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.

[Sidenote: 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.”

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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....

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

DR. BLAGDEN TO MISS HERSCHEL.

GOWER STREET, BEDFORD SQUARE,

_August 5, 1786_.

MADAM,—

Mr. Aubert’s letter, as well as that with which you favoured me, both

arrived safe. The evening was fine on Thursday, but Mr. Aubert was

prevented from going to Loam Pit Hill, and I have no opportunity of

making astronomical observations here, so that I believe the comet has

not yet been seen by anyone in England but yourself. Yesterday the

visitation of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich was held, where most of

the principal astronomers in and near London attended, which afforded an

opportunity of spreading the news of your discovery, and I doubt not but

many of them will verify it the next clear night. I also mentioned it in

a letter to Paris, and in another I had occasion to write to Munich, in

Germany. If the weather should be favourable on Sunday evening, it is

not impossible that Sir Joseph Banks and some friends from his house may

wait upon you to beg the favour of viewing this phenomenon through your

telescope.

Accept my best thanks for your obliging attention in communicating to me

the news, and believe me to be, with great esteem,

Your obedient, humble servant,

C. BLAGDEN.

ALEX. AUBERT, ESQ., TO MISS HERSCHEL.

LONDON, _7th August, 1786_.

DEAR MISS HERSCHEL,—

I am sure you have a better opinion of me than to think I have been

ungrateful for your very, very kind letter of the 2nd August. You will

have judged I wished to give you some account of your comet before I

answered it. I wish you joy, most sincerely, on the discovery. I am more

pleased than you can well conceive that _you_ have made it, and I think

I see your _wonderfully clever_ and _wonderfully amiable_ brother, upon

the news of it, shed a tear of joy. You have immortalized your name, and

you deserve such a reward from the Being who has ordered all these

things to move as we find them, for your assiduity in the business of

astronomy, and for your love for so celebrated and so deserving a

brother. I received your very kind letter about the comet on the 3rd,

but have not been able to observe it till Saturday, the 5th, owing to

cloudy weather. I found it immediately by your directions; it is very

curious, and in every respect as you describe it. I have compared it to

a fixed star, on Saturday night and Sunday night....

* * * * *

You see it travels very fast—at the rate of 2° 10ʹ per day—and moves but

little in N. P. D. These observations were made with an equatorial

micrometer of Mr. Smeaton’s construction, which your brother must

recollect to have seen at Loam Pit Hill. I need not tell you that

meridian observations with my transit instrument and mural quadrant must

have been much more accurate. I give you a little figure of its

appearance last night and the preceding night upon the scale of

Flamsteed’s Atlas Cœlestis [here follows the sketch-figure].

By the above, you will see it will be very near 19 of Comæ Berenices

to-night, and it will be a curious observation if it should prove an

occultation of one of the stars of the Comæ. Notice has been given to

astronomers at home and abroad of the discovery. I shall continue to

observe it, and will give you by-and-by a further account of it. In the

meanwhile believe me to be, with much gratitude and regard,

Dear Miss Herschel,

Your most obedient and obliged

humble servant,

ALEX. AUBERT.

P.S.—I was glad to hear to-day, by my friends at our club, that they had

seen you last night in good health; pray let me know what news you have

of your brother, and when we may expect to see him. I have had twice at

Loam Pit Hill his serene highness the Duke of Saxe Gotha, and

entertained him, Count Bruhl, and Mr. Oriani (a Milanese astronomer),

with your comet last night. My sisters return you many thanks for your

kind remembrance, and, with their best compliments, enjoin me to wish

you joy.

[Sidenote: 1786. _Employments at Slough._]

MISS HERSCHEL TO DIETRICH HERSCHEL.

SLOUGH, _August 4, 1786_.

DEAR BROTHER,—

We received yesterday William’s and Alexander’s letter, and find that

they intend to leave Hanover on the 8th of August, therefore they will

not see the contents of this. However, as you have an instrument, I

think you are entitled to information of a telescopic comet which I

happened to discover on the 1st of August, and which I found, by the

observations of the 2nd, to have moved nearly three-quarters of a

degree. Last night it was cloudy, but I hope the weather will be more

favourable another night, that we may see a little more of it. I believe

you have a pair of Harris’s maps; the place where I saw the comet is

between 53 and 54 Ursæ Maj. and the 14, 15, and 16 Comæ Ber. of

Flamsteed’s Catalogue. All stars of Flamst. are in Bode’s Cat. to be

found, and if you cannot do without it, I dare say it is to be met with

at Hanover....

I found it with a magnifier of about 30, with a field of about 1½

degree. Now, if you have a piece which is nearly like this, I would

advise you to make use of that in sweeping all around this place, for it

must be, by the time you receive this letter, at a considerable

distance.

When I saw it, it appeared like a very bright, but round, small nebula.

The first letter I received from Hanover from William gave us the

greatest satisfaction imaginable, for it contained an account of the

good health of all our dear relations. I hope our dear mother does not

grieve too much now they have left her. I dare say William will pay soon

another visit, and then I will take that opportunity of coming to see

her. Farewell, dear brother; give my best love, &c.

To this period of Miss Herschel’s life belongs a folio manuscript book,

written with the utmost neatness, which she sent with one of her various

consignments of papers to her nephew after her return to Hanover, and

introduced as follows:—

DEAR NEPHEW,—

This is the fragment of a book which was too bulky for the portfolio in

which I was collecting such papers as I wished might not fall into any

other but your own hands. They contain chiefly answers of your father to

the inquiries I used to make when at breakfast before we separated each

for our daily tasks.

[Sidenote: 1786-1787. _Employments at Slough._]

The information is of a very miscellaneous kind, but matters connected

with her special study form the greater part of the questions. For

instance:—

“Given the true time of the transit—take a transit.

Do the same thing another way.

To find what star Mercury is nearest.

Take its place in the Nautical Almanac.

Another way....

* * * * *

Time of a star’s motion to be turned into space.

* * * * *

To adjust the quadrant when fastened to the telescope.

* * * * *

A logarithm given, to find the angle.

Oblique spherical triangles.”

_4th._—I wrote to-day to Hanover, booked my observations, and made a

fair copy of three letters. Made accounts. The night is cloudy.

_5th._—I calculated nebulæ all day. The night was tolerably fine, and I

saw the comet.

_6th._—I booked my observations of last night. Received a letter from

Dr. Blagden in the morning, and in the evening Sir J. Banks, Lord

Palmerston, and Dr. Blagden, came and saw the comet. The evening was

very fine.

_7th_, _8th_.—Booked my observations; was hindered much by being obliged

to find a man to assist the smith. Dr. Lind and Mr. Cavallo came on the

8th, and Mr. Paradise in the afternoon, but the evening was cloudy.

_9th._—I calculated 100 nebulæ....

_10th._—Calculated 100 nebulæ. The smith borrowed a guinea. He complains

of Turner (the gardener), but we will, if possible, have patience till

my brother returns.

_11th._ I completed to-day the catalogue of the first thousand.

_12th._ ... calculated 200 nebulæ of the second thousand.

_13th._ Professor Kratzensteine, from Copenhagen, was here to-day. In

the evening I saw the comet and swept.

_14th._ ... I calculated 140 nebulæ to-day, which brought me up to the

last discovered nebulæ, and, therefore, this work is finished.

_15th._ I went up with Mrs. H. to Windsor to pay some bills and to buy

several articles against my brother’s return.

_16th._ ... my brothers returned about three in the afternoon.

It would be impossible for me, if it were required, to give a regular

account of all that passed around me in the lapse of the following two

years, for they were spent in a perfect chaos of business. The garden

and workrooms were swarming with labourers and workmen, smiths and

carpenters going to and fro between the forge and the forty-foot

machinery, and I ought not to forget that there is not one screw-bolt

about the whole apparatus but what was fixed under the immediate eye of

my brother. I have seen him lie stretched many an hour in a burning sun,

across the top beam whilst the iron work for the various motions was

being fixed.

At one time no less than twenty-four men (twelve and twelve relieving

each other) kept polishing day and night; my brother, of course, never

leaving them all the while, taking his food without allowing himself

time to sit down to table.

The moonlight nights were generally taken advantage of for experiments,

and for the frequent journeys to town which he was obliged to make to

order and provide the tools and materials which were continually

wanting, I may say by wholesale.

The discovery of the Georgian satellites caused many breaks in the

sweeps which were made at the end of 1786 and beginning of 1787, by

leaving off abruptly against the meridian passage of the planet, which

occasioned much work, both in shifting of the instrument and booking the

observations. Much confusion at first prevailed among the loose papers

on which the first observations were noted, and some of them have

perhaps been lost; for I remember several configurations of the

situation of the satellites having been made by Sir William Watson and

Mr. Marsden, and only one could be found....

* * * * *

That the discovery of these satellites must have brought many nocturnal

visitors to Slough may easily be imagined, and many times have I

listened with pain to the conversation my brother held with his

astronomical friends when quite exhausted by answering their numerous

questions. For I well knew that on such occasions, instead of renewing

his strength by going to rest, that there were too many who could not go

on without his direction, among whom I often was included, for I very

seldom could get a paper out of his hands time enough for finishing the

copy against the appointed day for its being taken to town. But

considering that no less than seven papers were delivered to the Royal

Society in 1786-1787, it may easily be judged that my brother’s study

had not been entirely deserted. I had always some kind of work in hand

with which I could proceed without troubling him with questions; such as

the temporary index which I began in June, 1787. Some years after, the

index to Flamsteed’s observations, calculating the beginning and ending

of sweeps and their breadth, for filling up the vacant places in the

registers, and works of that kind, filled up the intervals when nothing

more necessary was in hand.

My brother Jacob was with us from April till October, 1787, when he

returned to Hanover again. Alexander came only for a short time to give

his brother the meeting, Mrs. H. being too ill to be left long alone.

(She died in January of 1788.)

Professor Snaidecky often saw some objects through the twenty-foot

telescope, among others the Georgian satellites. He had taken lodgings

in Slough for the purpose of seeing and hearing my brother whenever he

could find him at leisure; he was a very silent man.

My brother’s bust was taken by Lochée, according to Sir Wm. Watson’s

order. Professor Wilson and my brother Jacob[11] were present.

In August an additional man-servant was engaged, who would be wanted at

the handles of the motions of the forty-foot, for which the mirror in

the beginning of July was so far finished as to be used for occasional

observations on trial.

[Sidenote: 1786-1787. _Slough—Appointed Assistant Astronomer._]

Such a person was also necessary for showing the telescopes to the

curious strangers, as by their numerous visits my brother or myself had

for some time past been much incommoded. In consequence of an

application made through Sir J. Banks to the King, my brother had in

August a second £2,000 granted for completing the forty-foot, and £200

yearly for the expense of repairs, such as ropes, painting, &c., &c.,

and the keep and clothing of the men who attended at night. A salary of

fifty pounds a year was also settled on me as an assistant to my

brother, and in October I received twelve pounds ten, being the first

quarterly payment of my salary, and the first money I ever in all my

lifetime thought myself to be at liberty to spend to my own liking. A

great uneasiness was by this means removed from my mind, for though I

had generally (and especially during the last busy six years) been

almost the keeper of my brother’s purse, with a charge to provide for my

personal wants, only annexing in my accounts the memorandum _for Car._

to the sums so laid out—when cast up, they hardly amounted to seven or

eight pounds per year since the time we had left Bath. Nothing but

bankruptcy had all the while been running through my silly head, when

looking at the sums of my weekly accounts and knowing they could be but

trifling in comparison with what had been and had yet to be paid in

town, for my brother had not been fortunate enough to meet with a

reasonable man for a caster who could also furnish the crane, &c., and

his bills came in greatly overcharged. But more of this in another

place. I will only add that from this time the utmost activity prevailed

to forward the completion of the forty-foot. An additional optical

workman was engaged, and preparation made for casting the second mirror.

Journeys to town were made for moulding, and at the end of January a

fine cast mirror arrived safely at Slough. Several seven-foot telescopes

were finished and sent off.

The fine nights were not neglected, though observations were often

interrupted by visitors. Messrs. Cassini, Mechain, Le Genre, and

Carochet spent November 26th and 27th with my brother, and saw many

objects in the twenty-foot and other instruments.

[Sidenote: 1787-1788. _Slough—Marriage of Dr. Herschel._]

The Catalogue of the second thousand new nebulæ wanted but a few numbers

in March to being complete. The observations on the Georgian satellites

furnished a paper which was delivered to the Royal Society in May. The

8th of that month being fixed on for my brother’s marriage, it may

easily be supposed that I must have been fully employed (besides minding

the heavens) to prepare everything as well as I could against the time I

was to give up the place of a housekeeper, which was the 8th of May,

1788.

END OF RECOLLECTIONS.