earlier than usual, but before I was dressed, Mrs. Beckedorff and Mrs.
W. Clarke sent each a beautiful moss-rose and card. Soon after, Mrs.
Clarke and General Halkett came; Generalin Borse and daughter brought
violets; Frau von Both; Ober Medicinal-Rath Mühry; Miss Beckedorff;
Madam Groskopff; Hofräthin Ubelode brought mignonette; Oberjustiz-Rath
von Werloff sent crocuses; Fraulein von Werloff sent a card and
hyacinths; Dr. Groskopff, Hauptman Buse, Alexis Richter, Major
Müller;—all these I saw between twelve and four o’clock, and several for
a good while together. I talked and complimented myself into a fever, of
course “looked blooming,” and am to live to be a hundred years old. What
stuff! After eating my solitary dinner I tried to get a little sleep, as
I generally do, but before I could compose myself enough, two of Major
Müller’s sisters came and remained two hours with me; after they left
me, Fraulein von Werloff sent her companion, a Mademoiselle H., and a
sister, to keep me company till ten o’clock. With difficulty, and the
help of Betty, I got into bed, but could get no sleep, nor the whole day
after.
[Sidenote: 1841-1842. _Her Ninety-first Birthday._]
MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL.
HANOVER, _July 31, 1841_.
MY DEAREST NIECE,—
If it was not that I ought to thank you for your kind letter of June
9th, I should perhaps not have now the spirit to take up the pen; but
your letters always, especially the last, contain, besides the many
consoling expressions, such very interesting information, that I would
not for the world risk to lose the monthly sight of your dear
handwriting, by omitting to return at least my grateful thanks for your
kind communications of what the present philosophers are about.
I think I can form some idea of the author of the book on philosophy
(and godfather of our little Amelia), from what I recollect to have read
some years past in some quarterly publication by a Mr. Whewell, in
defence of Sir Isaac Newton. In short, it met with _my approbation_!
There is for you! What do you say to that?
I do not wish to write in what my dear brother William used to call a
Dick Doleful style, when our brother Alexander was in the dismals, and
out of which we often succeeded in laughing him. But I cannot just now
turn to anything of a cheering nature, for yesterday, the 30th, our
Queen died, and I have been very unwell in consequence of the violent
change in the weather....
The following letter refers to the intended removal of Sir J. Herschel
and his family to Collingwood, which he had purchased:—
MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL.
HANOVER, _August 2, 1841_.
MY DEAREST NIECE,—
... I could wish to know something more about the place where you now
are.[58] How many miles is Collingwood from London? How many from
Hastings? Have you any good people or neighbours about you? I think I
read in Watson’s Gazetteer, Hawkhurst to be full of poor, and, what is
worse, of smugglers. Pray take care of the dear boys and children, that
they are not kidnapped in their little rambles from home.
I can for the present only say so much of myself that my friends are
almost going to kill me with their visits, like, as they say, the cat
did her kitten with kindness. On Sunday I was even honoured with a visit
from the Duchess of Anhalt Dessau and the Princess of Rudolstadt—the
latter a little astronomer—who remained a whole hour with me. They are
both daughters of the late Queen.
[Sidenote: 1842 _Concerning her Brother._]
MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL.
HANOVER, _Feb. 3, 1842_.
... Your mentioning the Government gift of the Kew Observatory to the
Royal Society, recalls to my mind the struggles through a life of
privations during the lapse of between twenty and thirty years, till my
brother had realised a capital sufficient for living in a respectable
manner by making seven, ten, twenty, and twenty-five-foot telescopes.
For it was in 1782 when Mr. De Mainborg, the King’s private astronomer
(formerly one of his tutors) at Kew, died, and my brother, in
consequence of the discovery of the G. Sidus, was called from his
lucrative employment at Bath. His friends had no other idea but that he
was to succeed Mr. De Mainborg at Kew. But it was otherwise decreed, for
the King was surrounded by some _wiseacres_ who knew how to bargain, and
even £100 were offered if he would go to Hanover!
But you know by what I once wrote on a former occasion that he settled
at Datchet with £200 per annum, after four months’ travelling between
London, Greenwich, and Windsor, and moving his workshop and instruments
from a house at Bath, of which he had a lease. And at Michaelmas, 1782,
was the first £50 he ever saw of the King’s money. This happened at the
time when Parliament had granted to the King £80,000 a-year for
encouraging sciences. This I only knew by what I heard at that time, and
that Mr. West, R.A., with his giant Judas, Jervis, who made the
altar-piece for St. George’s chapel (which I once heard Mrs. Beckedorff
say had cost the King £30,000), and Herschel, were the first who
benefited by this grant.
I am full of expectation of W.’s promised description of the Christmas
entertainment; but put him in mind that I do not understand Latin. Of
A’s Greek, I think I can be a judge, knowing the letters of the alphabet
in consequence of their being used in the astronomical catalogues.... I
hope music is still in favour with the family; often I lament that at
the time of our quitting Bath in such a hurry my brother’s musical
treasures were scattered, and given to the winds. Among the rest there
was a song for four voices, “In thee I bear so dear a part,” which was
just going to be published by desire, for it was sung by the first
performers from the London theatres, and encored, between the acts of
the oratorios. I wrote it out ready in parts during my brother’s
absence; but he could not find a moment to send it off, nor to answer
the printer’s letters.
Oh! how I should like to hear some of the glees and catches sung by the
great and little family in the music-room at Collingwood; but it was not
to be! and I had rather leave off and leave some room for the many good
wishes to yourself, my dear nephew, and all those who are dear to you,
and believe me,
My dear niece,
Ever your most affectionate aunt,
CAROLINE HERSCHEL.
[Sidenote: 1842. _Goes to a Play._]
MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL.
HANOVER, _March 3, 1842_.
MY DEAREST NIECE,—
... Nothing runs in my head but what concerns my family and connections,
and I am at present living over again the last eighty-nine years of my
existence.... But I will leave off teazing you with these old stories
with which I am obliged to amuse myself, for I cannot see to work or
read, and must therefore either sleep or scribble, for my visitors come
mostly in the forenoon, their evenings being taken up with public
amusements or private parties, of which I have not been able to be a
partaker these three years, for I see by my account-books it is so many
since I left off subscribing to the play. But to please Mrs. Clarke I
made the experiment on the 3rd of February, whether I should come home
alive after seeing _King Charles II. in Wapping_, acted at the English
Ambassador’s. Mrs. Clarke came about twelve with an invitation from the
Honourable Mrs. Edgecombe—their house not containing a room large enough
for giving great balls, they contrived this way of entertaining the
company. The enclosed playbill will show the rest.
There was no time for consulting milliners, and Mrs. Clarke assisted me
in looking out something from what I had worn some years back, cap and
all. (N.B.—The latter of my own making.) I must give you here a German
saying, if you do not know it, which is, “_Einen jeden Narren gefällt
seine eigene Cappe!_”[59] but I cannot say that I was much pleased with
mine, I have so very few grey hairs left, which, however, I was told
were much admired!
Mrs. C. left me with a promise of sending her chair and servant at
three-quarters past seven, and was waiting in an ante-room for me to
assist me in getting further, and, indeed, the whole evening she did not
withdraw her arm from me till she had put me in my chair again, and the
next morning she was with me almost before I was out of bed. The King,
Princess of Rüdolstadt, and one of the Princes of Solms were among the
company, and I did not come home without receiving their notice. But I
shall not venture on such pranks again, I promise you!
* * * * *
As I am writing this I see it will be my birthday, when I shall be
ninety-two years, if I live. My nephew’s is the 7th, and he will be
fifty, but for all that do not think him to be an old man. His father
was fifty-four when he first saw the light....
The King of Prussia left magnificent presents among the courtiers, and
Generalin Halkett was here on Sunday, and promised to bring me a
snuff-box to look at, which the general has received. I begged she would
not, for the ladies wear no pockets, and lose their purses, &c., as I
daily hear by the town crier. Their pocketkerchiefs they carry open in
their hands, which I think very indelicate; I daresay it is not the
fashion in England....
... I would not wish on any account to see either my nephew or you, my
dear niece, again _in this world, for I could not bear the pain of
parting once more_; but I trust I shall find and know you in the next.
And as long as I can hold a pen, let us, I beg, commune with one another
by letter!
MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL.
HANOVER, _June 2, 1842_.
MY DEAREST NIECE,—
A thousand thanks for your kind letter, which contains ever so much
comfortable and satisfactory information, such as heart can but wish....
I have begun a piece of work which I despair of finishing before my
eyesight and life will leave me in the lurch. You will perhaps wonder
what such a thing as I may pretend to do, can be, but I cannot help it,
and shall not rest till I have wrote the History of the Herschels. I
began, of course, with my father and his parents. My father was born in
January, 1707, and I have now only got so far as the beginning of 1758,
and it begins to interest me much, but I doubt whether I shall live to
finish it, but think it a pity it should be thrown away.[60]...
... Do not forget to thank my little nephew for his pretty letter. His
description of the method his papa makes use of in teaching mathematical
figures, I prefer to that of his grandfather. He used, when making me, a
grown woman, acquainted with them, to make me sometimes fall short at
dinner if I did not guess the angle right of the piece of pudding I was
helping myself to!
[Sidenote: 1842. _Regrets._]
MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL.
HANOVER, _July 7, 1842_.
MY DEAREST NIECE,—
I have just now been reading your dear letter of June 7th once again,
but I shall take care not to look into it for yet a while, else I run
the risk of going mad when thinking of my running away from a country
where I might have been an eye-witness, and sometimes a partaker, of so
much domestic happiness. But it is no matter now, and of no use fretting
about it; I am only sorry I cannot go on with my history as fast as I
could wish, for I feel too unwell to be doing _any_ thing for any length
of time....
... I am glad my dear nephew finds pleasure in giving up so much of his
valuable time to his dear sons; for my hair stands at an end on hearing
what beings are continually expelled from _our_ Eton here, all owing to
ignorant ambitious parents trusting entirely to unprincipled hirelings.
Though my poor brother seemed to have no hands in the education of his
only son, I know, from having been present at many private conversations
he had with Dr. Gretton, that nothing was done without his approbation
and advice.
... The _Astronom. Nachrichten_ have latterly been filled with tables
and too much mathematics (for me). The last numbers, 450, 451, contain
an account, by Struve, of the purchase of Olbers’ books, &c., for the
library of the Observatory at Pulkowa. This puts one in mind of Olbers
saying somewhere, I had discovered five comets. Who wanted him to give
the number of _my_ comets when he knew them no better? As far as I
recollect, Dr. Maskelyne has observed them all, and his observations on
them are, I daresay, all printed in the volumes of the Greenwich
Observations—at least of some he has shown me the proof sheets. I never
called a comet mine till several post days were passed without any
account of them coming to hand. And after all, it is only like the
children’s game, “_Wer am ersten kick ruft, soll den Apfel haben! Wo sie
denn alle rufen kick! kick! und so_,”[61] &c., &c.
I long for the return of the messenger, for I heard to-day that Bessel
and Encke were gone to the philosophical meeting in England, and I
expect to hear a great deal of news. But first and foremost I wish to
see in your next that yourself and my dear nephew, with all the dear
_little, little_ ones, continue to be well and happy....
P.S.—My head is full of my History, and I go on but slowly, because I
cannot sit up for any length of time. I am only at my fourteenth year,
and have just parted from my brother, William Herschel I., who is
returned after a fourteen nights’ visit to us, to England, Leeds in
Yorkshire (where he must be left for some time), and I cannot go on till
I have recovered from the parting scene.
You remember, you take the work in whatever state I may leave it, and
make the best of it at your leisure. Adieu.
TO SIR J. F. W. HERSCHEL.
HANOVER, _August 4, 1842_.
MY DEAREST NEPHEW,—
... Major Müller is not yet returned, and is not expected till
September, from his measuring business, and besides him there is not one
astronomer, or, I may say, rational man in Hanover to whom I could apply
for information in matters which are above my understanding. But in my
next I hope to say more, or rather a great deal about your “Chrysotype,”
for I had a visit to-day from a Berg-Rath-W., who seems to be much
interested in these discoveries.... How I envy you having seen
Bessel—the man who found _us_ the parallax of 61 Cygni....
... I believe I have water on my brains, and all my bones ache so that I
can hardly crawl; and besides sometimes a whole week passes without
anybody coming near me, till they stumble on a paragraph in the
newspaper of Grüthousen’s discoveries, or Lord Queenstown’s great
telescope, which _shall_ beat Sir William Herschel’s all to nothing, and
such a visit sometimes makes me merry for a whole day.
[Sidenote: 1842-1843. _A Total Eclipse._]
SIR J. F. W. HERSCHEL TO MISS HERSCHEL.
COLLINGWOOD, _Aug. 9, 1842_.
MY DEAR AUNT,—
M. tells me I must finish this letter with an account of the total
eclipse of the sun seen at Pavia by Mr. Baily, and at Turin by Mr. Airy.
At Pavia it was very finely seen, and as soon as the sun was totally
covered, the dark moon was seen to be surrounded with a _glory_, like
the heads of saints in old pictures. While he was admiring this, a great
shout from all the population of Pavia broke out at once, which was
caused by the sudden appearance of three purple or lilac-coloured
flames, which seemed to break out from the edge of the moon. At Milan
the same was seen, and the people shouted out “_Es leben die
Astronomen!_”[62] as soon as they saw the flames.
I am glad you got my Chrysotype pictures safe. The present beautiful
sunshine has given me an opportunity to make great progress in
photography, and the enclosed photographic copy of a little engraving or
two may serve to amuse you. Meanwhile the star reductions are not
forgotten. Thirty more sweeps only remain to be reduced, and I am
already in the engraver’s hands with the nebulæ pictures. And so the
world wags with
Your affectionate nephew,
J. F. W. HERSCHEL.
SIR J. F. W. HERSCHEL TO MISS HERSCHEL.
... On the 30th of last month I finished the _reductions_ of all my Cape
nebulæ and double stars, and have got all the former and all but a very
small number of the latter arranged in catalogues in order of Rt.
Ascension for the epoch 1830, January 1st. Thus these two most important
parts of my Cape work are at last secured against _loss_, and it will
not be long now before I shall begin to prepare for the work of
publication in good earnest. I mean as to the narrative part.
_Dec. 8, 1842._
[Sidenote: 1843. _Sir J. Herschel’s Translation._]
LADY HERSCHEL TO MISS HERSCHEL.
_Jan. 12, 1843._
... Your nephew sends you his translation of Schiller’s beautiful and
_instructive_ poem, “The Walk,” in which he tied himself down to the
original metre, and each couplet contains the sense of the corresponding
couplet in German, so that the full strength of the English language was
required to do justice to the comprehensiveness of Schiller’s ideas.
There was a beautiful walk up the side of Table Mountain which always
reminded Herschel of this poem, and made him love it; and lately there
have appeared in an Edinburgh Review translations of all Schiller’s
minor poems, some of which are well done; but he thought “The Walk”
deserved to be better rendered, so he set about it, and distributed it
among his friends as his Christmas sugarplum. The number of interesting
autographs, criticisms, witticisms, &c., which have been thereupon
returned, will make an amusing packet. One lady says (alluding to the
singularity of the hexameter in English) that she found it difficult to
get into the _step_ of the Walk; another, that the _Walk_ had got into a
_Run_, it was so often carried off by friends from his table; another,
not knowing whence it came, intended sending it to Herschel for his
opinion on its merits! another, while admiring the ideas, says “to the
_verse_ I am _averse_.” The good Misses Baillie, of Hampstead, have been
greatly delighted with it. They desired their kindest remembrances to
you.
* * * * *
MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL.
HANOVER, _March 1, 1843_.
... Nine o’clock in the evening (February 19). This is the first moment
of quiet after six days in tumultuous joys by all living beings, from
the most highest to the most lowest, and I will give you here an account
of what share I have had in the rejoicings. In the first place, I must
begin with confessing that I have been uncommonly ill of late, and
nobody came near me to comfort me; for all my friends were too busy with
gala-dresses, or else laid up with colds, &c., from shopping in bad
weather, and paddling about in the snow, and I am at this moment
ignorant of how they have fared....
I have not time to fill the paper, for my friends begin now to take up
my little time of my _short_ forenoons, and the evenings I cannot see;
so here I send what I have been scribbling, and will only add that the
enclosed programme was sent me, on the 14th by the Crown Prince, who
having inquired through somebody after my health, and hearing I was
well, and preparing for illumination, was much affected; and yesterday
his adjutant, Major Stolzenberg, brought me a message from the Crown
Prince, including H. R. H. the Princess, with a present of their
portraits.
* * * * *
* * * * *
TO SIR J. F. W. HERSCHEL, BART.
_April, 1843._
MY DEAREST NEPHEW!—
Many thanks for your dear letter, which I found on my breakfast-table on
the morning of the 16th March,[63] ... when the Crown Prince and
Princess were announced. Mrs. Clarke, who just came in, assisted me to
entertain the royal and interesting pair for nearly an hour. They came
in arm in arm, carrying an immense bouquet before them, which I heard
afterwards they were returning with from the hothouses at Herrnhausen.
As soon as the Princess was placed on the sofa, and I beside the same,
the Crown Prince drew a chair close to me, chatting and joining in our
conversation. I could not help giving the Princess the lines of your
letter to read, where you mention them so prettily, and presenting her
with “The Walk,” which was lying among the flowers and the open letters
before us on the table. It was a little rumpled in the coming, which she
said made it the more welcome, as it would remind her of its having once
been mine.
I intended to amuse you with the list of the names and titles of all the
visitors I had to receive on that day, but you will find them one of
these days in my Day-book; and I will only say that it was rather too
much to expect me to be civil to upwards of thirty persons in one day,
which lasted till evening, so that I had no time to eat a morsel,
finding myself seriously ill.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: 1843. _On the Zodiacal Light._]
_May 4, 1843._
Memorandum for my next letter, made April 23rd.
To my Nephew. On reading your letter to the editor of the _Times_, of
March 31st, I recollect having written down some observations of your
father’s on the zodiacal light; he never lost an opportunity of noticing
anything remarkable during twilight, or in the absence of nebulæ, &c.,
and I remember also his explaining to me another kind of ray, which is
after sun-setting, reaching up _very_ high; but this only appears for
one or two nights at the equinox: but I have forgot all about it, and
want only to speak here about a _temporary_ Index to observations, in
which I know a few of suchlike memorandums were catalogued or carried in
their separate books. With this Index your father was never satisfied,
telling me, “I could not make an Index, it was a task Sir I. Newton had
found too difficult to accomplish,” ... and he would hardly allow me to
make use of this book, after calling it a _temporary_ Index. But it has
often saved me a whole week’s poring over the Journals for a
memorandum....
MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL.
_June, 1843._
MY DEAREST AND BEST NIECE,—
I must write a few lines by way of thanking you for your dear letter of
May 9th. Your description of the splendid observations which are made on
the roof of your own mansion, recall the many solitary and, at the same
time, happy hours I spent on my little roof at Slough, when I was not
wanted at the twenty-foot. And I cannot help at the same time regretting
my having spent these last twenty years in so useless a manner, between
roofs and houses which prevent my seeing even an eclipse of the moon
when in a low part of the ecliptic, it passes away behind the houses of
my opposite neighbours; and so did the glorious tail of your comet, of
which, however, I have gathered all that has been said in the papers,
besides what you and my dear nephew have been so kind as to
communicate....
I have just been reading part of your dear packet over again, and am
resolved to follow your advice, and say as little of what happens now as
possibly I can help, and send herewith what I call the first part of my
History, of which I wish you will in your very next give me your sincere
opinion. I shall judge by it if I may go on, or lay down the pen for
ever.
(I hope the packet containing my brother’s biography has been safely
taken care of among his papers, for I have no copy of it; pray let me
know if you have seen such a packet, I think it is in quarto, and that I
put it in a cover like all the MSS.)
Of the present I can only say that I have been unable to do anything
beside keeping myself alive, and getting my clothes on by twelve at
noon, so that I may be able to receive anybody who may call on me
between that hour and eight in the evening.
* * * * *
This brings to my remembrance, that when I was godmother to Mrs.
Waterhouse’s eldest sister in 1787, I was called away in the afternoon
to help my brother to receive the Princesse Lamballe, who came with a
numerous attendance to see the moon, &c. About a fortnight after, her
head was off.
[Sidenote: 1843. _On her Recollections._]
SIR J. F. W. HERSCHEL TO MISS HERSCHEL.
COLLINGWOOD, _Sept. 13, 1843_.
MY DEAR AUNT,—
Again we are rejoiced by the sight of your handwriting, and by the
admirable and truly interesting History of your own younger days, which
you have sent with your delightful letter, and which arrived perfectly
safe, and, you may be sure, will be treasured as the apple of the eye,
and often read and re-read. I began the reading of it last evening to
all your grand-nephews and nieces who are old enough to understand it,
and the History of their great-grandpapa’s hardships after the Battle of
Dettingen, and poor uncle Alexander’s harsh treatment, and your own
quiet, thoughtful activity and self-dependence, made on all my hearers,
as well as on myself, an impression which I am sure will not easily be
forgotten, and which I shall take care not to let them forget. We all
entreat you to continue it, and you need not be in any fear about the
_writing_. Your handwriting (Gottlob[64]) is still excellently good, and
there was not a word either in your letter or in the “History” that gave
me the least trouble to read....
... I visited in London Mde. Taylor (whom you entrusted with the
pictures of your Royal visitors, which are very charming things, and
seem as if they must be good likenesses). I did not find her husband at
home, but she is a very pleasing person, and pleased me greatly by the
respectful and friendly way in which she spoke of you. We hope to see
them here, where they will be much valued, as will be the effigy or
recollection of everybody that has been kind to you, or anything that
has given you pleasure....
The only news I have to send you is that of Capt. Ross’s safe return
with the South Polar Expedition after nearly four years’ absence, having
penetrated to the 79th degree of S. Lat., and discovered a new continent
full of volcanoes and icy mountains, and the true position of the south
magnetic pole. He anchored his ship upon the spot where the Americans
say they found land, and found no bottom at six hundred fathoms!
MISS HERSCHEL TO SIR J. F. W. HERSCHEL.
_June 4, 1844._
MY DEAREST NEPHEW,—
... For these last three months I have not been able to add a single
line to my Memoir, but what you will find among my papers and
memorandums; perhaps your daughter Isabella may, for her amusement some
time or other, correct and write in the clear, my scribblings, for I
find that in attempting to correct one blunder I am making two others in
the same line. But I wish you might see, by what I say of myself, what
trouble and invention it must have cost your father to enable me to
assist in determining the places of all these objects, and I see with
pleasure that your observations agree so nearly.
* * * * *
I was going to send, for the amusement of my dear niece, some
description of what is going on here in Hanover, but I find it would be
too much for my time and patience at present, and will only say that I
believe they are all out of their senses.
There is an _Eisenbahn_[65] from Hanover to Braunschweig just now
completed, which has turned them all wild. Some hundreds of high
officers all (but the King) set off at eight o’clock to breakfast with
the Braunschweigers, and returned with the same at three to dinner
(eight hundred in number) in the orangery at Herrnhausen, from whence
the Braunschweigers returned and were at home, I believe, again at
eight.
I am too tired at present, else I was going to tell you how they are
building. Hanover is now twice as large as when you saw it last; nothing
but castles will serve them any longer. I have all this from hearsay,
for I have not been downstairs since February 3, 1842.
* * * * *
They talk of nothing here at the clubs but of the great mirror and the
great man who made it. I have but one answer for all, which is, “_Der
Kerl ist ein Narr!_”[66]...
MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL.
_March 4, 1845._
MY DEAREST NIECE,—
* * * * *
Have I understood you aright? Saw you the thermometer 1½° above zero?
the lowest I have heard of here was only 13° below freezing; but we are
buried in snow!
_March 5th._—No alteration in the weather, nor in my affection for my
dear niece and nephew and their ten children! the first is as cold as
the latter is warm!
* * * * *
[Sidenote: 1845. _The Great Telescope._]
_April 29, 1845._
In his father’s library my nephew must have found a folio volume of H——
(an astronomer and copper engraver), where, for every hour a distinct
picture [of the moon] is given. In the Phil. Transactions for 1780, p.
507, is the first paper of William Herschel on the Moon. In 1787; 1792,
p. 27; 1793, p. 206, measure of mountains, &c.
Twenty-three years ago, when first I came here, I visited Madame W. (not
von) once or twice, saw her observatory and a telescope, I believe not
above 24-inch focal length; at that time she amused herself with
modelling the heads of the Roman Emperors: her daughter, then a girl,
was a poet, and a portrait of her was exhibited as a Sappho crowned with
laurels....
* * * * *
The great difficulty of writing begins at last to tell in Miss
Herschel’s correspondence. One more letter in 1845, is the last of the
ample sheets she had been used to fill. The monthly report becomes
shorter, more blotted, and betrays extreme feebleness. On the first of
October, 1846, she wrote:
MY DEAREST NIECE!—
I must not let the messenger go without a line just to say that I am
still in the land of the living, of which, however, I have no other
proof than a letter from Baron v. Humboldt, inclosing a Golden Medal
from the King of Prussia. I can say no more at present, and the post
will not wait, so believe me, my dear niece, yours and my dear nephew’s
most affectionate aunt,
CAR. HERSCHEL.
The following is the letter referred to from Alexander von Humboldt
which accompanied the Gold Medal presented by the King of Prussia on the
occasion of her ninety-sixth birthday:—
[Sidenote: 1846-1847. _Letter—Baron Humboldt._]
BERLIN, _Sept. 25, 1846_.
MOST HONOURED LADY AND FRIEND!—
His Majesty the King, in recognition of the valuable services rendered
to Astronomy by you, as the fellow-worker of your immortal brother, Sir
William Herschel, by discoveries, observations, and laborious
calculations, commanded me, before his departure for Silesia, to convey
to you, in his name, the large Gold Medal for Science, and to express to
you the gratification he felt that, by God’s grace, your noble life has
been a long succession of years free of pain, and that now in your
solitude you continue to enjoy the reflected glory of the all-embracing
knowledge, the great labours in both hemispheres, and the profoundly
penetrating genius of your illustrious nephew, Sir John Herschel. To be
had in remembrance by an intellectual and kind-hearted Prince cannot be
a matter of indifference to you. He had wished you to receive this
little gratification on your ninety-sixth birthday, and by an
unfortunate mistake the date of Caroline Lucretia Herschel’s birth has
been changed from the 16th of March to the 16th of October, and _I_ am
the culprit, misled by a misprint in a French history of astronomy. I
know I may count upon your indulgence and that of your distinguished
family in England. I specially deserve such leniency to-day—the day on
which my young friend, Dr. Galle, assistant astronomer in our
Observatory (to the triumph of theoretical astronomy be it said), has
discovered the transuranian planet indicated by Leverrier as the cause
of the perturbations of Uranus.
With the deepest respect,
I am your most obedient, although illegible,
ALEXANDER HUMBOLDT.
Do not trouble yourself to write to the King; I will convey your thanks
to him.
Once more a few lines, begun November 1st, and finished December 3rd,
were traced, betraying, now only for the first time, the apprehension
that they might be the last, in the words—
Miss Beckedorff shall write for me if I do not get better. Loves to
_all_.
CAROLINE HERSCHEL.
Even this, the last letter of all, is addressed in a large, clear
handwriting. Henceforth “the messenger” carried no more the large
familiar sheet which had often been filled at the cost of many days’
work and frequent re-writing; but her kind friend, Miss Beckedorff,
wrote a regular monthly report to the anxious friends in England, from
which the following most interesting extracts are taken:—
EXTRACTS FROM THE LETTERS OF MISS BECKEDORFF TO
SIR JOHN AND LADY HERSCHEL.
_Dec. 1846._
* * * * *
... She said that whilst she was idling away her time on her couch she
had—with her mind’s eye—set up a whole solar system in one corner of her
room, and given to each newly-discovered star its proper place. She
cried when I told her again of your and Sir John’s solicitude about her,
&c.
_March, 1847._
Her likeness has been taken by two young painters lately.... She was
sitting—or rather reclining—for her picture whilst my niece was with
her, and the exertion of it made her at first nervous and hysterical,
but by degrees she overcame it, and conversed cheerfully. I am sorry to
say the drawing which I saw did not do justice to her intelligent
countenance; the features are too strong, not feminine enough, and the
expression too fierce; but I hear the picture which I did not see is
more like her.
[Sidenote: 1847. _Declining Strength._]
_March 31, 1847._
I am commissioned by dear Miss Herschel to send to you and for her dear
nephew, with her best love, the accompanying print, which I fear will at
first sight not satisfy you. The artist has, I believe, imitated the
style of the old German school of Albert Dürer, resembling more a
‘woodcut’ than a print, nor does it justice to her fine old countenance.
Yet it is extremely like in features, expression, and deportment, her
eyes having taken the languid expression more from fatigue occasioned by
her _sitting_ for the picture, whilst she is used generally to recline
on her sofa, and I see them very frequently sparkle with all their
former animation.... She has, as I predicted, lived to begin her
ninety-eighth year, and she has stood the exertions and excitements of
her birthday even better than could have been expected. I saw her on the
15th, and again on the 17th; for knowing that Mrs. Clarke, who, like all
General Halkett’s family, are full of kind attentions to her, would act
as her aide-de-camp on the occasion, I felt that it would only be adding
to the number of those who must be kindly spoken to if I had gone to see
her on the 16th. Upon passing the door I just saw a beautiful and most
comfortable velvet armchair, a cake, and magnificent nosegay carried up
to her, and soon after met the gracious donor, our kind Crown-Princess,
with the Crown-Prince and the Royal child driving to her; they stayed
nearly two hours, Miss Herschel conversing with them without relaxation,
and even singing to them a composition of Sir William’s, ‘Suppose we
sing a Catch.’ The King sent his message by Countess Grote. On the 17th
I found her, more revived than exhausted, in a new gown and smart cap,
which Betty provided; and Betty’s own cap was new trimmed for the
occasion, strictly in keeping with the style of her mistress, and I can
but again commend the judgment and zeal with which she makes her
arrangements for the comfort and appearance of dear Miss Herschel, and
for a fit reception of her high and numerous visitors.
... I ran over to ask for Miss Herschel’s own message before I seal. I
am to “give her best love to her dear nephew, niece, and the children,
and to say that she often wished to be with them, often felt alone, did
not quite like old age with its weaknesses and infirmities, but that she
too sometimes laughed at the world, liked her meals, and was satisfied
with Betty’s services.”
... You may rest assured that she is most carefully attended to, and
Betty is not only fully to be depended upon, but is also extremely
judicious, and the only person who has gained Miss Herschel’s entire
confidence and approbation.... I have charged her to come to me whenever
she sees a possibility of doing anything for her mistress’s comfort,
and, from the girl’s unaffected attachment for her, can quite rely upon
her. Dear Miss Herschel has, indeed, arranged everything beforehand; and
for years past has reserved a sum to answer all calls in the event of
her death.
_June 29, 1847._
... I generally find her dozing, and now always lying on her sofa; she
requires, however, but a very short moment to recollect herself, and
then enters into a conversation, of which she takes the greater and by
far the better part on herself. It generally carries her back to old
times and events and persons long gone by, sometimes with great humour,
sometimes with regret; and when she enters upon subjects of vexation, I
have the means of restoring cheerfulness and satisfaction by speaking of
her nephew and his family. She avoids topics of a directly serious and
religious nature—and is indeed so much alone that she has time for these
reflections when by herself.
_Dec. 2, 1847._
A few days ago she talked of her childhood, and even sung me a little
ballad she had then learnt.
[Sidenote: 1846. _Survey of the Nebulous Heavens._]
While her faculties were equal to the appreciation of the gift, she
received a copy of Sir John Herschel’s great work of _Cape
Observations_. The first of the two following letters tells how it was
in progress; the next announces its completion; and thus, by a most
striking and happy coincidence, she, whose unflagging toil had so
greatly contributed to its successful prosecution in the hands of her
beloved brother, lived to witness its triumphant termination through the
no-less persistent industry and strenuous labour of his son, and her
last days were crowned by the possession of the work which brought to
its glorious conclusion Sir William Herschel’s vast undertaking—THE
SURVEY OF THE NEBULOUS HEAVENS.
SIR J. F. W. HERSCHEL TO MISS HERSCHEL.
COLLINGWOOD, _Dec. 8, 1846_.
MY DEAR AUNT,—
Your letter, which arrived this morning, confirms the apprehension which
the absence of any news from you during the last month had begun to
excite, that you were unwell, and has caused us the liveliest sorrow.
How I wish we were near you, that dear M. could be with you and nurse
you. But the same kind Providence which has preserved you so long in
health will not fail you in sickness. Meanwhile, I pray and entreat you
not to decline the attendance of our good Dr. Mühry, or to avail
yourself of any comforts that Hanover can afford. We shall look most
anxiously for further accounts from Mde. Knipping, or if her family
distresses will not allow her (as you say she has lost her mother very
lately), from the kind pen of Miss Beckedorff, and I hope they will not
wait for the messenger, but write by the post, and that immediately, as
soon as this reaches your hands.
Still I trust to see many more letters in your own handwriting, and that
the cessation of the very severe weather we have had of late will prove
beneficial in restoring your strength, to enable you to face the farther
progress of the season, which, if your climate is anything like ours, is
always worse in February than at Christmas....
I am working still hard at my book (of which you will have by this time
received the first four hundred pages), but I cannot get on quite so
fast as I would, and I greatly fear it will not be out by Christmas.
SIR JOHN HERSCHEL TO MISS HERSCHEL.
_July 11, 1847._
MY DEAR AUNT,—
I send to the messenger who will take this, a copy of my “Cape
Observations” for you, and I hope it will not be too large for him to
take.
You will then have in your hands the completion of my father’s work—“The
Survey of the Nebulous Heavens.”
I hope you will be able to look at the figures (the engravings of the
principal nebulæ). As to the letter-press, the Introduction will perhaps
interest you, and I daresay Miss Beckedorff or Mde. Knipping will be
kind enough to read it to you—a little at a time.
A copy is on its way I presume by this time to His Majesty the King of
Hanover, as a testimony of respect to a sovereign who has shown you on
many occasions such kind attentions.
Louisa sends you all our news, and the autographs of Struve and Adams,
who, with M. Leverrier, are now at Collingwood.
Adieu, dear aunt,
From your ever-affectionate nephew,
J. F. W. HERSCHEL.
[Sidenote: 1847. _Latter Days._]
But the time was past when such gifts could be acknowledged with the old
enthusiasm, though the faculty to appreciate them had not failed, and we
can well imagine how nothing in the power of man to bestow could have
given her such pleasure on her death-bed as this last crowning
completion of her brother’s work.
The Day-book had long ceased. The final entry, on 3rd September, 1845,
is “_Astronomischen Nachrichten[67] came in_.” As the letters show, the
never-failing birthday festival had been gallantly encountered, and the
accustomed offerings of her many friends with their good wishes, always
including those of the Royal Family, received in the usual place. But
the curtain begins to descend, and the months to go by with only a
bulletin to announce that she still lived, and, as the following extract
from a letter written by her friend Miss Beckedorff shows, with unabated
will and perfectly collected faculties:—
Her decided objection to having her bed placed in a warmer room had
brought on a cold and cough, and so firm was her determination to
preserve her old customs, and not to yield to increasing infirmities,
that when, upon Dr. M.’s positive orders, I had a bed made up in her
room, before she came to sit in it one day, it was not till two o’clock
in the night that Betty could persuade her to lie down in it. Upon going
to her the next morning, I had the satisfaction, however, of finding her
perfectly reconciled to the arrangement; she now felt the comfort of
being undisturbed, and she has kept to her bed ever since. Her mental
and bodily strength is gradually declining, and although she at times
rallies wonderfully, we can hardly expect that another month will elapse
ere I have to make my sad and last report.... She says that she is
without pain; fever has left her, and her pulse is regular and good,
though weak at times. She still turns and even raises herself without
assistance, and at times converses with us.... A few days ago she was
ready for a joke. When Mrs. Clarke told her that General Halkett sent
his love, and “hoped she would soon be so well again that he might come
and give her a kiss, as he had done on her birthday,” she looked very
archly at her, and said, “Tell the General that I have not tasted
anything since I liked so well.” I have just left her, and upon my
asking her to give me a message for her nephew, she said, “Tell them
that I am good for nothing,” and went to sleep again.... She is not
averse to seeing visitors.
_January 6th._
[Sidenote: 1848. _The Long Life is Ended._]
Four days later the same kind friend had to tell how peacefully and
gently the end came at last.
_Jan. 10th, 1848._—Your excellent aunt, my kind revered friend, breathed
her last at eleven o’clock last night, the 9th of January.... She
suffered but little, and went to sleep at last with scarcely a struggle.
Up to the last moment she has had the most undeniable proofs of the
affection and veneration of her own family and a number of friends, both
English and German. Mr. Wilkinson, the English clergyman, has been
unremitting in his visits, and so kind and judicious was his manner,
that she received them to the last with unfeigned satisfaction.... At
four o’clock the guns announced the birth of a young Princess—an event
she had anticipated with much interest; and upon her being told of it
she opened her eyes for the last time with consciousness.
The following, translated from a letter of Miss Herschel’s niece, Mrs.
Knipping, to her cousin, Sir J. Herschel, is a most precious fragment,
expressing the sentiments of one who for years contributed to lighten
the grievous burden of age and growing infirmity by her constant
affection and appreciative sympathy. The regret that so little remains
from the same pen is enhanced by the fact that no notes, or memorials of
any kind, appear to exist by which we might hope to picture to ourselves
one whose unconscious self-portraiture makes us crave to see and know
and become familiarly acquainted with her, as she was seen and known by
others. Comparatively recent as was her death, to the best of our
knowledge all have passed away from whose lips we could hope to gather
the impressions of personal acquaintance. Excepting from the letters
already quoted on the occasion of her nephew’s two visits to Hanover, it
is not until she lay on her death-bed that we obtain a glimpse of her
drawn by any other hand than her own.
_January 13, 1848._
... I felt almost a sense of joyful relief at the death of my aunt, in
the thought that now the unquiet heart was at rest. All that she had of
love to give was concentrated on her beloved brother. At his death she
felt herself alone. For after those long years of separation she could
not but find us all strange to her, and no one could ever replace his
loss. Time did indeed lessen and soften the overpowering weight of her
grief, and then she would regret that she had ever left England, and
condemned herself to live in a country where nobody cared for astronomy.
I shared her regret, but I knew too well that even in England she must
have found the same blank. She looked upon progress in science as so
much detraction from her brother’s fame, and even your investigations
would have become a source of estrangement had she been with you. She
lived altogether in the past, and she found the present not only strange
but annoying. Now, thank God, she has gone where she will find again all
that she loved. I shall long feel her loss, for I prized and loved her
dearly, and it is to me a most precious recollection that she loved me
best of all those here, admitted me to closer intimacy, and allowed me
to know something even of her inner life.
[Sidenote: 1848. _The End of All._]
All the necessary instructions about her property, her house, her
burial, she had written years before; even the sum which she considered
sufficient had been carefully set apart for the funeral expenses, and
everything, down to the minutest trifle, had been arranged, so that her
executor, Sir John Herschel, might have the least possible trouble. She
especially prayed him not to come should her death occur in the winter;
but the reiterated instructions through the long series of letters show
how keen was her anxiety that whatever she possessed of value should
pass into his hands, and that no one of her Hanoverian connections, with
the exception of Mrs. Knipping [who, with Miss Beckedorff, was entrusted
with her keys], should intermeddle. She desired to be laid beside her
father and mother, and an inscription[68] of her own composition records
how she was her brother’s assistant, &c. She was followed to the grave
by many relations and friends, the Royal carriages forming part of the
procession; the coffin was covered with garlands of laurel and cypress
and palm branches sent by the Crown Princess from Herrnhausen, and the
holy words spoken over it were uttered in that same garrison church in
which, nearly a century before, she had been christened, and afterwards
confirmed. One direction she could not put on paper, but she desired
Mrs. Knipping to place in her coffin a lock of her beloved brother’s
hair and an old, almost obliterated, almanack that had been used by her
father.
APPENDIX.
THE inventory of the books, pictures, &c., in the sitting-room of No.
376 Braunschweiger Strass, is too characteristic to be omitted. The
following is a copy of it:—
Inventory of engravings, all in good black frames, with gilded beads,
and glazed:—
My Nephew, J. H.
My Mother.
A drawing of Slough, by J. Herschel.
My Brother, Lithographed.
Forty-foot Telescope.
Medallion of Wm. H., by Flaxman, of 1782.
Medallion of Wm. H., by Lochée, of 1787.
Engraving of Dr. Maskelyne, and
Greenwich Observatory (presented to me by himself).
BOOKS.
Bode’s Atlas.
South’s Observations on Double and Treble Stars, from Phil.
Transactions, Vol. I., 1826.
South’s Discordance between the Sun’s observed and computed Place. 1826.
On the Elements and Orbit of Halley’s Comet, &c., by Lieut. W. S.
Stratford, 1837.
Preface to, &c., &c., of a General Astronomical Catalogue, by F.
Wollaston, 1789.
J. H.’s Fourth Series of Observations with a twenty-foot Reflector,
containing the places of 1236 Double Stars.
Stars in the Southern Hemisphere, observed at Paramatta, in New South
Wales, by J. Dunlop, 1828.
Astronom. Nachrichten, from 1833 to 1839, in 7 vols. (half bound).
Emerson’s Treatise of Arithmetic.
Introduction to Sir I. Newton’s Philosophy, with an Essay on, &c., by
John Ryland, M.A. (Mem.—A Keepsake of General Komerzewsky to me, and now
the same to my dear Nephew from his affectionate Aunt, C. H.)
Salmon’s Geographical and Astronomical Grammar.
Ferguson’s Astronomy.
Watson’s Universal Gazetteer.
Quarterly Journal, Vol. XII., 1822.
Quarterly Review, July, 1832.
Edinburgh Review, January, 1834.
The Connexion of the Physical Sciences, by Mrs. Somerville, 1835.
Third Vol. of Joanna Baillie’s Plays. (Mem.—Was given me by Lady H. the
day before I left England, to remember my friend, J. B.)
John F. Wm. Herschel’s Discourse on Nat. Philosophy, which was published
in Dr. Lardner’s Cabinet, and that on Astronomy, I had handsomely bound
and presented them to the Duke of Cambridge, who asked them of me, and
would not even wait till I could read them through myself.
Göttinger Anzeigen, 202, 203 Stück, Dec. 14, 1833.
J. Herschel’s Papers, from January 12th, 1828, to Nov. 11th, 1833. Bound
and directed to the Duke of Cambridge (from C. H.).
Eighteen of Wm. H.’s Papers, collected and bound in one volume, and
directed for Hauptman Müller.
Über den Neuentdecken Planeten, by Bode, 1784.
Introduction to English Grammar, by R. South.
1st and 2nd Vols. of Pfaff’s Translation of Herschel’s Sämtliche
Schriften, 1826 (collected works).
Abominable stuff! What is to be done with them? They are so prettily
bound, I cannot take it in my heart to burn them.
---------------------
Landing place and five back rooms contain nothing but what is necessary
for the convenience of my servant and myself; and is mostly bought at
the fairs, for a trifling price. (Tables and chairs stained like
mahogany, the latter with cane bottoms, at 18d. a-piece, are, after
seven years’ use, like new.)
Landing-place: A clothes-press, a glass globe, a few chairs.
My Bedroom: A bedstead and bedding, &c., &c. 70 thl. dressing-glass,
mahogany frame, plate 22 by 14 inches. (I brought it with me from
England.)
A cupboard containing tea things, &c., for company. Urn, tea-board, &c.,
waiter, two teapots, milk-pot, and slop-bason (black Wedgwood).
A few cups and saucers, coffee-pot, two glass plates, one and half dozen
bishop glasses, tumblers, cake-basket, &c.
Plate: Ha! ha! ha! ha!
Twelve teaspoons, 1 sugar-tongs, 1 table, 1 dessert, and 1 saltspoon, 4
plated candlesticks, very little used.
The superscription on the last page is as follows:—
It is a pity that I am not at Slough to put the glazed prints in my
nephew’s study; and many articles of furniture would be so useful in the
school-room of my little nephews and nieces. God bless them all!
---------------------
EPITAPH OF MISS HERSCHEL.
Hier ruhet die irdische Hülle von
CAROLINA HERSCHEL,
Geboren zu Hannover den 16^{ten} Marz, 1750,
Gestorben den 9^{ten} Januar, 1848.
Der Blick der Verklärten war hienieden dem gestirnten Himmel zugewandt,
die eigenen Cometen Entdeckungen, und die Theilnahme an den
unsterblichen Arbeiten ihres Bruders, Wilhelm Herschel, zeugen davon bis
in die späte Nachwelt.
Die Königliche Irländische Akademie zu Dublin und die Königliche
Astronomische Gesellschaft in London zählten sie zu ihren Mitgliedern.
In den Alter von 97 Jahren 10 Monathen entschlief sie mit heiterer Ruhe
und bei völliger Geisteskraft, ihrem zu einem besseren Leben
vorangegangenen Vater Isaac Herschel folgend der ein Lebensalter von 60
Jahren, 2 Monathen, 17 Tagen erreichte und seit den 25^{ten} Marz, 1767,
hierneben begraben liegt.
[_Translation._]
Here rests the earthly shell of
CAROLINE HERSCHEL,
Born at Hanover, March 16, 1750,
Died January 9, 1848.
The gaze of Her whose eyes are now opened sought while here below the
starry skies: her comet discoveries, and her share in the undying work
of her Brother, William Herschel, shall tell of this to all time.
The Royal Irish Academy of Dublin, and the Royal Astronomical Society of
London counted her among their Members.
At the age of 97 years 10 months she fell asleep in perfect peace, and
in full vigour of mind, following into a better life her Father, Isaac
Herschel, who lived to the age of 60 years 2 months 17 days, preceded
her in 1767, and lies buried hard by.
---------------------
THE GRAVE OF CAROLINE HERSCHEL.
FROM MISS BECKEDORFF.
_Feb. 4, 1850._
“... If I have owned my having neglected visiting Sir John’s _living_
relations, it has not been the same with the churchyard. I have now been
confined with cold and fever seven weeks, but one of my last visits was
to our lamented friend’s grave, which, with the stone and inscription on
it, was in perfect order. On the 16th of March I intend to have a bush
of white roses planted near it, knowing that my good mother would have
paid her that little tribute had she outlived her revered friend. The
white rose she had planted on the grave of Mrs. P. (?) in the same
churchyard (the mutual friend of both) continues to blossom every year,
and now is a memorial to me and my good mother likewise.”
FROM HERR WINNECKE (Assist. Astron. at Pulkowa.)
“Travelling a few days ago through Hanover, I seized the opportunity of
visiting Miss Caroline’s grave. Pastor Richter, her grand-nephew, took
me to it. It is in the churchyard of the ‘Gartengemeinde,’ and in a good
state of preservation; a heavy slab lies on it, on which is engraved a
long inscription, composed by Miss Caroline herself. At the head is
planted a rose-bush, from which I gathered the leaves which I enclose. I
venture also to send two ‘shadow-outlines’ of Miss Caroline, which I had
taken from a silhouette in the possession of Frau Dr. Groskopf.”
_June 26, 1864._
INDEX.
Academy, R. Irish, 300.
Astronomical Society of London, 221, 271.
Aubert, Alex., letter from Miss Herschel on discovering her first
comet, 66;
her third comet, 86.
Baily, F., letter from Miss Herschel, 272-274;
letter to her with his “Account of Flamsteed,” 281;
her answer, 282.
Baldwin, Miss, her marriage, 129;
death, 132.
Banks, Sir J., letter from William Herschel on his sister’s second
comet, 84;
from Miss Herschel on her third comet, 85;
and her eighth, 94.
Beckedorff, Miss, letters during the latter years of Miss Herschel’s
life, 338-340, 343-345.
Beckedorff, Mrs., 108.
Blagden, Dr., letter from Miss Herschel about her first comet, 65.
Brewster, Sir David, opinion of Miss Herschel’s catalogue of all the
star-clusters and Nebulæ, 145, 146.
Cambridge, Duke of, letter to Miss Herschel on the return of her nephew
from the Cape, 292.
Cape of Good Hope—Sir John Herschel leaves the Cape, 292.
Collingwood, the seat of the Herschel family, 320.
Comets, Miss Herschel’s first, 64;
second, 80;
third, 85;
fifth, sixth, 93;
eighth, 94.
Cumberland, Duke of, proclaimed king of Hanover, 290.
Dessau, Princess of Anhalt, letter to Miss Herschel, 267.
Earthquake at Lisbon, sensation produced in Hanover, 6.
Encke, Prof., letter to Miss Herschel, 248.
Englefield, Sir H., letter from W. Herschel on his sister’s second
comet, 83.
Epitaph on Miss Herschel, 351.
Etna, Mount, ascent by Sir John Herschel, 173.
Flamsteed’s Catalogue, calculations for, 60.
Forty-foot telescope, 76, 308, 309, 310.
Gauss, Hofrath, letter from Miss Herschel, with her index to
Flamsteed’s Observations, 191;
his answer, 195.
George III. visits the Slough Observatory, 104;
anecdote of, and the Archb. of Canterbury, 309.
Georgian Satellites, the, 74, 305, 316.
Georgium Sidus, the, discovered, 39.
Gloucester, Princess Sophia of, visit to the telescope, 128.
Halley’s Comet, 283.
Herschel, Alex., assists his brother William, 36, 53, 109, 111, 115,
122;
returns to Hanover, 125;
death, 132;
notice of, 132.
Herschel, Caroline Lucretia, early recollections, 1-28;
affection for her brother William, 9;
at the Garrison school, 11;
her father’s careful training, 13;
typhus fever, 15;
confirmation, 17;
learns dress-making, 21;
accompanies William to England, 26-28;
life in Bath, 29-50;
_Heimwehe_, 33;
visit to Mrs. Colebrook, 34;
musical rehearsals, 36;
reputation as a singer, 40;
assists her brother, 42;
life at Datchet, 50;
accidents, 55;
Clay Hall, 57;
Slough, 58;
Flamsteed’s Catalogue, 60, 61;
her _sweeps_, 64, 146-148;
first comet, 64;
salary of 50_l._ as her brother’s assistant, 75;
her eight comets, 80-94;
lives by herself, 95;
Index to Flamsteed’s Observations, 96;
extracts from diary, 98-132;
at Bath, 105;
at Slough, 107;
removes to Chalvy, 108;
resides at Upton, 109;
returns to Hanover on the death of her brother, 133;
_Recollections_, 133-140;
her works, 145;
bitter disappointment in her brother Dietrich’s family, 149;
letters, 152;
Catalogue of the Nebulæ, 181;
her will, 200;
presentation of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society,
221;
her Portrait, 237, 338;
Paganini, 247;
her nephew’s visit, 254;
anecdotes of his boyish amusements, 259;
Hon. Member of the Royal Astronomical Society, 271;
letter from Mrs. Somerville, 274;
illumination in honour of the Duke of Cumberland being proclaimed
king of Hanover, 290;
visit of her nephew and his son, 293-295;
Hon. Member of the R. Irish Academy, 300;
extracts from day-book, 303-307;
anecdotes of the forty-foot telescope, 308, 309;
describes Christmas in Germany, 313;
her 92nd birthday, 318;
begins the history of the Herschels, 324;
her 93rd birthday, 330;
the first railway between Hanover and Braunschweig, 334;
presented with a gold medal by the king of Prussia, 336;
her last letter, 337;
enters her 98th year, 339;
her death, 344;
funeral, 347;
epitaph, 351;
her grave, 352.
Herschel, Sir John, first mention of, 104;
at Cambridge, 117;
senior wrangler, 120;
member of the University of Göttingen, 125;
ascends Mount Etna, 172;
at Munich, 175;
visits his aunt, 177, 293;
Secretary to the Royal Society, 181;
at Montpelier, 201;
catalogue of double stars, 213;
his marriage, 236;
describes his aunt, 254;
anecdotes of his boyhood, 259;
letters from the Cape, 263;
sweeping, 266;
the Milky Way, 270;
Halley’s comet, 283;
spots on the sun, 286, 287;
Saturn’s sixth satellite, 288, 289;
returns to England, 292;
created a baronet, 305;
on the Orionis star, 316;
eclipse of the sun in 1842, 327;
his chrysotype pictures, 327;
translation of Schiller’s “Walk,” 328, 329;
acknowledges his aunt’s history, 333.
Herschel, Lady, letters from Miss Herschel, 152 _et seq._;
her death, 252.
Herschel, Sir William, early display of talents, 3;
proficiency in music, 7;
accompanies his regiment to England, 8;
resides at Bath, 21;
fetches his sister Caroline, 26;
his musical compositions, 36;
erection of the twenty-foot telescope, 37;
discovers the Georgium Sidus, 39;
casting of the great mirror, 43;
goes to London and is introduced to the King, 45;
Royal Astronomer, 50;
limited salary, 50;
removes to Datchet, 50;
to Clay Hall, 57;
to Slough, 58;
the Georgian Satellites, 74;
marriage, 78;
observations on his sister’s comet, 84, 85;
his failing health, 124;
sits for his portrait, 129;
death, 133.
Hesse, Princess of, letter to Miss Herschel, 267.
Humboldt, Alex. von, letter to Miss Herschel, with the Gold Medal for
Science from the king of Prussia, 336, 337.
Knipping, Mme., extract from letter upon Miss Herschel’s death, 346.
La Lande, J. de, letter to Miss Herschel, 89;
her answer, 91.
Lind, James, 100.
Morgan, A. de, letter from Miss Herschel on being elected Hon. Member
of the R. A. Society, 271.
Mars, observations on, 53.
Maskelyne, Rev. Dr., letter from Miss Herschel, on discovering her
second comet, 80;
on the Index to Flamsteed’s Observations, 96.
Nebulæ, the, 196-198.
Nebulæ, the Cape, and double stars, 328.
Ole Bull, the violinist, 306.
Orange, Prince of, at Slough, 99.
Orionis, α, a variable and periodical star, 316.
Piazzi, Abbé, at Slough, 55;
at Catania, 173.
Pigott, Ed., letter to Miss Herschel on the Flamsteed Catalogue, 101.
Railway, first, between Hanover and Braunschweig, 334.
Ross, Capt., his return with the South Polar Expedition, 333, 334.
Schiller’s “Walk,” translated by Sir J. Herschel, 328, 329.
Schumacher, Prof., letter from Miss Herschel, 260.
Scorpio, 258, 266.
Seyffer, Prof., letter to Miss Herschel, 92.
Somerville, Mrs., letter to Miss Herschel, with her “Connexion of the
Physical Sciences,” 274.
South, J., his 400 stars, 194;
his address to the Astronomical Society on presenting the hon. medal
to Miss Herschel, 222-227.
Stewart, P., letter from Miss Herschel, 277.
Sun, spots on the, 286, 287.
“Survey of the Nebulous Heavens,” the conclusion of Sir W. Herschel’s
vast undertaking, 341.
Sweepings for comets, 146-148.
Telescope, the forty-foot, anecdotes of, 308, 309;
its final preservation, 310.
Watson, Sir W., first acquaintance with W. Herschel, 42.
Wilson, Alex., notice of, 99.
Zodiacal light, the, 331.
THE END.
BRADBURY, AGNEW, CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
Footnotes
Footnote 1:
The Duke of Cumberland’s army suffered severely in this battle.
Footnote 2:
“While the King of Prussia was warring in the south of Germany, an
army of 60,000 Frenchmen under Marshal d’Estrées was directed upon
Hanover, and occupied in the first place the Prussian dominions
lying upon the Rhine.... d’Estrées had been to a certain degree
successful in an action at Hastenbeck, on the Weser, and had forced
Cumberland to retreat. That commander continued to yield ground
incessantly, leaving Hanover and Magdeburg unprotected.... He
concluded with Richelieu the convention of Closter Severn, by which
he engaged that ... the Hanoverian troops should continue inactive
in their quarters near Stade. Hostilities were to be suspended, and
no stipulation was made respecting the Electorate of Hanover. That
country was accordingly plundered without mercy, and subjected to
enormous contributions.”—_Annals of France_, _Encyclopædia
Metropolitana_.
Footnote 3:
Afterwards Madame Beckedorff, Miss Herschel’s most valued friend in
after years.
Footnote 4:
The other version calls it “from Helvot to Harrige” = Harwich.
Footnote 5:
Although a considerable quantity of Sir W. Herschel’s musical
compositions exist in manuscript, much has unhappily perished. His
sister writes:—“I only lament that this anthem was left with the rest
of my brother’s sacred compositions, which were left in trust with one
of the choristers. The morning and evening services each in two
different keys, and numerous psalm tunes most beautifully set. The
organ book containing the scores; the parts written out and bound in
leather, in a box with lock and key which was always kept at the
chapel. All is lost. With difficulty many years after, one Te Deum was
recovered, and when I was in Bath in 1800 I obtained two or three torn
books of odd parts.” The chorister’s wife openly charged Mr. Linley
with having taken possession of these treasures.
Footnote 6:
“The grinding of specula used to be performed by the hand, no
machinery having been deemed sufficiently exact. The tool on which
they were shaped having been turned to the required form, and covered
with coarse emery and water, they were ground on it to the necessary
figure, and afterwards polished by means of putty or oxide of tin, or
pitch spread as a covering to the same tool in the place of the emery.
To grind a speculum of six or eight inches in diameter was a work of
no ordinary labour; and such a one used to be considered of great
size.”—“_Lord Rosse’s Telescopes_,” 1844.
Footnote 7:
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, Dec. 6, 1781.
Footnote 8:
“About the latter end of this month [December, 1779] I happened to be
engaged in a series of observations on the lunar mountains, and the
moon being in front of my house, late in the evening I brought my
seven-feet reflector into the street, and directed it to the object of
my observations. Whilst I was looking into the telescope, a gentleman
coming by the place where I was stationed, stopped to look at the
instrument. When I took my eye off the telescope, he very politely
asked if he might be permitted to look in, and this being immediately
conceded, he expressed great satisfaction at the view. Next morning
the gentleman, who proved to be Dr. Watson, jun. (now Sir William),
called at my house to thank me for my civility in showing him the
moon, and told me that there was a Literary Society then forming at
Bath, and invited me to become a member of it, to which I readily
consented.”—_Sir W. Herschel’s Journal._ This occurred at a house in
River Street, which was soon changed for 19, New King Street.
Footnote 9:
George Griesbach, who with the rest of the family settled in England,
where they all did well, their musical talents and connections
bringing them a good deal under the notice of the Court. Mr. G.
Griesbach’s youngest daughter, Elizabeth, became the wife of Mr.
Waterhouse, of the British Museum. She died in 1874.
Footnote 10:
This eminent astronomer made inquiries after Miss Herschel long years
afterwards, as is related in the correspondence. See letter from Sir
J. Herschel, dated Catania, 1824, p. 174.
Footnote 11:
This is the last time that the name of Jacob Herschel appears.
Footnote 12:
Dr. Herschel married Mary, only child of Mr. James Baldwin, a merchant
of the City of London, and widow of John Pitt, Esq., by whom she had
one son, who died in early youth. She was a lady of singular
amiability and gentleness of character. The jointure which she brought
enabled Dr. Herschel to pursue his scientific career without any
anxiety about money matters.
Footnote 13:
M. De la Lande’s name was _Jerome Le Français dit de la Lande_; it is
to himself, therefore, that he here refers. The letter is addressed
“Mlle. Caroline Herschel, Astronome Célèbre, Slough.”
Footnote 14:
This comet, since known as Encke’s, in consequence of that great
astronomer having determined its periodicity in 1819 and predicted its
triennial return, was discovered, independently, four several times
before its identity was recognized, Miss Herschel’s observation of it
in 1795 being the second in order of time. Additional interest has
since attached to it, in consequence of its gradually diminishing
period and the views hence suggested on the economy of the solar
system.
Footnote 15:
The Rev. S. Vince, a mathematician and natural philosopher.
Footnote 16:
Sir William Watson, M.D., Knight, F.R.S. from 1770 to 1800, when he
resigned. He was one of the first members of the Astronomical Society
at its foundation in 1821 under the Presidency of William Herschel.
His father, also M.D. and Knight, was the eminent botanist and
naturalist. He lived much at Dawlish, where the Herschel family
frequently went to stay with him.
Footnote 17:
Alexander Wilson, M.D., professor of practical astronomy in the
University of Glasgow, and first propounder of that theory as to the
cause and nature of the spots on the sun, which was afterwards fully
corroborated and worked out by Sir W. Herschel.
Footnote 18:
The Prince’s questions were sometimes of a very remarkable kind. On a
previous occasion when he “stept in” with a view to having them
answered, and was not so fortunate as to find anyone at home, he left
the following memorandum: “The Prince of Orange has been at Slough to
call at Mr. Herschel’s and to ask him, or if he was not at home to
Miss Herschel, if it is true that Mr. Herschel has discovered a new
star, whose light was not as that of the common stars, but with
swallow tails, as stars in embroidery. He has seen this reported in
the newspapers, and wishes to know if there is any foundation to that
report.—Slough, the _8th_ of _August_, 1798.—W. Prince of Orange.”
Footnote 19:
James Lind, M.D., was a Scotchman, who devoted a considerable amount
of his time to astronomical observations.
Footnote 20:
The only child of Dr. Herschel. He afterwards became Sir John
Herschel. Miss Herschel was very proud as well as fond of him. He is
“my nephew.” Dr. Herschel is usually called “my brother,” in
distinction from all the rest of the family.
Footnote 21:
Mrs. Beckedorff was “the sweet little girl of ten or eleven years old”
with whom Miss Herschel had exchanged pleasant greetings when they
were both taking lessons in dressmaking from Madame Küster, in
Hanover, thirty-five years before. (See p. 22.)
Footnote 22:
Probably Professor Wales, mathematical master at Christ’s Hospital,
author of a mathematical paper published in the “Phil. Trans.,” 1781.
Footnote 23:
The cost of this fine instrument, which had been ordered by the King
of Spain as long before as January, 1796, was £3150. The Prince of
Canino paid £2310 for a ten and a seven-foot telescope from the same
indefatigable hands. But although the pecuniary profit was great, it
is not surprising that Miss Herschel should bemoan the “making and
selling of telescopes” as unworthy of the enormous amount of time and
labour which must be withdrawn from the study of astronomy; and it is
evident that the fatigue and exhaustion from polishing mirrors told
seriously upon Sir William’s health.
Footnote 24:
A characteristic little note from her brother belongs to this time:
“Lina,—Last night I ‘popt’ upon a comet. It is visible to the naked
eye, between Fomalhout and β Ceti, but above the line that joins the
two stars. It made an equilateral triangle (downwards) with 100 and
107 Aquarii. I wrote last night to Sir J. Banks and write now also to
Dr. Maskelyne. Adieu.
_Dec. 9, 1805._”
Footnote 25:
De Luc was a geologist of high reputation; an ardent opponent of
Huttonian views.
Footnote 26:
The following notice is from a Bristol paper:
“Died, March 15th, 1821, at Hanover, Alexander Herschel, Esq.,
well-known to the public of Bath and Bristol as a performer and
elegant musician; and, who for forty-seven years was the admiration of
the frequenters of concerts and theatres of both those cities, as
principal violoncello.
“To the extraordinary merits of Mr. Herschel was united considerable
acquirement in the superior branches of mechanics and philosophy, and
his affinity to his brother, Sir William Herschel, the illustrous
astronomer, was not less in science than blood. To a large circle of
professional friends the uniform gentlemanly manners of Mr. Herschel
have rendered him at once an object of their warmest regard and
respect.” Alexander Herschel returned to Hanover in September, 1816,
and was enabled to live in comfortable independence until his death at
the age of seventy-six, through the never failing generosity of his
elder brother.
Footnote 27:
Although Miss Herschel was endowed by nature with a fine healthy
constitution, she suffered much in various ways during the last
twenty-five years of her life; and there is little doubt that her
health was injured, to a considerable extent, by the excessive fatigue
and serious accidents to which she was exposed in her earlier days,
when she often denied herself rest that was imperatively needed, in
order to be at hand when her brother required her services.
Footnote 28:
A younger sister of Mrs. Beckwith, niece of Lady Herschel.
Footnote 29:
This passage is a later note, added Sept. 26, 1828.
Footnote 30:
At this time W. Herschel frequently gave thirty-five and thirty-eight
lessons a week to lady pupils.
Footnote 31:
It was not an unknown circumstance for the ink to freeze while she was
attending to take down her brother’s observations.
Footnote 32:
These words had apparently to be sought for in the dictionary, as they
are inserted in pencil in blank spaces left for the purpose.
Footnote 33:
To her brother, in Upton Church, near Slough.
Footnote 34:
The paper referred to is probably one on “The Aberrations of Compound
Lenses and Object Glasses,” read at the Royal Society on the 22nd
March, 1821.
Footnote 35:
Dietrich Herschel died towards the end of January, 1827.
Footnote 36:
See p. 10.
Footnote 37:
The author of this hasty address feels no slight gratification in
having been present on the 1st June, 1821, at the last observations
with the twenty-foot reflector, in which Miss Herschel was engaged. He
remembers also, not without regret, but with becoming gratitude, that
the mirror used for his improvement, on the occasion was inserted, for
the last time, in the tube, by the hands of Sir William
Herschel.—_Memoirs Astronomical Society_, Vol. III., p. 409.
Footnote 38:
This extract, as it bears on the subject of the recognition of Miss
Herschel’s labours, is inserted here, though somewhat before its time.
Footnote 39:
“Motions were then made for passing these several resolutions, and the
same were carried unanimously.”—_Monthly Notices_, vol. iii. p. 91.
Footnote 40:
Of President.
Footnote 41:
An allusion to his approaching marriage, when he would resign his
Fellowship.
Footnote 42:
The Destroying Angel has once more passed by.
Footnote 43:
Discourse on the study of Natural Philosophy.
Footnote 44:
See p. 72, 1786.
Footnote 45:
In the Quarterly Review.
Footnote 46:
Sir John for ever!
Footnote 47:
Here, indeed, is a hole in the sky.
Footnote 48:
A brother of Lady Herschel’s. This gentleman and his brothers were in
the habit of writing to Miss Herschel during her nephew’s absence at
the Cape, keeping her informed of the latest news, and showing her
every kind and thoughtful attention.
Footnote 49:
This lady, the daughter of Dietrich Herschel, proved a most true,
affectionate, and trustworthy friend to the last. See her letter on
Miss Herschel’s death.
Footnote 50:
“On the Influence of the Irregularities of the Earth on Geodetic
Operations, and their Comparison with Astronomical Determinations.”
Footnote 51:
How d’ye do?
Footnote 52:
Betrothed.
Footnote 53:
On the Exchange.
Footnote 54:
The whole family party assembled at Christmas in the tube of the great
telescope, and sang a ballad composed for the occasion.
Footnote 55:
“The telescope, as you know, is laid on three stone piers
horizontally. It will be fresh painted to-morrow, and afterwards every
three or four years, as it wants it, and it looks very well. The
observatory will remain nearly as it is. The apparatus of the
telescope is _inside of the tube_, and will be riveted up from all
intruders. And all the polishing apparatus is _fixed_ on the
spot.”—_Letter of Sir John Herschel, Feb. 28, 1840._
The great mirror is now put up in the hall of the house—“Herschels”—at
Slough, by the present tenant, Mr. Montressor, who has spared no pains
to do honour to the relics as well as to keep up the character of the
old fashioned “habitation,” which owes much to the taste and judgment
he has bestowed on it.
Footnote 56:
General Baron Hugh Halkett, a distinguished officer of the German
Legion, died 1863.
Footnote 57:
Miss Herschel gave special directions that, after her death, her
snuff-box should be given to this lady.
Footnote 58:
The family of Sir J. Herschel had left Slough and settled at
Collingwood, near Hawkhurst, Kent, now the family residence.
Footnote 59:
Every fool is pleased with his own cap.
Footnote 60:
In answer to this announcement her niece wrote: “Herschel bids me say
he is quite delighted at the idea of your undertaking the family
history, but he insists upon it that you prove his descent from
_Hercules_, and I dare say in this age of relics, we could contrive to
find in the rummaging of old traps turned out at Slough, a veritable
piece of the old _club_ which has by fortunate accident served as part
of the ladders of the forty-foot telescope! or perhaps you remember
its slipping down the mouth of the great telescope one night when it
was turned in the direction of your ancestor’s constellation, as a
sign that he confessed himself _outshone_ by your _labours_.”
Footnote 61:
He who first cries “Kick!” shall have the apple.
Footnote 62:
The astronomers for ever!
Footnote 63:
Her 93rd birthday.
Footnote 64:
Thank God.
Footnote 65:
Railway.
Footnote 66:
The fellow is a fool!
Footnote 67:
The days on which this periodical arrived are always noted in the
Day-books.
Footnote 68:
The inscription is given in the Appendix.
* * * * * *
Transcriber’s note;
Some corrections were made to the original text. In particular,
punctuation was corrected without further note. Inconsistent spelling
and hyphenation was retained unless noted otherwise. The order of Index
entries was corrected where errors were found. Ditto marks were replaced
by the text they represent. There was no marker for Footnote 21; its
placement has been assumed. Further corrections are noted below:
p. 91 Ungeshick -> Ungeschick
p. 125 Gottingen -> Göttingen
p. 181 liknesses -> likenesses
p. 212 Von -> von
p. 226 Herchel's -> Herschel's
p. 240 excpet -> except
p. 266 nebulæ -> nebula
p. 304 Hohembaum -> Hohenbaum
p. 312 to of the age -> to the age of
p. 326 fouteeth -> fourteenth
Footnote 18 ommon -> common