... My brother wrote to inquire the price of a reflecting mirror for (I believe) a five or six foot telescope. The answer was, there were none of so large a size, but a person offered to make one at a price much above what my brother thought proper to give.... About this time he bought of a Quaker resident at Bath, who had formerly made attempts at polishing mirrors, all his rubbish of patterns, tools, hones, polishers, unfinished mirrors, &c., but all for small Gregorians, and none above two or three inches diameter.

“But nothing serious could be attempted, for want of time, till the beginning of June, when some of my brother’s scholars were leaving Bath; and then to my sorrow I saw almost every room turned into a workshop. A cabinet-maker making a tube and stands of all descriptions in a handsomely furnished drawing-room; Alex putting up a huge turning machine (which he had brought in the autumn from Bristol, where he used to spend the summer) in a bedroom, for turning patterns, grinding glasses, and turning eye-pieces, &c. At the same time music durst not lie entirely dormant during the summer, and my brother had frequent rehearsals at home, where Miss Farinelli, an Italian singer, was met by several of the principal performers he had engaged for the winter concerts.... He composed glees, catches, &c., for such voices as he could secure, as it was not easy to find a singer to take the place of Miss Linley.... Sometimes, in the absence of Fisher, he gave a concerto on the oboe, or a sonata on the harpsichord; and the solos on the violoncello of my brother Alexander were divine!... He also took great delight in a choir of singers who performed the cathedral service at the Octagon Chapel, for whom he composed many excellent anthems, chants, and psalm tunes.[^[5]] As soon as I could pronounce English well enough I was obliged to attend the rehearsals, and on Sundays at morning and evening service, which, though I did not much like at first, I soon found to be both pleasant and useful.

1775-1782. Life in Bath.

“But every leisure moment was eagerly snatched at for resuming some work which was in progress, without taking time for changing dress, and many a lace ruffle was torn or bespattered by molten pitch, &c., besides the danger to which he continually exposed himself by the uncommon precipitancy which accompanied all his actions, of which we had a melancholy sample one Saturday evening, when both brothers returned from a concert between 11 and 12 o’clock, my eldest brother pleasing himself all the way home with being at liberty to spend the next day (except a few hours’ attendance at chapel) at the turning bench, but recollecting that the tools wanted sharpening, they ran with the lantern and tools to our landlord’s grindstone in a public yard, where they did not wish to be seen on a Sunday morning.... But my brother William was soon brought back fainting by Alex with the loss of one of his finger-nails. This happened in the winter of 1775, at a house situated near Walcot turnpike, to which my brother had moved at midsummer, 1774. On a grass plot behind the house preparation was immediately made for erecting a twenty-foot telescope, for which, among seven and ten foot mirrors then in hand, one of twelve foot was preparing; this house offered more room for workshops, and a place on the roof for observing.

“During this summer I lost the only female acquaintances (not friends) I ever had an opportunity of being very intimate with by Bulmer’s family returning again to Leeds. For my time was so much taken up with copying music and practising, besides attendance on my brother when polishing, since by way of keeping him alive I was constantly obliged to feed him by putting the victuals by bits into his mouth. This was once the case when, in order to finish a seven foot mirror, he had not taken his hands from it for sixteen hours together.[^[6]] In general he was never unemployed at meals, but was always at those times contriving or making drawings of whatever came in his mind. Generally I was obliged to read to him whilst he was at the turning lathe, or polishing mirrors, Don Quixote, Arabian Nights’ Entertainment, the novels of Sterne, Fielding, &c.; serving tea and supper without interrupting the work with which he was engaged, ... and sometimes lending a hand. I became in time as useful a member of the workshop as a boy might be to his master in the first year of his apprenticeship.... But as I was to take a part the next year in the oratorios, I had for a whole twelvemonth two lessons per week from Miss Fleming, the celebrated dancing mistress, to drill me for a gentlewoman (God knows how she succeeded). So we lived on without interruption. My brother Alex was absent from Bath for some months every summer, but when at home he took much pleasure to execute some turning or clockmaker’s work for his brother.”

News from Hanover put a sudden stop for a time to all these labours. The mother wrote, in the utmost distress, to say that Dietrich had disappeared from his home, it was supposed with the intention of going to India “with a young idler not older than himself.” His brother immediately left the lathe at which he was turning an eye-piece in cocoanut, and started for Holland, whence he proceeded to Hanover, failing to meet his brother as he expected. Meanwhile the sister received a letter to say that Dietrich was laid up very ill at an inn in Wapping. Alexander posted to town, removed him to a lodging, and after a fortnight’s nursing, brought him to Bath, where, on his brother William’s return, he found him being well cared for by his sister, who kept him to a diet of “roasted apples and barley-water.” Dietrich remained in England, his brother easily procuring him employment until 1779, when he returned to Hanover, and shortly afterwards married a Miss Reif. The family now moved to a larger house, 19, New King Street, which had a garden behind it, and open space down to the river. It is incidentally mentioned, “that here many interesting discoveries besides the Georgium Sidus were made.”

In preparation for the oratorios to be performed during Lent, Miss Herschel mentions that she copied the scores of the “Messiah” and “Judas Maccabæus” into parts for an orchestra of nearly one hundred performers, and the vocal parts of “Samson,” besides instructing the treble singers, of which she was now herself the first. On the occasion of her first public appearance, her brother presented her with ten guineas for her dress,—

“And that my choice could not have been a bad one I conclude from having been pronounced by Mr. Palmer (the then proprietor of the Bath theatre) to be an ornament to the stage. And as to acquitting myself in giving my songs and recitatives in the ‘Messiah,’ ‘Judas Maccabæus,’ &c., I had the satisfaction of being complimented by my friends, the Marchioness of Lothian, &c., who were present at the rehearsals, for pronouncing my words like an Englishwoman.”

It is evident that had she chosen to persevere, her reputation as a singer would have been secure. The following year she was first singer at the concerts, and was offered an engagement for the Birmingham Festival, which she declined, having resolved only to sing in public where her brother was conductor. At this time he had repeated proposals from London publishers to bring out some of his vocal compositions, but with the exception of “The Echo” catch, none of them ever appeared in print. Besides the regular Sunday services, concerts and oratorios had to be prepared for and performed in steady routine, sometimes at Bristol also, while the poor prima-donna-housekeeper “hobbled on” with one dishonest servant after another, until Whit Sunday, 1782, when both brother and sister played and sung for the last time, in St. Margaret’s Chapel. On this occasion, their last performance in public, the anthem selected for the day was one of the last compositions, of which mention has been made above.

The name of William Herschel was fast becoming famous, as a writer, a discoverer, and the possessor and inventor of instruments of unheard-of power. He was now about to be released from the necessity of devoting the time to music which he was eager to give to astronomical science.[^[7]] It came about as follows:—

... “He was now frequently interrupted by visitors who were introduced by some of his resident scholars, among whom I remember Sir Harry Engelfield, Dr. Blagden, and Dr. Maskelyne. With the latter he was engaged in a long conversation, which to me sounded like quarrelling, and the first words my brother said after he was gone was: ‘That is a devil of a fellow.’... I suppose their names were not known, or were forgotten; for it was not till the year 1782 or 1783 that a memorandum of the names of visitors was thought of.... My brother applied himself to perfect his mirrors, erecting in his garden a stand for his twenty-foot telescope; many trials were necessary before the required motions for such an unwieldy machine could be contrived. Many attempts were made by way of experiment against a mirror for an intended thirty-foot telescope could be completed, for which, between whiles (not interrupting the observations with seven, ten, and twenty-foot, and writing papers for both the Royal and Bath Philosophical Societies) gauges, shapes, weight, &c., of the mirror were calculated, and trials of the composition of the metal were made. In short, I saw nothing else and heard nothing else talked of but about these things when my brothers were together. Alex was always very alert, assisting when anything new was going forward, but he wanted perseverance, and never liked to confine himself at home for many hours together. And so it happened that my brother William was obliged to make trial of my abilities in copying for him catalogues, tables, &c., and sometimes whole papers which were lent him for his perusal. Among them was one by Mr. Michel and a catalogue of Christian Mayer in Latin, which kept me employed when my brother was at the telescope at night. When I found that a hand was sometimes wanted when any particular measures were to be made with the lamp micrometer, &c., or a fire to be kept up, or a dish of coffee necessary during a long night’s watching, I undertook with pleasure what others might have thought a hardship.... Since the discovery of the Georgium Sidus [March 13, 1781], I believe few men of learning or consequence left Bath before they had seen and conversed with its discoverer, and thought themselves fortunate in finding him at home on their repeated visits. Sir William Watson[^[8]] was almost an intimate, for hardly a day passed but he had something to communicate from the letters which he received from Sir Joseph Banks and other members of the Royal Society, from which it appeared that my brother was expected in town to receive the gold medal. The end of November was the most precarious season for absenting himself. But Sir William went with him, and it was arranged so that they set out with the diligence at night, and by that means his absence did not last above three or four days, when my brother returned alone, Sir William remaining with his father.

“Now a very busy winter was commencing; for my brother had engaged himself to conduct the oratorios conjointly with Ronzini, and had made himself answerable for the payment of the engaged performers, for his credit ever stood high in the opinion of every one he had to deal with. (He lost considerably by this arrangement.) But, though at times much harassed with business, the mirror for the thirty-foot reflector was never out of his mind, and if a minute could but be spared in going from one scholar to another, or giving one the slip, he called at home to see how the men went on with the furnace, which was built in a room below, even with the garden.

“The mirror was to be cast in a mould of loam prepared from horse dung, of which an immense quantity was to be pounded in a mortar and sifted through a fine sieve. It was an endless piece of work, and served me for many an hour’s exercise; and Alex frequently took his turn at it, for we were all eager to do something towards the great undertaking. Even Sir William Watson would sometimes take the pestle from me when he found me in the work-room, where he expected to find his friend, in whose concerns he took so much interest that he felt much disappointed at not being allowed to pay for the metal. But I do not think my brother ever accepted pecuniary assistance from any one of his friends, and on this occasion he declined the offer by saying it was paid for already.

“Among the Bath visitors were many philosophical gentlemen who used to frequent the levées at St. James’s, when in town. Colonel Walsh, in particular, informed my brother that from a conversation he had had with His Majesty, it appeared that in the spring he was to come with his seven-foot telescope to the King. Similar reports he received from many others, but they made no great impression nor caused any interruption in his occupation or study, and as soon as the season for the concerts was over, and the mould, &c., in readiness, a day was set apart for casting, and the metal was in the furnace, but unfortunately it began to leak at the moment when ready for pouring, and both my brothers and the caster with his men were obliged to run out at opposite doors, for the stone flooring (which ought to have been taken up) flew about in all directions, as high as the ceiling. My poor brother fell, exhausted with heat and exertion, on a heap of brickbats. Before the second casting was attempted, everything which could ensure success had been attended to, and a very perfect metal was found in the mould, which had cracked in the cooling.

“But a total stop and derangement now took place, and nearly six or seven months elapsed before my brother could return to the undisturbed enjoyment of his instruments and observations. For one morning in Passion week, as Sir William Watson was with my brother, talking about the pending journey to town, my eldest nephew[^[9]] arrived to pay us a visit, and brought the confirmation that his uncle was expected with his instrument in town. A chaise was at the door to take us to Bristol for a rehearsal in the forenoon, of the ‘Messiah,’ which was to be performed the same evening. The conductor being still lost in conversation with his friend, was obliged to trust to my poor abilities for filling the music box with the necessary parts for between ninety and one hundred performers. My nephew had travelled all night, but we took him with us, for we had not one night in the week, except Friday, but what was set apart for an oratorio either at Bath or Bristol. Soon after Easter a new organ being erected in St. James’s Church, it was opened with two performances of the ‘Messiah;’ this again took up some of my brother’s time....

... The Tuesday after Whit Sunday, May 8th, my brother left Bath to join Sir William Watson at his father’s in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, furnished with everything necessary for viewing double stars, of which the first catalogue had just then appeared in the ‘Philosophical Transactions.’ A new seven-foot stand and steps were made to go in a moderate sized box, to be screwed together on the spot where wanted. Flamsteed’s Atlas, in which the stars had during the winter been numbered, catalogues of double stars, micrometers, tables, &c., and everything which could facilitate reviewing objects, had been attended to in the preparation for the journey.

“But when almost double the time had elapsed which my brother could safely be absent from his scholars, Alex, as well as myself, were much at a loss how to answer their inquiries, for, from the letters we received, we could learn nothing but that he had been introduced to the King and Queen, and had permission to come to the concerts at Buckingham House, where the King conversed with him about astronomy.”

It was during his absence at this time that the three following letters were written and received:—

Dear Lina,—

I have had an audience of His Majesty this morning, and met with a very gracious reception. I presented him with the drawing of the solar system, and had the honour of explaining it to him and the Queen. My telescope is in three weeks’ time to go to Richmond, and meanwhile to be put up at Greenwich, where I shall accordingly carry it to-day. So you see, Lina, that you must not think of seeing me in less than a month. I shall write to Miss Lee myself; and other scholars who inquire for me, you may tell that I cannot wait on them till His Majesty shall be pleased to give me leave to return, or rather to dismiss me, for till then I must attend. I will also write to Mr. Palmer to acquaint him with it.

I am in a great hurry, therefore can write no more at present. Tell Alexander that everything looks very likely as if I were to stay here. The King inquired after him, and after my great speculum. He also gave me leave to come to hear the Griesbachs play at the private concert which he has every evening. My having seen the King need not be kept a secret, but about my staying here it will be best not to say anything, but only that I must remain here till His Majesty has observed the planets with my telescope.

Yesterday I dined with Colonel Walsh, who inquired after you. There were Mr. Aubert and Dr. Maskelyne. Dr. Maskelyne in public declared his obligations to me for having introduced to them the high powers, for Mr. Aubert has so much succeeded with them that he says he looks down upon 200, 300, or 400 with contempt, and immediately begins with 800. He has used 2500 very completely, and seen my fine double stars with them. All my papers are printing, with the postscript and all, and are allowed to be very valuable. You see, Lina, I tell you all these things. You know vanity is not my foible, therefore I need not fear your censure. Farewell.

I am, your affectionate brother,

Wm. Herschel.

Saturday Morning,

probably May 25.

TO MISS HERSCHEL.

Monday Evening, June 3, 1782.

Dear Lina,—

I pass my time between Greenwich and London agreeably enough, but am rather at a loss for work that I like. Company is not always pleasing, and I would much rather be polishing a speculum. Last Friday I was at the King’s concert to hear George play. The King spoke to me as soon as he saw me, and kept me in conversation for half an hour. He asked George to play a solo-concerto on purpose that I might hear him; and George plays extremely well, is very much improved, and the King likes him very much. These two last nights I have been star-gazing at Greenwich with Dr. Maskelyne and Mr. Aubert. We have compared our telescopes together, and mine was found very superior to any of the Royal Observatory. Double stars which they could not see with their instruments I had the pleasure to show them very plainly, and my mechanism is so much approved of that Dr. Maskelyne has already ordered a model to be taken from mine and a stand to be made by it to his reflector. He is, however, now so much out of love with his instrument that he begins to doubt whether it deserves a new stand. I have had the influenza, but am now quite well again. It lasted only five or six days, and I never was confined with it.... There is hardly one single person here but what has had it.

I am introduced to the best company. To-morrow I dine at Lord Palmerston’s, next day with Sir Joseph Banks, &c., &c. Among opticians and astronomers nothing now is talked of but what they call my great discoveries. Alas! this shows how far they are behind, when such trifles as I have seen and done are called great. Let me but get at it again! I will make such telescopes, and see such things—that is, I will endeavour to do so.

The letter ends abruptly with this sentence, and only one more was written during this momentous interval.

1775-1782. Impending Changes.

TO MISS HERSCHEL.

July 3, 1782.

Dear Carolina,—

I have been so much employed that you will not wonder at my not writing sooner. The letter you sent me last Monday came very safe to me. As Dr. Watson has been so good as to acquaint you and Alexander with my situation, I was still more easy in my silence to you. Last night the King, the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, Princess Sophia, Princess Augusta, &c., Duke of Montague, Dr. Heberden, M. de Luc, &c., &c., saw my telescope, and it was a very fine evening. My instrument gave general satisfaction. The King has very good eyes, and enjoys observations with telescopes exceedingly.

This evening, as the King and Queen are gone to Kew, the Princesses were desirous of seeing my telescope, but wanted to know if it was possible to see without going out on the grass, and were much pleased when they heard that my telescope could be carried into any place they liked best to have it. About 8 o’clock it was moved into the Queen’s apartments, and we waited some time in hopes of seeing Jupiter or Saturn. Meanwhile I showed the Princesses, and several other ladies who were present, the speculum, the micrometers, the movements of the telescope, and other things that seemed to excite their curiosity. When the evening appeared to be totally unpromising, I proposed an artificial Saturn as an object, since we could not have the real one. I had beforehand prepared this little piece, as I guessed by the appearance of the weather in the afternoon we should have no stars to look at. This being accepted with great pleasure, I had the lamps lighted up which illuminated the picture of a Saturn (cut out in pasteboard) at the bottom of the garden wall. The effect was fine, and so natural that the best astronomer might have been deceived. Their royal highnesses and other ladies seemed to be much pleased with the artifice.

I remained in the Queen’s apartment with the ladies till about half after ten, when in conversation with them I found them extremely well instructed in every subject that was introduced, and they seemed to be most amiable characters. To-morrow evening they hope to have better luck, and nothing will give me greater happiness than to be able to show them some of those beautiful objects with which the heavens are so gloriously ornamented.

Sir William Watson returned to Bath after a fortnight or three weeks’ stay. From him we heard that my brother was invited to Greenwich with the telescope, where he was met by a numerous party of astronomical and learned gentlemen, and trials of his instrument were made. In these letters he complained of being obliged to lead an idle life, having nothing to do but to pass between London and Greenwich. Sir William received many letters which he was so kind as to communicate to us. By these, and from those to Alexander or to me, we learned that the King wished to see the telescope at Windsor. At last a letter, dated July 2, arrived from Therese, and from this and several succeeding ones we gathered that the King would not suffer my brother to return to his profession again, and by his writing several times for a supply of money we could only suppose that he himself was in uncertainty about the time of his return.

In the last week of July my brother came home, and immediately prepared for removing to Datchet, where he had taken a house with a garden and grass-plot annexed, quite suitable for the purpose of an observing-place. Sir Wm. Watson spent nearly the whole time at our house, and he was not the only friend who truly grieved at my brother’s going from Bath; or feared his having perhaps agreed to no very advantageous offers; their fears were, in fact, not without reason.... The prospect of entering again on the toils of teaching, &c., which awaited my brother at home (the months of leisure being now almost gone by), appeared to him an intolerable waste of time, and by way of alternative he chose to be Royal Astronomer, with a salary of £200 a year. Sir William Watson was the only one to whom the sum was mentioned, and he exclaimed, “Never bought monarch honour so cheap!” To every other inquirer, my brother’s answer was that the King had provided for him.

1782. Removal to Datchet.

Everything was immediately packed for the removal, and on the 1st of August, when the brothers and sister walked over to Datchet from Slough (where the coach passed), they found the waggon, with its precious load of instruments, as well as household furniture, waiting to be unpacked. The new home was a large neglected place, the house in a deplorably ruinous condition, the garden and grounds overgrown with weeds. For a fortnight they had no female servant at all; an old woman, the gardener’s wife, showed Miss Herschel the shops, where the prices of everything, from coals to butcher’s meat, appalled her. But these considerations weighed for nothing in her brother’s eyes against the delight of stables where mirrors could be ground, a roomy laundry, which was to serve for a library, with one door opening on a large grass-plot, where “the small twenty-foot” was to be erected; he gaily assured her that they could live on eggs and bacon, which would cost nothing to speak of now that they were really in the country!

The beginning of October, Alexander was obliged to return to Bath. The separation was truly painful to us all, and I was particularly affected by it, for till now I had not had time to consider the consequence of giving up the prospect of making myself independent by becoming (with a little more uninterrupted application) a useful member of the musical profession. But besides that my brother William would have been very much at a loss for my assistance, I had not spirit enough to throw myself on the public after losing his protection.

Poor Alexander! we had hoped at first to persuade him to change Bath for London, where he had the offer of the most profitable engagements, and we should then have had him near us ... but he refused, and before we saw him again the next year he was married.

Much of my brother’s time was taken up in going, when the evenings were clear, to the Queen’s Lodge to show the King, &c., objects through the seven-foot. But when the days began to shorten, this was found impossible, for the telescope was often (at no small expense and risk of damage) obliged to be transported in the dark back to Datchet, for the purpose of spending the rest of the night with observations on double stars for a second Catalogue. My brother was besides obliged to be absent for a week or ten days for the purpose of bringing home the metal of the cracked thirty-foot mirror, and the remaining materials from his work-room. Before the furnace was taken down at Bath, a second twenty-foot mirror, twelve-inch diameter, was cast, which happened to be very fortunate, for on the 1st of January, 1783, a very fine one cracked by frost in the tube. I remember to have seen the thermometer 1½ degree below zero for several nights in the same year....

1783. Life at Datchet.

... In my brother’s absence from home, I was of course left solely to amuse myself with my own thoughts, which were anything but cheerful. I found I was to be trained for an assistant-astronomer, and by way of encouragement a telescope adapted for “sweeping,” consisting of a tube with two glasses, such as are commonly used in a “finder,” was given me. I was “to sweep for comets,” and I see by my journal that I began August 22nd, 1782, to write down and describe all remarkable appearances I saw in my “sweeps,” which were horizontal. But it was not till the last two months of the same year that I felt the least encouragement to spend the star-light nights on a grass-plot covered with dew or hoar frost, without a human being near enough to be within call. I knew too little of the real heavens to be able to point out every object so as to find it again without losing too much time by consulting the Atlas. But all these troubles were removed when I knew my brother to be at no great distance making observations with his various instruments on double stars, planets, &c., and I could have his assistance immediately when I found a nebula, or cluster of stars, of which I intended to give a catalogue; but at the end of 1783 I had only marked fourteen, when my sweeping was interrupted by being employed to write down my brother’s observations with the large twenty-foot. I had, however, the comfort to see that my brother was satisfied with my endeavours to assist him when he wanted another person, either to run to the clocks, write down a memorandum, fetch and carry instruments, or measure the ground with poles, &c., &c., of which something of the kind every moment would occur. For the assiduity with which the measurements on the diameter of the Georgium Sidus, and observations of other planets, double stars, &c., &c., were made, was incredible, as may be seen by the various papers that were given to the Royal Society in 1783, which papers were written in the daytime, or when cloudy nights interfered. Besides this, the twelve-inch speculum was perfected before the spring, and many hours were spent at the turning bench, as not a night clear enough for observing ever passed but that some improvements were planned for perfecting the mounting and motions of the various instruments then in use, or some trials were made of new constructed eye-pieces, which were mostly executed by my brother’s own hands. Wishing to save his time, he began to have some work of that kind done by a watchmaker who had retired from business and lived on Datchet Common, but the work was so bad, and the charges so unreasonable, that he could not be employed. It was not till some time afterwards in his frequent visits to the meetings of the Royal Society (made in moonlight nights), that he had an opportunity of looking about for mathematical workmen, opticians, and founders. But the work seldom answered expectation, and it was kept to be executed with improvements by Alexander during the few months he spent with us.

The summer months passed in the most active preparation for getting the large twenty-foot ready against the next winter. The carpenters and smiths of Datchet were in daily requisition, and as soon as patterns for tools and mirrors were ready, my brother went to town to have them cast, and during the three or four months Alexander could be absent from Bath, the mirrors and optical parts were nearly completed.

But that the nights after a day of toil were not given to rest, may be seen by the observations on Mars, of which a paper, dated December 1, 1783, was given to the Royal Society. Some trouble also was often thrown away during those nights in the attempt to teach me to re-measure double stars with the same micrometers with which former measures had been taken, and the small twenty-foot was given me for that purpose.... I had also to ascertain their places by a transit instrument lent for that purpose by Mr. Dalrymple, but after many fruitless attempts it was seen that the instrument was perhaps as much in fault as my observations.

July 8.—I began to use the new Newtonian small sweeper, (for a description of this instrument see note to Neb. No. 1, V. class, at the end of the catalogue of first 1000 Neb. and Cl.), but it could hardly be expected that I should meet with any comets in the part of the heavens where I swept, for I generally chose my situation by the side of my brother’s instrument, that I might be ready to run to the clock or write down memorandums. In the beginning of December I became entirely attached to the writing-desk, and had seldom an opportunity after that time of using my newly-acquired instrument.

My brother began his series of sweeps when the instrument was yet in a very unfinished state, and my feelings were not very comfortable when every moment I was alarmed by a crack or fall, knowing him to be elevated fifteen feet or more on a temporary cross-beam instead of a safe gallery. The ladders had not even their braces at the bottom; and one night, in a very high wind, he had hardly touched the ground before the whole apparatus came down. Some labouring men were called up to help in extricating the mirror, which was fortunately uninjured, but much work was cut out for carpenters next day.

That my fears of danger and accidents were not wholly imaginary, I had an unlucky proof on the night of the 31st December. The evening had been cloudy, but about ten o’clock a few stars became visible, and in the greatest hurry all was got ready for observing. My brother, at the front of the telescope, directed me to make some alteration in the lateral motion, which was done by machinery, on which the point of support of the tube and mirror rested. At each end of the machine or trough was an iron hook, such as butchers use for hanging their joints upon, and having to run in the dark on ground covered a foot deep with melting snow, I fell on one of these hooks, which entered my right leg above the knee. My brother’s call, “Make haste!” I could only answer by a pitiful cry, “I am hooked!” He and the workmen were instantly with me, but they could not lift me without leaving nearly two ounces of my flesh behind. The workman’s wife was called, but was afraid to do anything, and I was obliged to be my own surgeon by applying aquabusade and tying a kerchief about it for some days, till Dr. Lind, hearing of my accident, brought me ointment and lint, and told me how to use them. At the end of six weeks I began to have some fears about my poor limb, and asked again for Dr. Lind’s opinion: he said if a soldier had met with such a hurt he would have been entitled to six weeks’ nursing in a hospital. I had, however, the comfort to know that my brother was no loser through this accident, for the remainder of the night was cloudy, and several nights afterwards afforded only a few short intervals favourable for sweeping, and until the 16th January there was no necessity for my exposing myself for a whole night to the severity of the season.

I could give a pretty long list of accidents which were near proving fatal to my brother as well as myself. To make observations with such large machinery, where all around is in darkness, is not unattended with danger, especially when personal safety is the last thing with which the mind is occupied; even poor Piazzi[^[10]] did not go home without getting broken shins by falling over the rack-bar, which projects in high altitudes in front of the telescope, when in the hurry the cap had been forgotten to be put over it.

In the long days of the summer months many ten- and seven-foot mirrors were finished; there was nothing but grinding and polishing to be seen. For ten-foot several had been cast with ribbed backs by way of experiment to reduce the weight in large mirrors. In my leisure hours I ground seven-foot and plain mirrors from rough to fining down, and was indulged with polishing and the last finishing of a very beautiful mirror for Sir William Watson.

An account of the discoveries made with the twenty-foot and the improvements of the mechanical parts of that instrument during the winter of 1785, is given with the Catalogue of the first 1000 new nebulæ. By which account it must plainly appear that the expenses of these improvements, and those which were yet to be made in the apparatus of the twenty-foot (which in fact proved to be a model of a larger instrument), could not be supplied out of a salary of £200 a year, especially as my brother’s finances had been too much reduced during the six months before he received his first quarterly payment of fifty pounds (which was Michaelmas, 1782). Travelling from Bath to London, Greenwich, Windsor, backwards and forwards, transporting the telescope, &c., breaking up his establishment at Bath and forming a new one near the Court, all this, even leaving such personal conveniences as he had for many years been used to, out of the question, could not be obtained for a trifle; a good large piece of ground was required for the use of the instruments, and a habitation in which he could receive and offer a bed to an astronomical friend, was necessary after a night’s observation.

It seemed to be supposed that enough had been done when my brother was enabled to leave his profession that he might have time to make and sell telescopes. The King ordered four ten-foot himself, and many seven-foot besides had been bespoke, and much time had already been expended on polishing the mirrors for the same. But all this was only retarding the work of a thirty or forty-foot instrument, which it was my brother’s chief object to obtain as soon as possible; for he was then on the wrong side of forty-five, and felt how great an injustice he would be doing to himself and to the cause of Astronomy by giving up his time to making telescopes for other observers.

Sir William Watson, who often in the lifetime of his father came to make some stay with us at Datchet, saw my brother’s difficulties, and expressed great dissatisfaction. On his return to Bath he met among the visitors there several belonging to the Court (among the rest Mde. Schwellenberg), to whom he gave his opinion concerning his friend and his situation very freely. In consequence of this my brother had soon after, through Sir J. Banks, the promise that £2000 would be granted for enabling him to make himself an instrument.

Immediately every preparation for beginning the great work commenced. A very ingenious smith (Campion), who was seeking employment, was secured by my brother, and a temporary forge erected in an upstairs room.

1784-1785. Removal from Datchet to Clay Hall.

It soon became evident that the big, tumble-down old house, which had been taken possession of with such eagerness, would not do: the rain came through the ceilings; the damp situation brought on ague, and in June the brother and sister left it for a place called Clay Hall, Old Windsor. But here again unlooked-for troubles arose in consequence of the landlady being a “litigious woman,” who refused to be bound to reasonable terms, and at length, on the 3rd of April, 1786, the house and garden at Slough were taken, and all the apparatus and machinery immediately removed there.

1786. Removal from Clay Hall to Slough.

... And here I must remember that among all this hurrying business, every moment after daylight was allotted to observing. The last night at Clay Hall was spent in sweeping till daylight, and by the next evening the telescope stood ready for observation at Slough.... A workman for the brass and optical parts was engaged, and two smiths were at work throughout the summer on different parts for the forty-foot telescope, and a whole troop of labourers were engaged in grinding the iron tools to a proper shape for the mirror to be ground on (the polishing and grinding by machines was not begun till about the end of 1788). These heavy articles were cast in town, and caused my brother frequent journeys to London, they were brought by water as far as Windsor.... At Slough no steady out-of-door workman for the sweeping handle could be met with, and a man-servant was engaged as soon as one could be found fit for the purpose. Meanwhile Campion assisted, but many memorandums were put down: “Lost a neb. by the blunder of the person at the handle.” If it had not been sometimes for the intervention of a cloudy or moonlight night, I know not when my brother (or I either), should have got any sleep; for with the morning came also his workpeople, of whom there were no less than between thirty and forty at work for upwards of three months together, some employed in felling and rooting out trees, some digging and preparing the ground for the bricklayers who were laying the foundation for the telescope, and the carpenter in Slough, with all his men. The smith, meanwhile, was converting a washhouse into a forge, and manufacturing complete sets of tools required for the work he was to enter upon. Many expensive tools also were furnished by the ironmongers in Windsor, as well for the forge as for the turner and brass man. In short, the place was at one time a complete workshop for making optical instruments, and it was a pleasure to go into it to see how attentively the men listened to and executed their master’s orders; I had frequent opportunities for doing this when I was obliged to run to him with my papers or slate, when stopped in my work by some doubt or other.

I cannot leave this subject without regretting, even twenty years after, that so much labour and expense should have been thrown away on a swarm of pilfering work-people, both men and women, with which Slough, I believe, was particularly infested. For at last everything that could be carried away was gone, and nothing but rubbish left. Even tables for the use of workrooms vanished: one in particular I remember, the drawer of which was filled with slips of experiments made on the rays of light and heat, was lost out of the room in which the women had been ironing. This could not but produce the greatest disorder and inconvenience in the library and in the room into which the apparatus for observing had been moved, when the observatory was wanted for some other purpose; they were at last so encumbered by stores and tools of all sorts that no room for a desk or an Atlas remained. It required my utmost exertion to rescue the manuscripts in hand from destruction by falling into unhallowed hands or being devoured by mice.

But I will now return to July, 1786, when my brother was obliged to deliver a ten-foot telescope as a present from the King to the Observatory of Göttingen. Before he left Slough on July 3rd, the stand of the forty-foot telescope stood on two circular walls capped with Portland stone (which, cracking by frost, were afterwards covered with oak) ready to receive the tube. The smith was left to continue to work at the tube, which was sufficient employment cut out for him before he would want farther direction. The mirror was also pretty far advanced, and ready for the polish, for I remember to have seen twelve or fourteen men daily employed in grinding or polishing.

1786. Life and Work at Slough.

To give a description of the task (or rather tasks) which fell to my share, the readiest way I think will be to transcribe out of a day-book which I began to keep at that time, and called “Book of work done.”

July 3.—My brothers William and Alex. left Slough to begin their journey to Germany. Mrs. [Alex.] Herschel was left with me at Slough. By way of not suffering too much by sadness, I began with bustling work. I cleaned all the brass-work for seven and ten-foot telescopes, and put curtains before the shelves to hinder the dust from settling upon them again.

4th.—I cleaned and put the polishing-room in order, and made the gardener clear the work-yard, put everything in safety, and mend the fences.

5th.—I spent the morning in needle-work. In the afternoon went with Mrs. Herschel to Windsor. We chose the hours from two to six for shopping and other business, to be from home at the time most unlikely for any persons to call, but there had been four foreign gentlemen looking at the instruments in the garden, they had not left their names. In the evening Dr. and Mrs. Kelly (Mr. Dollond’s daughter) and Mr. Gordon came to see me.

6th.—I put all the philosophical letters in order, and the collection of each year in a separate cover.

* * * * *

12th.—I put paper in press for a register, and calculated for Flamsteed’s Catalogue.

Mem.—When Flamsteed’s Catalogue was brought into zones in 1783, it was only taken up at 45° from the Pole, the apparatus not being then ready for sweeping in the zenith.

By July 23rd the whole Catalogue was completed all but writing it in the clear, which at that time was a very necessary provision, as it was not till the year 1789 that Wollaston’s Catalogue made its appearance. Many sweeps nearer the Pole than the register of sweeps, which only began at 45°, being made, it became necessary to provide a register for marking those sweeps and the nebulæ discovered in them.

14th.—Dr. and Mrs. Maskelyne called here with Dr. Shepherd.

15th.—I spent the day with Mrs. Herschel at Mrs. Kelly’s. We met Dr. and Mrs. Maskelyne and Dr. Shepherd, Marquis of Huntley, &c., &c., there.

16th.—I ruled part of the register of sweeps.

* * * * *

18th.—I spent the whole day in ruling paper for the register; except that at breakfast I cut out ruffles for shirts. Mr. and Mrs. Kelly and Mrs. Ramsden (Dollond’s sister) called this evening. I tried to sweep, but it is cloudy, and the moon rises at half-past ten.

19th.—In the evening we swept from eleven till one.

20th.—Prince Charles (Queen’s brother) Duke of Saxe-Gotha and the Duke of Montague were here this morning. I had a message from the King to show them the instruments.

* * * * *

I had intended to go on with my Diary till my brother’s return, but it would be tedious, so of the rest I shall give only a summary account, and will mention in this place that all what follows would but be the same thing over again; for the advantage of being quietly at work in the presence of my brother to whom I could apply for information the moment a doubt occurred, never returned again, and often have I been racking my poor brains through a day and a night to very little purpose. I found it necessary to continue my memoranda of “work done” to the last day I had the care of my brother’s MS. papers. But I had rather copy a few days more, as they contain the discovery of my first comet, and will serve also to show that I attempted to register all discovered nebulæ, after a precept my brother had left me, as this was necessary for revising the MS. of the catalogue of the first thousand nebulæ, which he expected at his return to find ready for correction from the printers.

22nd.—I calculated all the day for Flamsteed’s Catalogue. Lord Mulgrave called this evening.....

23rd.—Received letters from Hanover. Finished calculating for Flamsteed’s Catalogue.

The two following short letters were carefully preserved, and, though they contain nothing of importance, they are of interest as being of the very few from the same pen which are not on scientific subjects.

FROM W. HERSCHEL TO CAROLINE HERSCHEL.

Hanover, Friday, July 14, 1786.

Dear Sister,—

This morning we arrived safely at Hanover. We are a little tired, but perfectly well in health. We travelled extra post all the way through very bad roads. The post is going out in a very little time, so that I write in a hurry that you might hear from us so much sooner. After a night or two of sleep here (by way of recovery) I shall go on to Göttingen; but when I have collected my thoughts better together I will write more. Mamma is perfectly well and looks well. Jacob looks a little older, but not nearly so much as I expected. In Sophy [Mrs. Griesbach] there is hardly any change, but a few white hairs on her head. John [Dietrich] is just the same as before, his little boy seems to be a charming creature. Farewell, dear Lina. I hope we shall see you again in a few weeks. I must finish for Alexander to write. Adieu once more.

FROM W. HERSCHEL TO CAROLINE HERSCHEL.

[August, 1786.]

Dear Lina,—

We are still in Hanover, and find it a most agreeable place. I have been in Göttingen, where Jacob went along with me, and the King’s telescope arrived there in perfect order. The Society of Göttingen have elected me a member. We long very much to hear from you, as we have never had a letter yet. This is the fourth we have sent you, and we hope you received the former ones. This day fortnight we have fixed for our setting out from this place, and be assured that we shall be happy to see old England again, though old Germany is no bad place. Yesterday and the day before I have seen the Bishop of Osnaburgh and the Prince Edward. If an inquiry should be made about our return, you may say (I hope with truth) that we shall be back by about the 24th of August. Adieu, Lina.

24th.—I registered some sweeps in present time and Pole distance. Prince Resonico came with Dr. Shepherd to see the instruments. I swept from ten till one.

* * * * *

28th.—I wrote part of Flamsteed’s Catalogue in the clear. It was a stormy night, we could not go to bed.

29th.—I paid the smith. He received to-day the plates for the forty-foot tube. Above half of them are bad, but he thinks there will be as many good among them as will be wanted, and I believe he intends to keep the rest till they return. Paid the gardener for four days which he worked with the smith. I registered sweeps to-day. By way of memorandum I will set down in this book in what manner I proceed.

I began some time ago with the last sweep which is booked in the old register (Flamsteed’s time and P. D.), viz., 571, and at different times I booked 570, 569, 568, 567, 566, 565. To-day I booked 564; 563 is marked not to be registered; 560 and 561 I was obliged to pass over on account of some difficulty. The rest of the day I wrote in Flamsteed’s Catalogue. The storm continued all the day, but now, 8 o’clock, it turns to a gentle rain.

30th.—I wound up the sidereal timepiece, Field’s and Alexander’s clocks, and made covers for the new and old registers.

31st.—I booked 558, 557, and 554; 556, 555, I was obliged to leave out on account of some difficulty.

Mem.—I find I cannot go on fast enough with the registering of sweeps to be serviceable to the Catalogue of Nebulæ. Therefore I will begin immediately to recalculate them, and hope to finish them before they return. Besides, I think the consequences of registering the sweeps backwards will be bad.

1786. Slough.—The first Comet.

August 1.—I have counted one hundred nebulæ to-day, and this evening I saw an object which I believe will prove to-morrow night to be a comet.

2nd.—To-day I calculated 150 nebulæ. I fear it will not be clear to-night. It has been raining throughout the whole day, but seems now to clear up a little.

1 o’clock.—The object of last night is a comet.

3rd.—I did not go to rest till I had wrote to Dr. Blagden and Mr. Aubert to announce the comet. After a few hours’ sleep, I went in the afternoon to Dr. Lind, who, with Mr. Cavallo, accompanied me to Slough, with the intention of seeing the comet, but it was cloudy, and remained so all night.

MISS HERSCHEL TO DR. BLAGDEN.

August 2, 1786.

Sir,—

In consequence of the friendship which I know to exist between you and my brother, I venture to trouble you, in his absence, with the following imperfect account of a comet:—

The employment of writing down the observations when my brother uses the twenty-foot reflector does not often allow me time to look at the heavens, but as he is now on a visit to Germany, I have taken the opportunity to sweep in the neighbourhood of the sun in search of comets; and last night, the 1st of August, about 10 o’clock, I found an object very much resembling in colour and brightness the 27 nebula of the Connoissance des Temps, with the difference, however, of being round. I suspected it to be a comet; but a haziness coming on, it was not possible to satisfy myself as to its motion till this evening. I made several drawings of the stars in the field of view with it, and have enclosed a copy of them, with my observations annexed, that you may compare them together.

August 1, 1786, 9^h 50ʹ. Fig. 1. The object in the centre is like a star out of focus, while the rest are perfectly distinct, and I suspect it to be a comet.

10^h 33ʹ. Fig. 2. The suspected comet makes now a perfect isosceles triangle with the two stars a and b.

11^h 8ʹ. I think the situation of the comet is now as in Fig. 3, but it is so hazy that I cannot sufficiently see the small star b to be assured of the motion.

By the naked eye the comet is between the 54 and 53 Ursæ Majoris and the 14, 15, and 16 Comæ Berenices, and makes an obtuse triangle with them, the vertex of which is turned towards the south.

Aug. 2nd, 10^h 9ʹ. The comet is now, with respect to the stars a and b, situated as in Fig. 4, therefore the motion since last night is evident.

10^h 30ʹ. Another considerable star, c, may be taken into the field with it by placing a in the centre, when the comet and the other star will both appear in the circumference, as in Fig. 5.

These observations were made with a Newtonian sweeper of 27-inch focal length, and a power of about 20. The field of view is 2° 12ʹ. I cannot find the stars a or c in any catalogue, but suppose they may easily be traced in the heavens, whence the situation of the comet, as it was last night at 10^h 33ʹ, may be pretty nearly ascertained.

You will do me the favour of communicating these observations to my brother’s astronomical friends.

I have the honour to be,

Sir,

Your most obedient, humble servant,

Carolina Herschel.

August 2nd, 1786.

Slough, near Windsor.

MISS HERSCHEL TO ALEX. AUBERT, ESQ.

Slough, August 2, 1786.

Dear Sir,—

August 1st, in the evening, at 10 o’clock, I saw an object very much resembling (in colour and brightness) the 27 of Mr. Messier’s Nebulæ, except this object being round. I suspected it to be a comet; but a haziness came on before I could convince myself of its having moved. I made several figures of the objects in the field, whereof I take the liberty to send the first, that you might compare it with what I saw to-night.

In Fig. 1 I observed the nebulous spot in the centre, a bright red but small star upwards, another very faint white star following, and in the situation as marked in the figure. There is a third star preceding, but exceedingly faint. I suspected several more, which may perhaps appear in a finer evening, but they were not distinct enough to take account of.

In Fig. 2, August 2nd, are only the red and its following star: the preceding, in Fig. 1, is partly hid in the rays of the comet, and by one or two glimpses I had, I think it is got before it.

In Fig. 3 I took the comet in the edge by way of taking in the assistance of another star of about the same size and colour as that in the centre.

The only stars I can possibly see with the naked eye which might be of service to point out the place of the comet are 53 and 54 Ursæ Maj., from which it is at about an equal distance with the 14, 15, and 16 Comæ Ber., and makes an obtuse angle with them. I think it must be about 1° above the parallel of the 15 Comæ.

I made these observations with my little Newtonian sweeper, and used a power of about 30: the field is about 1½ degree.

I hope, sir, you will excuse the trouble I give you with my wag [qy. vague] description, which is owing to my being a bad (or what is better) no observer at all. For these last three years I have not had an opportunity to look as many hours in the telescope.

Lastly, I beg of you, sir, if this comet should not have been seen before, to take it under your protection in regard to A. R. and D. C.

With my respectful compliments to the ladies, your sisters, I have the honour to be,

Sir,

Your most obedient, humble servant,

Car. Herschel.