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diff --git a/12340-0.txt b/12340-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a7c2df --- /dev/null +++ b/12340-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2315 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12340 *** + +THE STORY OF THE HERSCHELS + +A FAMILY OF ASTRONOMERS. + + +SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL +SIR JOHN HERSCHEL +CAROLINE HERSCHEL. + + "Stars + Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move; + Each has his place appointed, each his course." + + MILTON. + + +1886 + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +From the best available sources have been gathered the following +biographical particulars of a remarkable family of astronomers--the +Herschels. + +They will serve to show the young reader how great a pleasure may be +found in the acquisition of knowledge, and how solid a happiness in +quietly pursuing the path of duty. + +On the value of biography it is unnecessary to insist. It is now well +understood that we may learn to make our own lives good and honest and +true, by carefully and diligently following the example of the good and +honest and true who have gone before us. And certain it is that the +lessons taught by the lives of the Herschels are such as young readers +will do well to lay to heart. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I. + + The study of astronomy a source of intellectual pleasure--By + contemplating the heavens, the mind is led to wonder and adore--A + proof of the existence of a Creator is afforded by creation--"We + praise thee, O Lord!"--The beauty of Nature--Intellectual + curiosity--"Order is Heaven's first law"--Value of astronomical + study + + +CHAPTER II. + + Herschel's parents--The two brothers--A musical family--An + inventive genius--The brothers in England--Herschel as an + organist--A laborious life--Mechanical ingenuity of William + Herschel--Telescope-making--A Sunday misadventure--Constructing a + twenty-foot telescope--A domestic picture--Discovery of a new + planet--Herschel's combined musical and astronomical pursuits--A + thirty-foot telescope--Casting the mirror--An explosion + + +CHAPTER III. + + The house at Datchet--Housekeeping details--A devoted sister--Life + at Datchet--Herschel's astronomical observations--Testing and + trying "eyepieces"--The colossal telescope--Miss Herschel's + accident--Removed to Slough--Constructing a forty-foot + telescope--Brother and sister--Heroic self-denial--Occupations at + Slough--Royal liberality--An astronomer's triumphs--About the + nebulae--Investigation of the sun's constitution--The solar spots, + and their influence--Physical constitution of the moon--Lunar + volcanoes--Arago's explanation--Herschel's study of the + planets--Satellites of Saturn--Discovery of Uranus--And of its six + satellites--Study of Pigott's comet and the comet of + 1811--Description of the latter--An uneventful life--Herschel's + marriage--His honours--Extracts from his sister's diary--Decaying + strength--Herschel removes to Bath--Last days of an + astronomer--Illustration of the ruling passion--Death of Sir + William Herschel--His achievements + + +CHAPTER IV. + + Birth and education of Sir John Herschel--Honours at + Cambridge--First publication--Continues his scientific studies--His + numerous literary contributions--His devotion to his father's + reputation--The forty-foot telescope--Herschel's observations on + the double and triple stars--On the refraction and polarization of + light--Catalogue of nebulae and star-clusters--Voyage to Cape + Town--Letter to Miss Herschel--Study of the southern + heavens--Return to England--Distinctions conferred upon him--His + "Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subjects"--His description of + volcanoes and earthquakes--Continual changes in the configuration + of the earth--Violent earthquakes--Phenomena of volcanic + eruptions--In Mexico--In the island of Sumbawa--Herschel's theory + of volcanic forces--His character + + +CHAPTER V. + + Caroline Herschel's devotion to her brother William--Her grief and + solitariness at his death--Reflections on the mutability of human + things--Aunt and nephew--A parsimonious government--Miss Herschel's + gold medal--South on Sir William's discoveries--On Miss Herschel's + devotion--Her own astronomical discoveries--Her life at + Hanover--Her wonderful memory--Anecdotes of Sir John + Herschel--Correspondence between aunt and nephew--The path of + duty--Sir John's visit to Miss Herschel--Reminiscences of early + years--A nonogenarian--A Christmas in Hanover--Last days of + Caroline Herschel--Her death--Her epitaph + + + + +THE STORY OF THE HERSCHELS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Of all the sciences, none would seem to yield a purer intellectual +gratification than that of Astronomy. Man cannot but feel a sense of +pleasure, and even of power, when, through the instruments constructed +by his ingenuity, he finds himself brought within reach, as it were, of +the innumerable orbs that roll through the domains of space. He cannot +but feel a sense of pleasure, and even of power, when the telescope +reveals to his gaze not only the worlds that constitute his own +so-called Solar System, but the suns that light up the borders of the +Universe, system upon system, sun upon sun, covering the unbounded area +almost as thickly as the daisies cover a meadow in spring. He cannot +but feel a sense of pleasure, and even, of power, when he tracks the +course of the flashing comet, examines into the physical characteristics +of the Sun and Moon, and records the various phases of the distant +planets. But if such be his feeling, it is certainly tempered with awe +and wonder as he contemplates the phenomena of the heavens,--the beauty +of the stars, the immensity of their orbits, the regularity with which +each bright world performs its appointed course, the simplicity of the +laws which govern its motions, and the mystery which attends its far-off +existence. It has been, said that "an undevout astronomer is mad;" and +if Astronomy, of all the sciences, be the one most calculated to gratify +the intellect, surely it is the one which should most vividly awaken the +religious sentiment. Is it possible to look upon all those worlds within +worlds, all those endless groups of mighty suns, all those strange and +marvellous combinations of coloured stars, all those remote nebulous +clusters,--to look upon them in their perfect order and government,--to +consider their infinite number and astonishing dimensions,--without +acknowledging the fulness of the power of an everlasting God, who +created them, set them in their appointed places, and still controls +them? Is it possible to be an astronomer and an atheist? Is it possible +not to see in their relations to one another and to our own little +planet an Almighty Wisdom as well as an Almighty Love? Could any +"fortuitous concourse of atoms" have strewed the depths of space with +those mighty and beautiful orbs, and defined for each the exact limits +of its movements? Alas! to human folly and human vanity everything is +possible; and men may watch the stars in their courses, and delight in +the beauty of Sun and Moon, and perceive all the wonders of the sunrise +and all the glories of the sunset, without any recognition in their +hearts of Him who made them--of Him in whom we and they alike live and +move and have our being! Yet it is not the less true that only the +devout and thankful heart can adequately and thoroughly sympathize with +the love and wisdom and power which are written in such legible +characters on the face of heaven. Astronomy gives up _all_ its +treasures only to him who enters upon its study in a reverent spirit. It +affords the purest intellectual gratification only when its pursuits are +undertaken with a humble acknowledgment of the littleness of man and the +greatness of God. Half the wonder, half the mystery of creation is lost, +when we fail to recognize the truth that it is governed by eternal laws +springing from an Almighty Intelligence. Take the Creator out of +creation, and it becomes a hopeless puzzle--a dreary problem, incapable +of solution. But we restore to it all its brightness, all its beauty, +all its charm, when we are able to lift up our hearts with the Psalmist +and to say: "Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens; +praise him in the heights. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all +ye stars of light. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name +alone is excellent: his glory is above the earth and heaven." + +And it is to be observed that the soul cannot be satisfied without this +religious view of Nature. The heavens and the earth are as nothing to +man, if they do not excite his awe and call forth his thanksgiving. We +might almost suppose that it is for this purpose that the sea rolls its +waves on the shore, and the violet smiles by the wayside, and the moon +floods the night with its silver radiance. As a recent writer has +observed,[1] the beauty of Nature is necessary for the perfection of +_praise_; without it the praise of the Creator would be essentially +weakened; our hearts must be roused and excited by what we see. "It may +seem extraordinary," adds our authority, "but it is the case, that, +though we certainly look at contrivance or machinery in Nature with a +high admiration, still, with all its countless and multitudinous uses, +which we acknowledge with gratitude, there is nothing in it which raises +the mind's interest in nearly the same degree that beauty does. It is an +awakening sight; and one way in which it acts is by exciting a certain +curiosity about the Deity. In what does God possess character, feelings, +relations to us?--all unanswerable questions, but the very entertainment +of which is an excitement of the reason, and throws us upon the thought +of what there is behind the veil. This curiosity is a strong part of +worship and of praise. To think that we know everything about God, is to +benumb and deaden worship; but mystical thought quickens worship, and +the beauty of Nature raises mystical thought. So long as a man is +probing Nature, and in the thick of its causes and operations, he is too +busy about his own inquiries to receive this impress from her; but place +the picture before him, and he becomes conscious of a veil and curtain +which has the secrets of a moral existence behind it,--interest is +inspired, curiosity is awakened, and worship is raised. 'Surely thou art +a God that hidest thyself.' But if God simply hid himself and nothing +more, if we knew nothing, we should not wish to know more. But the veil +suggests that it _is_ a veil, and that there is something behind it +which it conceals." + +[Footnote 1: Professor Mozley, "University Sermons," pp. 145, 146.] + +Now, this is the feeling which the study of Astronomy very certainly +awakens. Every day the astronomer discovers something which quickens his +curiosity to discover more. Every day he catches new glimpses of the +Almighty Wisdom, which stimulate his desire for a further revelation. +And all he learns, and all he anticipates learning, combine to produce +in him an emotion of awe. What grandeur lies before him in that endless +procession of worlds--in that array of suns and stars extending beyond +the limits of the most powerful telescopic vision! How marvellous it is! +How beautiful! Observe the combination of simplicity with power; note +how a great principle of "law" underlies the apparent intricacy of +eccentric and intersecting orbits. And then the field of inquiry is +inexhaustible. The astronomer has no fear of feeling the satiety of an +Alexander, when he lamented that he had no more worlds to conquer. What +Newton said of himself is true of every astronomer,--he is but as a +child on the sea-shore, picking up a shell here and a shell there, but +unable to grasp a full conception of the mighty ocean that thunders in +his ears! + +And, therefore, because Astronomy cherishes the feelings of awe and +reverence and praise, because it inspires a continual yearning after +additional knowledge, because it reveals to us something of the +character of God, we conceive that of all the sciences it affords the +purest intellectual gratification. Certainly it is one of the most +absorbing. Its attraction seems to be irresistible. Once an astronomer, +always an astronomer; the stars, we may fancy, will not relax the spell +they lay upon their votary. He willingly withdraws himself from the din +and gaiety of social life, to shut himself up in his chamber, and, with +the magic tube due to the genius of a Galileo, survey with ever-new +delight the celestial wonders. So was it with Tycho Brahé, and +Copernicus, and Kepler; so was it, as the following pages will show, +with that remarkable family of astronomers--astronomers for three +generations--the HERSCHELS. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +In the quiet city of Hanover, nearly a century and a half ago, lived a +professor of music, by name Isaac Herschel, a Protestant in religion, +though presumably of Jewish descent. He had been left an orphan at the +early age of eleven, and his friends wished him to adopt the vocation of +a landscape-gardener; but being passionately fond of music, and having +acquired some skill on the violin, he left Dresden, his birthplace, in +order to seek his fortune; wandering from place to place, until at +Hanover, in 1731, he obtained an engagement in the band of the Guards. +Soon afterwards he married; and by his wife, Anna Ilse Moritzen, had ten +children, four of whom died in infancy. Of the others, two--a brother +and a sister--lived to distinguish themselves by their intellectual +power; and all true lovers of science will regard with reverence the +memories of William and Caroline Herschel. + +Frederick William Herschel was born on the 15th of November 1738. Like +his father, he displayed an innate musical ability, which was sedulously +cultivated and constantly developed; while his general mental training +was left to the care of the master of the garrison-school. Those who are +gifted with a love and a capacity for music sometimes show to little +advantage in other pursuits; but such was not the case with William +Herschel, who progressed so rapidly in all his studies that the pupil +soon outstripped the teacher. Although, we are told, four years younger +than his brother Jacob, the two began French together, and William +mastered the language in half the time occupied by his senior. His +leisure time out of school, when not given up to practice on the oboe +and the violin, was devoted to the acquisition, of Latin and arithmetic. + +His father in 1743 was present at the battle of Dettingen; and the +exposure consequent on a night spent on the rain-soaked battle-field +afflicted him with an asthmatic complaint and a partial paralysis of +the limbs, which darkened for years the musician's peaceful household. +He himself, however, was greatly cheered by the musical proficiency of +his two sons, and the intellectual refinement of Frederick William. "My +brothers," says Caroline Herschel, "were often introduced as solo +performers and assistants in the orchestra of the court; and I remember +that I was frequently prevented"--she was then a child about five years +old--"from going to sleep by the lively criticism on music on [their] +coming from a concert, or conversations on philosophical subjects, which +lasted frequently till morning, in which my father was a lively +partaker, and assistant of my brother William by contriving self-made +instruments." She adds that she often kept herself awake in order to +listen to their animating remarks, feeling inexpressibly happy in +_their_ happiness,--an indication of that devoted and unselfish +affection which afterwards consecrated her whole life. But, generally, +their conversation branched out into philosophical subjects; and +father and son argued with so much fervour, that the fond mother's +interference became necessary,--the immortal names of Leibnitz, Newton, +and Euler ringing with a clarion-like peal that boded ill for the repose +of the younger members of the family. "But it seems," says Caroline, +"that on the brothers retiring to their own room, where they shared the +same bed, my brother William had still a great deal to say; and +frequently it happened that, when he stopped for an assent or a reply, +he found his hearer had gone to sleep; and I suppose it was not till +then that he bethought himself to do the same. The recollection of these +happy scenes confirms me in the belief that, had my brother William not +then been interrupted in his philosophical pursuits, we should have had +much earlier proofs of his inventive genius. My father," she continues, +"was a great admirer of astronomy, and had some knowledge of that +science; for I remember him taking me, on a clear frosty night, into +the street, to make me acquainted with several of the most beautiful +constellations, after we had been gazing at a comet which was then +visible. And I well remember with what delight he used to assist my +brother William in his various contrivances in the pursuit of his +philosophical studies; among which was a neatly-turned four-inch globe, +upon which the equator and ecliptic were engraved by my brother." + + * * * * * + +In 1755, the tranquil family circle was broken up--the Hanoverian +regiment in whose band William and Jacob were engaged having been +ordered to England. The parting was very sorrowful; for the invalid +father had derived much support as well as enjoyment from the company of +his sons. At first, the English experiences of the young Germans were +somewhat severe. They endured all the pangs of poverty; pangs endured +with heroic composure, while William relaxed not a whit in his devotion +to the pursuit of knowledge. Happily, however, his musical proficiency +attracted the attention of Lord Durham, who offered him the appointment +of bandmaster to a militia regiment stationed in the north of England. +In this position he gradually formed a connection among the wealthier +families of Leeds, Pontefract, and Doncaster, where he taught music, +and conducted the public concerts and oratorios with equal zeal and +success. In 1764 he paid a brief but happy visit to his family, much to +the joy of his faithful sister, Caroline. Returning to England, for +which country he cherished a strong affection, he resumed his career of +patient industry, and in 1765 was appointed organist at Halifax. He was +now in receipt of an income which secured him due domestic comforts, and +enabled him to remedy the defects of his early education. With the help +of a grammar and a dictionary he mastered Italian. He also studied +mathematics and the scientific theory of music, losing no opportunity of +adding to his stores of knowledge. + +In 1766 he obtained the lucrative post of organist to the Octagon Chapel +at Bath. Increased emoluments, however, brought with them increased +obligations. He was required to play almost incessantly, either at the +oratorios or in the rooms at the Baths, at the theatre, and in the +public concerts. When his sister Caroline joined him, in 1772, she found +him immersed in his various labours. For the choir of the Octagon +Chapel he composed anthems, chants, and complete morning and evening +services. A part of every day was occupied in giving lessons to his +numerous pupils. In truth, he was one of the busiest men in England; +yet in all his arrangements he was so methodical that he found time for +everything--and time, more particularly, for the studies in which his +soul delighted. His life furnishes an admirable example of what may +be accomplished by a man with a firm will and a strong purpose, who +sets before himself an end to be attained, and controls all his efforts +towards its attainment. He toiled so hard as a musician, because he +wanted to be something more. Every spare moment of the day, and +frequently many hours of the night, he gave up to the pursuits which +were gradually leading him into the path best fitted for his genius. +The study of mathematics proved but a preliminary to the study of +optics; and an accident made him once for all an astronomer. + +A common two-foot telescope falling into his hands, revealed to him +the wonders of the heavens. His imagination was inspired by their +contemplation; with ever-increasing enthusiasm he gazed on the revolving +planets, on the flashing stars; he determined to fathom more profoundly +the constellated depths. A larger instrument was necessary, and Herschel +wrote to London for it; but the price demanded proved far beyond the +resources of the sanguine organist. What should he do? He was not the +man to be beaten back by a difficulty: as he could not buy a telescope, +he resolved to make one; an instrument eighteen or twenty feet long, +which would reveal to him the phases of the remotest planets. And +straightway the musician entered on a multitude of ingenious +experiments, so as to discover the particular metallic alloys that +reflected light with the greatest intensity, the best means of giving +the parabolic figure to the mirrors, the necessary degree of polish, and +other practical details. In his eager pursuit he enlisted the services +of his loving and intelligent sister. "I was much hindered in my musical +practice," she writes, "by my help being continually wanted in the +execution of the various contrivances; and I had to amuse myself by +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." + +The work went on famously, as might be expected from so much ardour, +perseverance, and ingenuity. Of a Quaker resident at Bath, the +musician-astronomer purchased a quantity of patterns, tools, hones, +polishers, and unfinished mirrors. Every room in the house was converted +into a workshop. In a handsomely-furnished drawing-room might be seen +a cabinetmaker constructing a tube and stands of all descriptions; +while Herschel's brother Alex was engaged in a bedroom in putting up a +gigantic turning-machine. Meantime, the claims of music could not be +ignored: there were frequent rehearsals for the public concerts; lessons +to pupils; the composition of glees and catches, and the like; the +superintendence of the practice of the chapel choir; and the study of +sonatas and concertos for public performance. But all the leisure that +could be made or stolen was occupied in labours which proved their own +reward. Straight from the concert-platform rushed the musician to his +workshop, and many a lace ruffle was torn by nails or bespattered by +molten pitch; to say nothing of the positive danger to which Herschel +continually exposed himself by the precipitancy of his movements. For +example: one Saturday evening, when the two brothers returned from a +concert between eleven and twelve o'clock, William amused himself all +the way home with the idea of being at liberty to spend the next day, +except the few hours' duty at chapel, at the turning-bench; but +recollecting that the tools wanted sharpening, they ran with them +and a lantern to their landlord's grindstone in a public yard, where, +very naturally, they did not wish to be seen on a Sunday morning. But +William was soon brought back by his brother, almost swooning with the +loss of one of his finger-nails. + +This incident took place in the winter of 1775, at a house situated +near Walcot turnpike, to which Herschel had removed in the summer of the +previous year. Here, on a grass plot behind the house, he made active +preparations for the erection of a twenty-foot telescope. So assiduous +was his devotion to this work, that while he was engaged in polishing +the mirror, his sister was constantly obliged to feed him by putting his +victuals into his mouth. Otherwise he would have reduced himself to a +condition of positive emaciation! Once, when finishing a seven-foot +mirror, he did not take his hands from it for sixteen consecutive hours; +for in these days machinery had not been devised as a substitute for +manual toil. He was seldom unemployed at meals; but at such times +employed himself in contriving or making drawings of whatever occurred +to his fertile fancy. Usually his sister Caroline read to him while he +was engaged at the turning-lathe, or polishing mirrors; choosing such +books as "Don Quixote," the "Arabian Nights," the novels of Sterne and +Fielding; and tea and supper were served without any interruption to the +task in which Herschel was absorbed. + +In Miss Herschel's charming letters we find a vivid sketch of the +family avocations at this period:--- + + + "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 before 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, weights, &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 [to] 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, or a fire to be kept up, or a + dish of coffee necessary during a night's long watching, I + undertook with pleasure what others might have thought a + hardship." + +The astronomer-musician's patient survey of the heavens was rewarded, +on the 13th of March 1781, by the discovery of a new planet, situated +on the borders of our Solar System. In every way this was a discovery +of signal importance. It broke up the traditional conservatism of +astronomers, which had almost refused to regard as possible the +existence of any planets beyond the orbit of Saturn, because for so +many years none had revealed themselves to the watchful gaze. Men's +minds were widened, so to speak, at a bound; their conceptions +strengthened and enlarged; for the discovery of Georgium Sidus--as +the new planet was designated by its discoverer, in honour of George +III.--rendered possible and probable the discovery of other planets, +and thus extended immeasurably the limits of the Solar System. Herschel, +whose reputation as a musician had hitherto been local, now sprang into +world-wide fame as an astronomer. George III., who was a true lover of +science, and not disinclined to bestow his patronage on men and things +of Hanoverian origin, summoned him to his presence; and was so much +pleased with his modest and interesting account of the long labours +which had led to the great result, that, after a brief interval, he +bestowed upon him an annual pension of three hundred guineas, and a +residence, first at Clay Hall, and then at Slough. + +But before this well-deserved good fortune fell to him, Herschel +continued his industrious career as both musician and astronomer. During +the concert season, which lasted five or six months, he had never a +night disengaged, but was conducting oratorios at Bath or Bristol, +arranging for public concerts, attending rehearsals, and superintending +the performances of his choir. As soon as a lull came, the indomitable +man, assisted by his faithful sister, returned to his astronomical +pursuits. To gain a fuller and clearer knowledge of the starry worlds +scattered over the vast fields of space, Herschel from the first had +seen that instruments of much greater power were necessary than any +hitherto used by astronomers. He set to work, therefore, on the +construction of a thirty-foot telescope; the metallic mirror of which +must, of course, be of proportionate dimensions. This huge 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; an arduous and almost endless task, undertaken by Caroline +Herschel and her brother Alex. Then a furnace was erected in a back-room +on the ground-floor; and every preparation having been made, a day was +set apart for the casting. The day came, and Herschel and his +collaborateurs looked forward to the consummation of their hopes. The +metal was placed in the furnace; but, unfortunately, just when it was +ready for pouring in a molten stream into the mould, it began to leak, +and both the Herschels, and the caster with his men, were compelled to +fly from the apartment, the stone flooring exploding, and flying about +in all directions, as high as the ceiling. The astronomer, exhausted +with heat and exertion, fell on a heap of brickbats; exhausted, but not +dismayed. The work was renewed; and a second casting being attempted, it +proved entirely successful, and a very perfect metal was formed in the +mould. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +In August 1782 the Herschels removed to Datchet. Their new home was "a +large neglected place; the house in a deplorably ruinous condition, the +garden and grounds overgrown with weeds." Nor were the domestic +arrangements more favourable. For a fortnight the little family were +without a female servant; and an old woman, the gardener's wife, showed +Miss Herschel the shops, where the high prices of every article, from +coals to butcher's meat, appalled her. But of these inconveniences +Herschel took no account. Enough for him that he was released from the +drudgery of teaching, and free thenceforth to devote himself to the +heavens and their wonders. A man whose thoughts are always with the +stars can hardly be expected to trouble himself about the price of +tallow-candles! Were there not capacious stables in which mirrors of +any size could be ground; and a roomy laundry capable of easy conversion +into a library, with one door opening on a large lawn, where the "small +twenty-foot" was to take its stand? Compared with advantages such as +these, what mattered the scarcity of "butcher's meat"? Herschel +laughingly assured his sister that they could live on eggs and bacon; +which, he confidently asserted, would cost next to nothing, now that +they were really in the country! + +And so he settled down to a life of quiet, industry at Datchet; his +admirable sister being formally adopted as his assistant and secretary. +Never had master a more devoted, a more enthusiastic, or a more +intelligent servant! She shared in all his night-watches, with her eye +constantly on the clock, and the pencil in her hand; with unerring +accuracy she made all the complex calculations so frequently required; +she made three or four copies of every observation in separate +registers, co-ordinating, classifying, and analyzing them. If the +scientific world, says Arago, saw with astonishment the unexampled +rapidity with which Herschel's works succeeded one another for many +years, they were greatly indebted for this affluence of production to +the affectionate ardour of his sister Caroline. Her enthusiasm never +failed; her industry knew no check; and her brother's fame was dearer to +her than life. + +In one of her letters she describes with graphic simplicity the +"interior" at Datchet:-- + + + "I found that I was to be trained for an assistant-astronomer; + and by way of encouragement, a telescope adapted for 'sweeping' + (or rapidly surveying a wide extent of space), consisting of a + tube with two glasses, was given [to] 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.' But it was not till the last two months of + the same year that I felt the least encouragement to spend the + starlit 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, and the like; and I could have his assistance + immediately when I found a nebula, or cluster of stars, of + which I intended to give a catalogue. I had the comfort to + see," she continues, "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,--of which + something of the kind every moment would occur." + +The conscientious care and assiduous industry with which Herschel made +his measurements of the diameter of the Georgium Sidus (now called +Uranus), and his interesting observations of other planets, of double +stars with their coloured light, of cometary and nebulous appearances, +were truly remarkable; as may be seen by the various papers which +he wrote at this time for the Royal Society. In addition to all this +labour, he perfected a twelve-inch speculum of vast magnifying power +before the spring of 1784; and many hours were spent at the +turning-bench, as not a night clear enough for observing ever passed +without the devising of improvements in the mounting and motion of +the various instruments then in use, or the test and trial of +newly-constructed "eyepieces," most of which were executed by Herschel'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 [were] 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." + + * * * * * + +In July 1783 Herschel began his observations with his large twenty-foot +telescope, though it was in an unfinished state; and his sister watched +and waited with much apprehension when she knew him to be elevated some +fifteen feet or more on a temporary crossbeam instead of a safe gallery. +Here it is needful to explain, perhaps, that these huge astronomical +telescopes are not used like ordinary glasses, to one end of which the +observer applies his eye; the objects towards which the tube is directed +being thrown upon a large mirror, which is attached to it externally +at some distance from the ground. The observer, therefore, needs to +be mounted on an elevated platform or gallery, from which he can +conveniently inspect the mirror. One night, in a very high wind, +Herschel had scarcely descended from his station before the whole +apparatus came down; and his sister was in continual apprehension of +some serious accident. One such, indeed, occurred, and to herself. The +evening of the 31st of December had been cloudy, but as a few stars +shone forth about ten o'clock, hurried preparations were made for +observing. Herschel, standing at the front of the telescope, directed +his sister to make a certain 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 suspending their joints of meat; and having to run in +the dark across ground covered a foot deep with melting snow, Miss +Herschel fell on one of these hooks, which entered her right leg above +the knee. To her brother's injunction, "Make haste!" she could answer +only by a pitiful cry, "I am hooked!" He and the workmen hastened +immediately to her assistance, but they could not disentangle her +without leaving nearly two ounces of her flesh behind. For some weeks +she was an invalid, and at one time it was feared that amputation might +be necessary. + + * * * * * + +Not satisfied with the magnifying power of any of the instruments he +had hitherto constructed, Herschel resolved, in 1784, to attempt a +forty-foot telescope. Such a work, however, was far beyond his limited +private resources; and he did not venture to undertake it until promised +a royal bounty of £2000. Then he removed from Datchet to Clay Hall, Old +Windsor; and again, in 1786, to Slough, where he finally settled, and +succeeded in erecting a commodious and well-equipped observatory. "We +may confidently assert," says Arago, "relative to the little house and +garden of Slough, that it is the spot of all the world where the +greatest number of discoveries have been made. The name of that village +will never perish: science will transmit it religiously to our latest +posterity." + +At Slough, as at Datchet, prevailed the most enthusiastic industry; and +the house was soon as full of well-ordered labour as a bee-hive. Smiths +were kept constantly at work on different parts of the new telescopic +leviathan; and a whole troop of labourers was engaged in grinding the +tools required for shaping and polishing its mirror. Had not a cloudy or +moonlight night sometimes intervened, Herschel and his sister must have +died of sheer exhaustion, for they toiled with unremitting ardour both +day and night. With the morning came the workpeople, of whom no fewer +than between thirty and forty were 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. Then there were the carpenter and his men; +and, meanwhile, the smith was converting a wash-house into a forge, and +manufacturing complete sets of tools for his own share of the labour. +In short, the place was at one time a complete workshop for the +manufacture of optical instruments; and it was a pleasure to enter it +for the purpose of observing the fervour of the great astronomer, and +the reverent attention given to his orders. + +It is impossible not to refer here to the sisterly devotion of Caroline +Herschel, who was in every respect worthy of her noble-minded, +tender-hearted, and enthusiastic brother. + +She stood beside him to the last, sharing his labours, brightening his +life. In the days, says her biographer, when Herschel gave up a +lucrative career that he might dedicate all his energies to astronomical +pursuits, it was through her care and thriftiness that he was spared +from the unrest of pecuniary anxieties. As she had been his helper and +assistant during his career as a popular musician, so she became his +helper and assistant when he gave himself up, like the Chaldeans of old, +to the study of the stars. By dint of a resolute will and a love that +shrank from no sacrifice or exertion, she acquired such a knowledge of +mathematics and calculations, mysterious as these generally seem to the +feminine mind, that she was able to formulate with exactness the result +of her brother's researches. She never failed to be his willing +fellow-labourer in the workshop; she helped him to grind and polish his +mirrors; she stood beside his telescope, in order to record his +observations, during the dark and bitter mid-winter nights, when the +very ink was frozen in the bottle. It may be said, without exaggeration, +that she kept him alive by her care: thinking nothing of herself, she +lived for him, and him alone. She loved him, she believed in him, she +aided him with all her heart and all her strength. Her mental powers +were very considerable; and undoubtedly she might have attained to +eminence on her own account, for she herself discovered no fewer than +eight comets. But she shunned self-glorification; she desired to live in +her brother's shadow; she worked for him, never for herself; and in her +elevated character no feature more strongly demands our admiration than +her heroic though unconscious self-denial. Happy the man who has such a +sister; happy the sister whose brother is worthy of so much devotion! It +is pleasant to know that William Herschel deserved the love so lavishly +poured out at his feet; that great as were his achievements in science, +lofty and broad as was his genius, they were fully sustained and +ennobled by the beauty and worth of his inner life. Who can contemplate +their twofold career in all its singleness of purpose, its purity, its +unselfishness, its sublime disregard of worldly pleasures, without +emotion? The lessons told by such a life are worth all the moral +treatises ever written. + +To Miss Herschel's diary we again refer, for a glimpse of the +occupations of her brother and herself at Slough in the first two years +of their residence. These two years, to use an apt expression of her +own, were spent in a perfect chaos of business. The garden and workrooms +swarmed with labourers and workmen--smiths and carpenters speeding to +and fro between the forge and the forty-foot machinery; and so incessant +was the vigilance of Herschel, that not a screw-bolt in the whole +apparatus was fixed except under his eye. "I have seen him," writes his +sister, "lying stretched many an hour in the burning sun, across the top +beam, whilst the iron-work for the various motions [of the great +telescope] was being fixed." At one time no fewer than twenty-four men, +in relays of twelve each, were engaged in grinding and polishing day and +night; and Herschel never left them, taking his food without allowing +himself time to sit down to table. + + "In August 1787," writes the diarist, "an additional + man-servant was engaged, who would be wanted at the handles of + the motions of the forty-foot,"--that is, to raise or lower it, + or move it from side to side, as might be required,--"for which + the mirror in the beginning of July was so far finished as to + be used for occasional observations on trial. Such a person was + also necessary for showing the telescopes to the curious + strangers, as by their numerous visits my brother and 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 sum of £2000 granted for + completing the forty-foot, and £200 yearly for the expense of + repairs; such as ropes, painting, &c., and the keep and + clothing of the men who attended at night. A salary of £50 a + year was also settled on me, as an assistant to my brother. 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. I will only add, that from this time + the utmost activity prevailed to forward the completion of the + forty-foot." + +In recognition of his scientific triumphs, the honorary degree of LL.D +was conferred upon Herschel, in 1786, by the University of Oxford. They +were triumphs that well merited such a recognition. He had already made +some important observations on the nature of double stars, on the +dimensions of the telescopic planets, and had begun his famous +investigations into the composition of the nebulae,--those clusters of +stars and nebulous matter which had previously proved such a problem to +astronomers. The remarkable phenomenon of a periodical change of +intensity in certain stars, which wax and wane in radiance like a +revolving light, had also excited his attention. Further, he had entered +upon the experiments which ultimately showed that the Sun positively +moves; that in this, as in other respects, the magnificent orb of day +must be ranged among the stars; that the apparently inextricable +irregularities of numerous sidereal proper motions arise in great part +from the displacement of the Solar System; that, in short, the point of +space toward which Earth and its sister planets are annually advancing, +is situated in the constellation of Hercules. + +"Let us," says a French writer, "to these immortal labours add the +ingenious ideas that we owe to Herschel on the nebulae, on the +constitution of the Milky Way, on the Universe as a whole,--ideas which +almost by themselves constitute the actual history of the formation of +the worlds,--and we cannot but have a deep reverence for that powerful +genius that scarcely ever erred, notwithstanding the ardour of its +imagination." + +The ordinary spectator, looking upon the face of the heavens through a +telescope, had, prior to Herschel's time, felt his curiosity excited by +the appearance here and there of filmy patches, vague in structure and +irregular in shape, which, from their resemblance to clouds, received +the name of _nebulae_. What these were, no astronomer had succeeded in +defining. It was left for Herschel, with his rare powers of patient and +discriminating observation, assisted by the more powerful instruments +which his ingenuity succeeded in constructing, to discern in them +innumerable groups of worlds, in various stages of formation! A new +light was thrown upon the history of the Universe. Man was able to +assist, as it were, at the process of creation, and to watch the +development of a mass of incoherent matter into a perfect star. This +alone was a discovery which might well have immortalised the name of +Herschel. + +But we owe to him the elements of our knowledge of the Sun's physical +constitution. He swept aside the erroneous theories and conjectures +which had previously prevailed, and guided the astronomical inquirer +into the right path. He convinced himself, by long and patient +researches, that the luminous envelope of the great "orb of day" was +neither a liquid nor an elastic fluid; that it was in certain respects +analogous to the clouds which wreathe our mountain-summits and fertilize +our plains; that it floated in the solar atmosphere. Thence he came to +the conclusion that the Sun has two atmospheres, endowed with motions +quite independent of each other. An elastic fluid, now known as the +_photosphere_, is in course of continual formation on the dark rugged +surface of the solar mass; and rising, on account of its specific +lightness, it forms the _pores_ in the stratum of reflecting clouds; +then, combining with other gases, it produces the irregularities or +furrows in the luminous cloud-region. When the ascending currents are +powerful, they create those appearances which astronomers designate the +_nuclei_, the _penumbrae_, the _faculae_. + +Such was Herschel's explanation of the mode of formation of the solar +spots; and allowing it to be well-founded, we must expect to find--what +is, indeed, the case--that the Sun does not always and regularly pour +forth equal quantities of light and heat. It is true that Herschel's +hypothesis has been modified by later astronomers; but his is the credit +of having directed them into the right course of inquiry and +observation. + + * * * * * + +The physical constitution of the Moon was a subject which also engaged +the attention of our indefatigable enthusiast. As early as 1780 he +attempted the measurement of the lunar mountains, and came to the +conclusion that few of them exceeded 2600 feet in height. Later +research, however, has proved these figures to be inadequate. Next he +addressed himself to a study of the lunar volcanoes, three of which he +declared to be in a state of ignition; two of them apparently on the +decline, the third still active. He was so convinced of the reality of +the phenomenon, that on the 20th of April 1787 he wrote:--"The volcano +burns with greater violence than it did last night." The real diameter +of the volcanic light he estimated at 16,400 feet. Its intensity he +described as superior to that of the nucleus of a comet then flashing +across our system. The objects situated near the crater were fully +illuminated by the glare of its burning matter. + +It may seem strange that, after observations so exact and minute, few +astronomers now admit the existence of active volcanoes in the Moon. The +reasons for their incredulity are thus stated:-- + +The various parts of the Moon do not all reflect with the same +intensity. Here, that intensity may be dependent on the form; +elsewhere, on the nature of the materials. Those persons who have +examined the lunar orb with telescopes, know how very considerable the +difference arising from these two causes may be,--with how much keener +and stronger a radiance one point of the Moon will sometimes shine than +those around it. Well, it would seem to be obvious that the ratio of +intensity between the brilliant parts and the faint parts must always be +the same, whatever the origin of the illuminating light. In that portion +of the lunar sphere which receives the glow and glory of the sun, we +know that some points exist, the brightness of which is extraordinary +compared with the feeble flickering gleam of those around them. And +these same points, when seen in the dim reflection of the Earth, will +still predominate in intensity over the neighbouring regions. In this +way Arago and others explain the observations of Herschel, without +admitting the existence of active volcanoes in the Moon. That volcanoes +there are, is a familiar fact; but they would seem to have exhausted +their activity in long-past ages. The lunar surface is now a dreary +waste of rugged lava and ashes, covered with the matter ejected from +craters once in a state of furious eruption. The Moon, in fact, is a +world which has burned itself out. How strange the thought that in a +far-back period the inhabitants of Earth, had Earth then been inhabited, +might have seen the glare of countless volcanoes diffused, lurid and +threatening, over the face of their satellite! How strange the thought +that the once active fires should all have died away, and the Moon have +thus been prepared for the better reception and reflection of the solar +radiance in order to illuminate the nights of Earth! + +The planets, needless to say, were the objects of Herschel's assiduous +attention. Mercury was the one which least interested him; but he +ascertained the perfect circularity of its disc. With respect to Venus, +he endeavoured to determine the time of its rotation from 1777. We owe +to him the discovery of the true shape of the "red planet Mars,"--that, +like the Earth, it is an oblate spheroid, or flattened at the poles. +After Piazzi, Olbers, and Harding had discovered the small planets, +Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta, he applied himself to the measurement +of their angular diameters. His researches led him to the conclusion +that these four new bodies could not properly be ranked with the +planets, and he proposed to call them Asteroids--a name now generally +adopted. Since Herschel's time, the number of these minor planets known +to astronomers has increased to upwards of one hundred. + +With respect to Jupiter, our astronomer arrived at some important facts +in connection with the duration of its rotation. He also made numerous +observations on the intensities and comparative magnitudes of its +satellites. + +We come next in order to Saturn, the gloomy planet which the ancient +astrologers regarded with so much dislike. Here, too, we find traces +of Herschel's labours. Not only has he enlarged our knowledge of its +equatorial compression, of its physical constitution, and of the +rotation of its luminous belt or ring, but he added two to the number +of its satellites. Five only of these were known at the close of the +seventeenth century; of which Cussiric discovered four, and Huygens one. +It was universally believed that the subject was exhausted. + +But, on the 28th of August 1780, Herschel's colossal tube revealed to +his delighted gaze a satellite nearer to the Saturnian ring than those +previously observed. And a few days later, on the 17th of September, a +seventh and last satellite crossed his field of vision. It was situated +between the former and the ring; that is, it is the nearest to it of the +seven. + +But the most remarkable of Herschel's achievements was the discovery of +the planet Uranus, and the detection of its satellites. + +On the 13th of March 1781, between ten and eleven o'clock at night, the +great astronomer was engaged in examining the small stars near H in the +constellation Gemini, with a seven-foot telescope, bearing a magnifying +power of two hundred and twenty-seven times. It appeared to him that +one of these stars was of an unusual diameter; and he came to the +conclusion, therefore, that it was a comet. It was under this +denomination that it was discussed at the meeting of the Royal Society. +But the researches of Herschel at a later period showed that the orbit +of the new body was circular, and accordingly it was elevated to the +rank of a planet. As already stated, Herschel named it, in compliment to +George III., the Georgium Sidus; in this copying the example of Galileo +with his "Medicaean stars." Afterwards, astronomers christened it +Herschel, and subsequently Uranus, in conformity with the mythological +nomenclature of the other planets. + +The immense distance of Uranus from our Earth, its small angular +diameter, and the feebleness of its light, seemed to preclude the hope +that, if it were attended by satellites of the same dimensions in +proportion to its own magnitude as those of the satellites of Jupiter +and Saturn in proportion to _their_ magnitude, they could be descried by +any human observer. The patient, persevering, reverent temper of +Herschel took no account, however, of any discouraging or unpropitious +circumstances. What he did was to substitute for telescopes of the +ordinary construction the new and gigantic forty-foot tube already +described; and, thus, with unremitting vigilance and intense zeal, he +arrived at the discovery (between January 4, 1787, and February 28, +1794) of the _six_ satellites of Uranus; in other words, he revealed to +man the completeness of a new system,--a system which will always be +identified with his name. + + * * * * * + +Those singular meteors, the comets, which flash through heaven with long +trails of light, and of old astonished the nations as if they were +harbingers of some overwhelming calamity, were also the frequent +subjects of our astronomer's investigations. He brought some of his fine +and powerful instruments to bear on a comet discovered by Mr. Pigott in +1807, and closely and carefully investigated its physical constitution. + +The nucleus, or head, was circular and well determined, and evidently +shone by its own light. Very small stars seemed to grow pale, "to hide +their diminished heads," when seen through its _coma_ or tail. It is +true, however, that this faintness may have been only apparent, and due +to the circumstance of the stars being projected on a luminous +background. Such was Herschel's explanation. A gaseous medium, capable +of absorbing sufficient solar radiance to efface the light of some +"lesser stars," appeared to him to possess in each stratum a sensible +quantity of matter. Hence it would cause a real diminution of the light +transmitted, though nothing would indicate the existence of such a +cause.[1] + +[Footnote 1: This conclusion is disputed by many astronomers.] + +Herschel examined the beautiful comet of 1811 with equal accuracy. +"Large telescopes showed him, in the midst of the gaseous head, a rather +reddish body of planetary appearance, which bore strong magnifying +powers, and showed no sign of _phase_ (that is, of change of aspect, as +in the case of the Moon). Hence Herschel concluded that it was +self-luminous. Yet, if we reflect that the planetary body under +consideration was not a second in diameter, the absence of a phase," +says Arago, "does not appear a demonstrative argument." + +The same writer adds:-- + + "The light of the head had a bluish-green tint." Was this a + real tint, or did the central reddish body, only through + contrast, make the surrounding vapour appear to be coloured? + Herschel did not examine the question from this point of view. + + "The head of the comet appeared to be enveloped at a certain + distance, on the side towards the Sun, by a brilliant narrow + zone, embracing about a semicircle, and of a yellowish colour. + From the two extremities of the semicircle arose, towards the + region away from the Sun, two long luminous streaks which + limited the tail. Between the brilliant circular semi-ring and + the head, the cometary substance appeared to be dark, of great + rarity, and very diaphanous. + + "The luminous self-ring floated: one day it seemed to be + suspended in the diaphanous atmosphere by which the head of the + comet was surrounded, at a distance of 322,000 English miles + from the nucleus. + + "This distance was not constant. The matter of the semi-annular + envelope seemed even to be precipitated by slow degrees through + the diaphanous atmosphere; finally, it reached the nucleus; the + earlier appearances vanished; the comet was reduced to a + globular nebula. + + "During its period of dissolution, the ring appeared sometimes + to have several branches. + + "The luminous shreds of the tail apparently underwent rapid, + frequent, and considerable variations of length. Herschel + discerned symptoms of a rotatory movement both in the comet and + its tail; a movement which carried unequal shreds from the + centre towards the border, and the border towards the centre. + On examining at intervals the same region of the tail--the + border, for example--sensible changes of length must have been + perceptible; which, however, had no reality in them. Herschel + thought that both the comet of 1811 and that of 1807 were + self-luminous. The second comet of 1811 appeared to him to + shine only by borrowed light. It must be acknowledged that + these conjectures did not rest on anything demonstrative. + + "In attentively comparing the comet of 1807 with the beautiful + comet of 1811, relative to the changes of distance from the + Sun, and the modifications resulting thence, Herschel put it + beyond doubt that these modifications have something individual + in them,--something relative to a special state of the nebulous + matter. On one celestial body the changes of distance produce + an enormous effect, on another the modifications are + insignificant." + +We have reproduced these observations by a distinguished French +astronomer, in order to show the reader what was the nature, and how +great was the importance, of Herschel's labours, and in how remarkable +and comprehensive a manner he conducted his survey of the celestial +phenomena. We now return to our brief narrative of his life. + +Such a life, absorbed in tranquil and incessant studies, presents no +curious, romantic, or surprising incidents. It was the life of a +reverent, patient, gentle, and devoted man of genius, who dedicated +himself to the task of making known the "wondrous works of God" to his +fellow-men, and who in all his social and domestic relations was without +blot or stain. + +In 1788 he married the widow of John Pitt, Esq., with whom he received +a considerable fortune, and thus for the remainder of his life he was +enabled to give himself up to his favourite pursuits unembarrassed by +pecuniary anxieties. His marriage was in every respect a happy one, and +effectually secured his domestic peace. By his wife he had an only +son,--the late Sir John Herschel,--who worthily maintained the +scientific dignity of his name. + +It is said, by the highest of all authority, that a prophet is not +honoured in his own country. But our astronomer was not without the +reward of his work, even in his lifetime. The University of Oxford +conferred upon him the illustrious honorary degree of D.C.L. In 1816 he +received the Guelphic order of knighthood; and in 1820 he was chosen the +first president of the Astronomical Society. + +From his sister's diary we gather a few particulars illustrative of his +mode of life. + +On the 4th of October 1806 she writes:-- + + + "My brother came from Brighton. The same night two parties from + the castle [Windsor] came to see the comet, and during the + whole month my brother had not an evening to himself. As he was + then in the midst of polishing the forty-foot mirror, rest + became absolutely necessary after a day spent in that most + laborious work; and it has ever been my opinion, that on the + 14th of October his nerves received a shock of which he never + got the better afterwards; for on that day (in particular) he + had hardly dismissed his troop of men, when visitors assembled, + and from the time it was dark till past midnight he was on the + grass-plot, surrounded by between fifty and sixty persons, + without having had time for putting on proper clothing, or for + the least nourishment passing his lips. + + "_February 6th, 1807_.--When I came to Slough to assist my + brother in polishing the forty-foot mirror, I found my + nephew[1] very ill with an inflammatory sore throat and fever. + + "_February 9th_.--Still very ill; and my brother obliged to go + on with the polishing of the great mirror, as every arrangement + had been made for that purpose.--_Mem_. I believe my brother + had reasons for choosing the cold season for this laborious + work, the exertion of which alone must put any man into a + fever, if he were ever so strong. + + "_February 10th_.--From this day my nephew's health kept on + mending. + + "_February 19th_.--My nephew mending, but my brother not well. + + "_February 26th_.--My brother so ill that I was not allowed to + see him, and till March 8th his life was despaired of; and by + March 10th I was permitted to see him, but only for two or + three minutes, as he was not allowed to speak. + + "_March 22nd_.--He (Sir William) went for the first time into + his library, but could only remain for a few moments." + + [Footnote 1: Afterwards Sir John Herschel.] + +From this dangerous attack Sir William recovered, but thenceforth it +was clear to his friends that his strength gradually decreased, though +not his enthusiasm or his industry. He persevered in his life-long +labours with all his old intellectual force. What failed him was neither +his tender affections nor his mental powers; but his body refused to +answer all the demands made upon it by the resolute will,--the sword was +slowly but surely wearing out the scabbard. Under the date of April 2, +1819, we meet with an ominous entry in his loving and faithful sister's +diary:-- + + + "My brother left Slough, accompanied by Lady Herschel, for + Bath, he being very unwell; and the constant complaint of + giddiness in the head so much increased, that they were obliged + to be four nights on the road both going and coming. The last + moments before he stepped into the carriage were spent in + walking with me through his library and workrooms, pointing + with anxious looks to every shelf and drawer, desiring me to + examine all, and to make memorandums of them as well as I + could. He was hardly able to support himself; and his spirits + were so low, that I found difficulty in commanding my voice so + far as to give him the assurance he should find on his return + that my time had not been misspent. + + "When I was left alone, I found that I had no easy task to + perform, for there were packets of writings to be examined + which had not been looked at for the last forty years. But I + did not pass a single day without working in the library as + long as I could read a letter without candlelight, and taking + with me papers to copy, which employed me for best part of the + night; and thus I was enabled to give my brother a clear + account of what had been done at his return. But (May 1) he + returned home much worse than he went, and for several days + hardly noticed my handiwork." + +To this same year of decay and decline (1819) belongs a small slip of +yellow paper, inscribed with the following lines in a tremulous and +feeble handwriting, which is jealously preserved by the illustrious +astronomer's descendants:-- + + + "LINA,--There is a great comet. I want you to assist me. Come + to dine, and spend the day here. If you can come soon after one + o'clock, we shall have time to prepare maps and telescopes. I + saw its situation last night,--it has a long tail. + + "_July 4, 1819_." + +Then follows:-- + + + "I keep this as a relic! Every line _now_ traced by the hand of + my dear brother becomes a treasure to me. + + "C. HERSCHEL." + +We know of nothing more touching in literary history than this noble, +self-sacrificing, generous affection of the sister towards her eminent +brother. Such instances of absolute self-denial and all-absorbing love +elevate our opinion of human nature generally, and prove that something +of the Divine image lingers in it still. + +Herschel was now bordering upon the ripe old age of eighty, and it is no +wonder that, after a life of incessant study, his strength should daily +diminish. In 1822 it became painfully evident to his attached relatives +and friends that the end was not far off; and on the 25th of August he +passed away to his rest. We owe an account of his last days to his +sister, but for whose pious care, indeed, very little of his private +life would have been known, and Herschel could have been judged only +from the recorded results of his immense labours. + + + "_May 20th_.--The summer proved very hot; my brother's feeble + nerves were very much affected, and there being in general much + company, added to the difficulty of choosing the most airy + rooms for his retirement. + + "_July 8th_.--I had a dawn of hope that my brother might regain + once more a little strength, for I have a memorandum in my + almanac of his walking with a firmer step than usual above + three or four times the distance from the dwelling-house to the + library, in order to gather and eat raspberries, in his garden, + with me. But I never saw the like again. + + "The latter end of July I was seized by a bilious fever, and I + could for several days only rise for a few hours to go to my + brother about the time he was used to see me. But one day I was + entirely confined to my bed, which alarmed Lady Herschel and + the family _on my brother's account_. Miss Baldwin [a niece of + Lady Herschel] called and found me in despair about my own + confused affairs, which I never had had time to bring into any + order. The next day she brought my nephew to me, who promised + to fulfil all my wishes which I should have expressed on paper; + he begged me not to exert myself, for his father's sake, of + whom he believed _it would be the immediate death if anything + should happen to me_." + +Afterwards she wrote:-- + + + "Of my dear nephew's advice I could not avail myself, for I + knew that at that time he had weighty concerns on his mind. + And, besides, my whole life almost has passed away in the + delusion that, next to my eldest brother, none but Dietrich was + capable of giving me advice where to leave my few relics, + consisting of a few books and my sweeper [that is, the + seven-foot telescope with which she was accustomed to sweep the + heavens for comets]. And for the last twenty years I kept to + the resolution of never opening my lips to my dear brother + William about worldly concerns, let me be ever so much at a + loss for knowing right from wrong." + +Miss Herschel proceeds to note that on the afternoons of the 11th, 12th, +13th, and 14th of August, she, "as usual," spent some hours with her +brother. + +On the 15th she hastened to the accustomed place, where she generally +found him, with the newspaper which she was to read aloud for his +amusement. But, instead, she found assembled there several of his +nearest friends, who informed her that her aged brother had been +compelled to return to his room. She lost no time in seeking him. He was +attended by Lady Herschel and his housekeeper, who were administering +everything which was likely to keep up his failing strength. + +Miss Herschel observed that he was much irritated, with the irritation +natural to old age and extreme bodily feebleness, at his inability to +grant a friend's request for some token of remembrance for his father. +No sooner did he see Miss Herschel, the loving companion and +fellow-worker of so many years, than he characteristically employed her +to fetch one of his last papers, and a plate (or map) of the forty-foot +telescope. "But, for the universe," says Miss Herschel, "I could not +have looked twice at what I had snatched from the shelf; and when he +faintly asked if the breaking up of the Milky Way[1] was in it, I said, +'Yes,' and he looked content." I cannot help remembering this +circumstance; it was the last time I was sent to the library on such an +occasion. That the anxious care for his papers and workrooms never ended +but with his life, was proved by his frequent whispered inquiries if +they were locked and the key safe; of which I took care to assure him +that they were, and the key in Lady Herschel's hands. + +[Footnote 1: The _Via Lactea_, or "Milky Way," had long been supposed to +consist of a nebulous, vague, luminous matter, but Herschel showed that +it was really made up of stars and systems of stars.] + +After struggling for some thirty minutes against his rapidly increasing +weakness, the great astronomer, bowed by his burden of years and +labours, was forced to retire to his bed, with little hope that he would +ever rise from it again. For ten days and nights his wife and sister +watched by his side in painful suspense, until, on the 25th of August, +the end came. Peacefully closed a life which had passed in a peace and +quietness not often vouchsafed to man. + + * * * * * + +Herschel, says a brother astronomer, will never cease to occupy an +eminent place in the small group of our contemporary men of genius, +while his name will descend to the most distant posterity. The variety +and the magnificence of his labours vie with their extent. The more they +are studied, the more they are admired. For it is with great men as it +is with great movements in the Arts and in national history,--we cannot +understand them without observing them from different points of view. + +What a brilliant roll of achievements is recalled to the mind by the +name of William Herschel! The discovery of Uranus, and of its +satellites; of the fifth and sixth satellites of Saturn; of the many +spots at the poles of Mars; of the rotation of Saturn's ring; of the +belts of Saturn; of the rotation of Jupiter's satellites; of the daily +period of Saturn and Venus; and of the motions of binary sidereal +systems,--added to his investigations into nebulae, the Milky Way, and +double, triple, and multiple stars;--all this we owe to his patient, his +persevering, his daring genius! He may almost be styled the Father of +Modern Astronomy. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +We now propose to furnish a brief sketch of the life of Sir John +Frederick William Herschel, the only son of Sir William, and not less +illustrious as a man of science. + +He was born at Slough, in the year 1792. Evincing considerable talents +at a very early age, he received a careful private education under Mr. +Rogers, a Scottish mathematician of distinguished merit; and afterwards +was sent to St. John's College, Cambridge, always famous as a nursery of +mathematical and scientific prodigies! Here he pursued his studies with +remarkable success, suffering no obstacles to daunt him, and wasting no +opportunities of improvement. His fellow-collegians regarded him as one +who would add to the high repute of the college, and rejoiced at the +brilliant ease with which he passed every examination. In 1813 he took +his degree of B.A., and consummated a long series of successes by +becoming "senior wrangler," and "Smith's prizeman;" these being the two +highest distinctions to which a Cambridge scholar can attain. + +In the same year, when he was hardly twenty-one, he published a work +entitled, "A Collection of Examples of the Application of the Calculus +to Finite Differences." To our young readers such a title will convey no +meaning; and we refer to it here only to illustrate the industry and +careful thought of the young student, which had rendered possible such a +result. + +Returning to Slough, he continued his studies in mathematics, chemistry, +and natural philosophy, and in various publications exhibited that +faculty of observation and analyzation, that intelligence and +scrupulousness in collecting facts, and that boldness in deducing new +inferences from them, which were characteristic of his illustrious +father. The subjects he took up were so abstruse, that we could not hope +to make our readers understand what he accomplished, or how far he +excelled his predecessors in his grasp and comprehension of them. For +instance: if we tell them that in 1820 he wrote a paper "On the Theory +and Summation of Series;" communicated to the Cambridge Philosophical +Society his discovery that the two kinds of rotatory polarization in +rock crystal were related to the plagihedral faces of that mineral; and +issued an able treatise "On Certain Remarkable Instances of Deviation +from Newton's Tints in the Polarized Tints of Uniaxal Crystals,"--they +will gain no very distinct idea of the significance or value of these +researches. Again: it will not be very intelligible to them to be +informed that, in 1822, he communicated to the Royal Society of +Edinburgh a paper "On the Absorption of Light by Coloured Media", in +which he enunciated a new method of measuring the dispersion of +transparent bodies by stopping the green, yellow, and most refrangible +red rays, and thus rendering visible the rays situated rigorously at the +end of the spectrum. But they will understand that these results could +have been attained only by the most assiduous industry and the most +unflinching perseverance. And it is on account of this industry and +this perseverance that we recommend Herschel as an example to our +readers. They may not make the same progress in science, or achieve the +same reputation. It is not necessary they should. Humble work is not +less honourable, if it be done conscientiously, and with a sincere +desire to do the best that it is in our power to do. + +An interesting feature in the younger Herschel's character was his +loving care for his father's fame. He was ever most anxious that the +full measure of his services to science should be recognized and +appreciated. Thus, in 1823, he writes to his aunt:-- + + + "I have been long threatening to send you a long letter, but + have always been prevented by circumstances and want of leisure + from executing my intention. The truth is, I have been so much + occupied with astronomy of late, that I have had little time + for anything else--the reduction of those double stars, and the + necessity it has put me under of looking over the journals, + reviews, &c, for information on what has already been done, and + in many cases of re-casting up my father's measures, swallows + up a great deal of time and labour. But I have the satisfaction + of being able to state that our results in most instances + confirm and establish my father's views in a remarkable manner. + These inquiries have taken me off the republication of his + printed papers for the present. + + "I think I shall be adding more to his fame by pursuing and + verifying his observations than by reprinting them. But I have + by no means abandoned the idea. Meanwhile, I am not sorry to + hear they are about to be translated into German.... I hope + this season to commence a series of observations with the + twenty-foot reflector, which is now in fine order. The + forty-foot is no longer capable of being used, but I shall + suffer it to stand as a monument." + + * * * * * + +In reference to this famous telescope, we may digress to state that its +remains have been carefully preserved. + +The metal tube of the instrument, carrying at one end the recently +cleaned mirror of four feet ten inches in diameter, has been placed +horizontally in the meridian line, on solid piles of masonry, in the +midst of the circle where the apparatus used in manoeuvring it was +formerly placed. On the 1st of January 1840, Sir John Herschel, his +wife, their seven children, and some old family servants, assembled at +Slough. Exactly at noon the party walked several times in procession +round the instrument; they then entered the gigantic tube, seated +themselves on benches previously prepared, and chanted a requiem with +English words composed by Sir John Herschel himself. Then issuing from +the tube, they ranged themselves around it, while its opening was +hermetically sealed. + + * * * * * + +In March 1821, the younger Herschel, in conjunction with Sir James +South, undertook a series of observations on the distances and positions +of three hundred and eighty double and triple stars, by means of two +splendid achromatic telescopes of five and seven focal length. These +were continued during 1822 and 1823, and have proved of great service to +astronomers. + +Having pursued with much zeal the study of optics, and experimented +largely and carefully on the double refraction and polarization of +light, he compiled a treatise on the subject for the "Encyclopaedia +Metropolitana" It has been translated into French by M. Quetelet; and +both foreign and English men of science have been accustomed to regard +it as indicating a new point of departure in the important branch of +science to which it is devoted. + +Astronomy, however, became for him, as for his father, the great +pursuit of his laborious life; and having constructed telescopes of +singular magnitude and power, he entered upon a study of the Sidereal +World. In 1825 he commenced a careful re-examination of the numerous +nebulae and starry clusters which had been discovered by his father, and +described in the "Philosophical Transactions," fixing their positions +and investigating their aspects. He devoted eight years to this _magnum +opus_, completing it in 1832. The catalogue which he then contributed to +the "Philosophical Transactions" includes 2306 nebulae and +star-clusters, of which 525 were discovered by himself. While engaged in +this difficult task, Herschel discovered between three and four thousand +double stars, which he described in the Memoirs of the Astronomical +Society. His observations were made with an excellent Newtonian +telescope, twenty feet in focal length, and eighteen and a half inches +in aperture; and having obtained, to use his own expression, "a +sufficient mastery over the instrument," the idea occurred to him of +making it available for a survey of the southern heavens. Accordingly, +he left England on the 13th of November 1833, and arrived at Cape Town +on the 16th of January 1834. Five days later he wrote to his aunt as +follows:-- + + + "Here we are safely lauded and comfortably housed at the far + end of Africa; and having secured the landing and final storage + of all the telescopes and other matters, as far as I can see, + without the slightest injury, I lose no time in reporting to + you our good success _so far_. M----[1] and the children are, + thank God, quite well; though, for fear you should think her + too good a sailor, I ought to add that she continued sea-sick, + at intervals, during the whole passage. We were nine weeks and + two days at sea, during which period we experienced only one + day of contrary wind. We had a brisk breeze 'right aft' all the + way from the Bay of Biscay (which we never entered) to the + 'calm latitudes;' that is to say, to the space about five or + six degrees broad near the equator, where the trade-winds + cease, and where it is no unusual thing for a ship to lie + becalmed for a month or six weeks, frying under a vertical sun. + Such, however, was not our fate. We were detained only three or + four days by the calms usual in that zone, but never _quite_ + still, or driven out of our course; and immediately on crossing + 'the line' got a good breeze (the south-east trade-wind), which + carried us round Trinidad; then exchanged it for a north-west + wind, which, with the exception of one day's squall from the + south-east, carried us straight into Table Bay. On the night of + the 14th we were told to prepare to see the Table Mountain. + Next morning (_N.B._, we had not seen land before since leaving + England), at dawn, the welcome word land' was heard; and there + stood this magnificent hill, with all its attendant + mountain-range down to the farthest point of South Africa, full + in view, with a clear blue ghost-like outline; and that night + we cast anchor within the Bay. Next morning early we landed, + under escort of Dr. Stewart, M----'s brother, and you may + imagine the meeting. We took up our quarters at a most + comfortable lodging-house (Miss Robe's), and I proceeded, + without loss of time, to unship the instruments. This was no + trifling operation, as they filled (with the rest of our + luggage) fifteen large boats; and, owing to the difficulty of + getting them up from the hold of the ship, required several + days to complete the landing. During the whole time (and indeed + up to this moment) not a single south-east gale, the summer + torment of this harbour, has occurred. This is a thing almost + unheard of here, and has indeed been most fortunate, since + otherwise it is not at all unlikely that some of the boats, + laden as they were to the water's edge, might have been lost, + and the whole business crippled. + + [Footnote 1: Herschel married a Miss Stewart in February 1826.] + + "For the last two or three days we have been looking at houses, + and have all but agreed for one--a most beautiful place within + four or five miles out of town, called 'The Grove.' In point of + situation it is a perfect paradise, in rich and magnificent + mountain-scenery, and sheltered from all winds, even the fierce + south-easter, by thick surrounding woods. I must reserve for my + next all description of the gorgeous display of flowers which + adorns this splendid country, as well as of the astonishing + brilliancy of the constellations, which the calm, clear nights + show off to great advantage." + +Mr. Herschel settled at Feldhausen, about 142 feet above the sea, and in +long. 22° 46' 9".11 E., and lat. 33° 58' 26".59 S. Here he entered upon +his great series of observations of the southern heavens, which he +continued with unwearied ardour for a period of four years. The results +were afterwards published, at the cost of the Duke of Northumberland, in +a work entitled "Results of Astronomical Observations made in +1834-35-36-37-38, at the Cape of Good Hope." In this superb work, which +placed its author on an equality with the most brilliant and illustrious +astronomers, he defined and described 4015 of the nebulae and +star-groups in the southern hemisphere, and 2995 of the double stars; +besides entering into a variety of valuable particulars relative to +Halley's comet, the solar spots, the satellites of Saturn, and the +measurement of the apparent magnitude of stars. + +On his return to England (in 1838) the astronomer received a noble +welcome. Honours poured in upon him. The Gold Medal of the Astronomical +Society was conferred upon him for a second time. William IV. had +previously distinguished him with the Hanoverian order of K.H.; but, on +the coronation of Queen Victoria, he received a baronetcy; and in 1839 +the University of Oxford made him a D.C.L. + +Continuing his career of scientific industry, he issued, in 1849, his +important and very valuable treatise entitled "Outlines of Astronomy." +In 1845, he was appointed President of the British Association; and in +1848, of the Royal Astronomical Society. To his other honours was added +that of Chevalier of the Prussian order, "Pour la Mérite," founded by +Frederick the Great, and bestowed at all times with a discrimination +which renders it a deeply-coveted distinction. Of the academies and +leading scientific institutions of the Continent and the United States, +he was also an honorary or corresponding member. + +Besides his works on meteorology and physical geography, he published, +in 1867, an admirable little volume--"Familiar Lectures on Scientific +Subjects." In this he showed that he could write with as much ease and +intelligibility for the general public as for the higher order of +scientific inquirers. His style in this valuable manual of information +has a charm of its own, and entices the reader into the consideration of +subjects apparently abstruse. He is earned on from page to page without +any great mental effort, and finds himself rapidly mastering +difficulties which he had been accustomed to regard as insuperable. + +Let us take the first lecture on "Volcanoes and Earthquakes," and obtain +a glimpse of Herschel's mode of treatment. He refers to the greater and +more permanent agencies which affect the configuration of our planet. +Everywhere, he says, and along every coast-line, we see the sea warring +against the land, and overcoming it; wearing it and eating it down, and +battering it to pieces; grinding those pieces to powder; carrying that +powder away, and spreading it out over its own bottom, by the continued +effect of the tides and currents. What a scene of continual activity is +presented by the chalk-cliffs of Old England! How they are worn, and +broken up, and fantastically sculptured by the influence of winds and +waters! Precipices cut down to the sea-beach, constantly hammered by the +waves, and constantly crumbling; the beach itself made of the flints +outstanding after the softer chalk has been ground down and washed +away; themselves grinding one another under the same ceaseless +discipline--first rounded into pebbles, then worn into sand, and then +carried further and further down the slope, to be replaced by fresh ones +from the same source. Here the likeness of an old Gothic cathedral, with +lofty arch, and shapely pinnacle; there the similitude of a mass of +medieval fortifications, with crumbling battlements and shattered +towers! + +The same thing, the same waste and wear, is going on everywhere, round +every coast. The rivers contribute their share to the great work of +change. Look at the sand-banks at the mouth of the Thames. What are +they, says Sir John Herschel, but the materials of our island carried +out to sea by the stream? The Ganges carries away from the soil of +India, and delivers into the sea, twice as much solid substance weekly +as is contained in the Great Pyramid of Egypt. The Irawaddy sweeps off +from Burmah sixty-two cubic feet of earth in every second of time, on an +average Sometimes vast amount of earthy materials is transferred from +one locality to another by river agency, as is the case in the deltas +of the Nile and the Mississippi. + +These changes operate silently, continuously, and unperceived by the +ordinary observer; but Nature does not limit herself always and +everywhere to such peaceful agencies. At times, and in certain places, +she acts with startling abruptness and extraordinary violence. Let the +volcano and the earthquake attest the immensity of her power. Let the +earthquake tell how, within the memory of man, the whole coast-line of +Chili, for 100 miles about Valparaiso, with the mighty chain of the +Andes, was hoisted at one blow, and in a single night (November 19, +1822), from two to seven feet above its former level, leaving the beach +below the old low-water mark high and dry. One of the Andean peaks +upheaved on this occasion was the colossal mass of Aconcagua, which +overlooks Valparaiso, and measures nearly 24,000 feet in height. On the +same occasion, at least 10,000 square miles of country were estimated as +having been upheaved; and the upheaval was not confined to the land, but +extended far away to sea,--which was proved by the soundings off +Valparaiso and along the coast having been found considerably shallower +than they were before the shock. + +In the year 1819, in an earthquake in India, in the district of Cutch, +bordering on the Indus, a tract of country more than fifty miles long +and sixteen miles broad was suddenly raised _ten feet_ above its former +level. The raised portion still stands up above the unraised, like a +long perpendicular rampart, known by the name of Ullah Bund, or God's +Wall. + + * * * * * + +With a similar fertility of illustration, Herschel sets before us the +phenomena of volcanic eruptions and their extraordinary effects. + +In a district of Mexico, between the two streams of the Cintimba and the +San Pedro, on the 28th of September 1789, a whole tract of ground, from +three to four miles in extent, surged up like a foam-bubble, or the +swell of a wave, to a height of upwards of 500 feet. Flames, lurid and +crackling, broke forth over a surface of more than half a square league; +and the earth, as if softened by heat, was seen to rise and sink like +the rolling tide. Vast chasms opened in the earth, into which the two +rivers poured their waters headlong; reappearing afterwards at no great +distance from a cluster of _hornitos_, or small volcanic cones, which +sprang out of the mighty mud-torrent that gradually covered the entire +plain. Wonderful and awful as were these phenomena, they were surpassed +by the sudden opening of a chasm which vomited forth fire, and red-hot +stones and ashes, until they accumulated in a range of six large +mountain masses,--one of which, now known as the volcano of Jorullo, +attains an altitude of 1690 feet above the ancient level. + +In like manner Sir John proceeds to describe an eruption of Mount +Tomboro, in the island of Sumbawa, the influence of which was felt to a +distance of 1000 miles from its centre, in strange tremulous motions of +the earth, and in the clash and clang of loud explosions. He says that +he had seen it computed that the quantity of ashes and lava ejected in +the course of this tremendous eruption would have formed three mountains +of the size of Mont Blanc. + +As to the nature of the forces which operate to produce this astounding +result, Herschel puts forward a theory of singular simplicity and +directness. + +"The origin," he says, "of such an enormous power thus occasionally +exerting itself, will no doubt seem very marvellous--little short, +indeed, of miraculous intervention; but the mystery, after all, is not +quite so great as at first it seems. We are permitted to look a little +way into these great secrets of Nature; not far enough, indeed, to clear +up every difficulty, but quite enough to penetrate us with admiration of +that wonderful system of counterbalances and compensations, that +adjustment of causes and consequences, by which, throughout all nature, +evils are made to work their own cure, life to spring out of death, and +renovation to tread in the steps and efface the vestiges of decay." And +he finds the clew to the secret, the key of the whole matter, in the +earth's vast central heat. This it is which produces the convulsions +that change the terrestrial configuration, and fill the minds of men +with fear and awe. Conceive of "a sea of fire, on which we are all +floating, land and sea,"--a boiling, seething, incandescent reservoir in +the centre of our planet; and the solution of the problem will seem to +you not difficult. Such a sea would necessarily roll its liquid matter +to and fro; and the removal of ever so small a portion from one point to +another on the earth's surface would tend to disturb the equilibrium of +the floating mass; just as, when a ship is launched into the river, the +water it displaces is carried to the opposite bank with greater or less +violence, according to the amount of displacement. + +It is impossible, adds Herschel, but that this increase of pressure in +some places and relief in others must be very unequal in their bearings. +So that at some point or another our planet's floating crust must be +brought into a state of strain, and if there be a weak or a soft part a +crack will at last take place. This is exactly what happened in the +earthquake which originated the Allah Bund, or God's Wall, in Cutch. + +Volcanic eruptions are easily explicable on this principle,--the volcano +being simply a vent for the passage of heated and molten matter, which +the elevating pressure of the liquid below tends to eject. It is a +well-known fact that volcanoes and earthquake-centres are nearly all +situated on the borders or in the immediate neighbourhood of seas and +oceans; and the reason would seem to be, that at such positions the +accumulation of transported matter would necessarily attain its maximum, +to whatever cause it might be due. Then again, as Herschel points out, +the eruption of scorite and lava from the mouths of volcanoes, the +result of the upward movement of the fiery liquid below, compensates in +some degree for the downward transfer of material by detritus and +alluvial deposits. Hence it may be inferred that, on the whole, the +quantity of solid matter above the ocean-level probably remains nearly +always at the same amount. + + * * * * * + +It is with this ease and lucidity that Sir John deals with scientific +subjects of the greatest importance,--his genius resembling the +elephant's trunk, which can balance a straw or rend an oak. In private +life he displayed a simplicity of manner in harmony with the general +unassumingness of his character. In his books as in society, in society +as in his books, he was the same,--that is, free from all ostentation, +free from self-pride, free from the arrogance of superior knowledge, and +as ready to unbend himself to a child as to discourse with men of +science. + +His career was a tranquil and a prosperous one, and, apart from the +record of his discoveries and his honours, presents nothing of interest. +He was peculiarly happy in his domestic relations; and in the wide +circle of friends attracted by the mingled charm of his intellect and +manners. A devout Christian, a man of generosity and culture, a +philosopher of great breadth of view and infinite patience of +research,--we can place few better or brighter examples before our +English youth than Sir John Herschel. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +We could not conclude our notice of this remarkable family without some +further allusion to its not least remarkable member--Caroline Lucretia +Herschel. + +To her varied accomplishments, her astronomical researches, and, above +all, to her unwearied and unselfish devotion to her brother William, we +have already made frequent allusion. She seemed to live for him and in +him, to live for his fame and prosperity; and she poured out at his feet +the treasures of an inexhaustible affection. To assist him in his +labours, at whatever sacrifice, was her sole object in life; and she was +certainly more careful for his reputation than was he himself. During +his declining years she was his principal stay and support, and she was +in daily attendance to note down or to calculate the results of his +observations. His death was a severe blow to her; but, with +characteristic courage, she retired to Hanover, gave herself up to +scientific pursuits, and in comparative solitude spent her later years. + +Her biographer writes:-- + + "When all was over, her only desire seems to have been to hurry + away. Hardly was her brother laid in his grave than she + collected the few things she cared to keep, and left for ever + the country where she had spent fifty years of her life, living + and toiling for him and him only. 'If I should leave off making + memorandums of such events as affect or are interesting to me, + I should feel like what I am,--namely, a person that has + nothing more to do in this world.' Mournful words! doubly + mournful, when we know that the writer had nearly half an + ordinary lifetime still between her and that grave which she + made haste to prepare, in the hope that her course was nearly + run. Who can think of her, at the age of seventy-two, + heart-broken and desolate, going back to the home of her youth + in the fond expectation of finding consolation, without a pang + of sympathetic pity? She found everything changed." + +_That_, indeed, is to all of us the greatest grief, when we return to +the home of our youth. It is as if, during the years of our absence, we +had expected everything to stand as still as in the palace of the +Sleeping Beauty while the charm rested upon it. We are fain to see the +trees in their young greenness as when they sheltered our childhood, to +find the hedgerows blooming with the same violets, to hear the +mill-stream murmuring with the same music. Time furrows our brows with +wrinkles, and streaks our hair with silver; our hearts grow colder; our +minds lose their elasticity and freshness; our friends pass away from +our side. But still we think to ourselves that in the old scenes all +things are as they were. We say to ourselves: The bird sings as of old +in the elm-trees at the garden-foot; the rose-bush blossoms as of old +against our favourite window. + + "The varying year with blade and sheaf + Clothes and re-clothes the happy plains; + Here rests the sap within the leaf, + Here stays the blood along the veins. + Faint shadows, vapours lightly curled, + Faint murmurs from the meadows come, + Like hints and echoes of the world + To spirits folded in the womb." + + * * * * * + +But we regain the old familiar places, and, alas! we find that change +has been as busy with them as with us. The signs of decay are upon the +trees; the brook has ceased to flow; the rose-bush has withered to the +ground. There are trees as green and streams as musical and flowers as +sweet as in our youth; but they are not the streams or flowers or trees +which delighted us, and to us they can never be as dear. But a worse +alteration has taken place than any visible in the face of nature. We +discover that we have lost the old habits, the old capacity of +enjoyment; and we soon discover that it was the sympathies, the hopes, +the aspirations of youth which, after all, lent to these early scenes +their rare and irrecoverable attraction. + +And thus it was that Miss Herschel found everything changed. A life of +fifty years spent in a certain routine and upon certain objects, had +unfitted her to tread in the old paths. It soon became clear to her that +all her ideas and feelings had been shaped and influenced in a totally +different path. More bitter still, we are told, she came to know that in +her great sorrow and inextinguishable love she was all alone. And +bitterest of all was the feeling that, in losing her brother she had +lost the glory of her life, the source of her intellectual enjoyment. +"You don't know," she wrote to a friend, "the blank of life after +having lived within the radiance of genius." Yet to live in this +blankness, and to do the best she could with it, became the work of +Caroline Lucretia Herschel at the age of threescore years and ten,--an +age when most of us have already put off our cares and anxieties, but +when she began to enter on a new life, with new habits, new duties, and +new associations. + +Her interest in astronomical pursuits never slackened, and she watched +with eagerness the labours and successes of her nephew. The respect paid +to her in society as a "woman of science" was not unwelcome, though she +affected to make light of it. "You must give me leave," she wrote to Sir +John, "to send you any publications you can think of, without mentioning +anything about paying for them. For it is necessary I should every now +and then lay out a little of my spare cash in that, for the sake of +supporting the reputation of being a learned lady; (there is for you!) +for I am not only looked at for such a one, but even stared at here in +Hanover!" It was with unaffected modesty she deprecated the honorary +membership of the Irish Academy, conferred on one who, she said, had +not for many years discovered even a comet; yet she was by no means +insensible to the distinction. Every man of scientific eminence who +visited Hanover visited this aged lady; and her presence in the theatre, +even in her latest years, was a constant source of attraction. Such was +the simple frugality of her habits, that she experienced an actual +difficulty in disposing of her income. She affirmed that the largest sum +she could spend upon herself was £50 a year; and the annual pension of +£100, left by her brother, she refused, or else devoted the quarterly or +half-yearly payment to the purchase of some handsome present for her +nephew or niece. + +Such was Caroline Lucretia Herschel; and as such she was a remarkable +proof that the rarest womanly gifts of affectionate forethought and +loving devotion may exist in combination with intellectual strength and +scientific enthusiasm. + +Of the force, keenness, and permanency of her sisterly love, an +illustration of a pathetic character occurs in a letter which she +addressed to her nephew, February 27, 1823:-- + + + "I am grown much thinner than I was six months ago: when I look + at my hands, they put me so in mind of what your dear father's + were, when I saw them tremble under my eyes, as we latterly + played at backgammon together." + +It has long been the reproach of England that she treats, or rather that +her Government treats, her men of science, her artists, and her +litterateurs with a disgraceful parsimony. It would appear from the +following letter that Sir William Herschel was inadequately rewarded, +and that his sister felt this keenly:-- + + + "There can be no harm," she says, "in telling my own dear + nephew that I never felt satisfied with the support your father + received towards his undertakings, and far less with the + ungracious manner in which it was granted. For the last sum + came with a message that more must never be asked for. (Oh! how + degraded I felt, even for myself, whenever I thought of it!) + And after all it came too late, and was not sufficient; for if + expenses had been out of question, there would not have been so + much time, and labour, and expense, for twenty-four men were at + times by turns, day and night, at work, wasted on the first + mirror, which had come out too light in the casting (Alex more + than once would have destroyed it secretly, if I had not + persuaded him against it); and without two mirrors, you know, + such an instrument cannot be always ready for observing. + + "But what grieved me most was that to the last your poor father + was struggling above his strength against difficulties which he + well knew might have been removed if it had not been attended + with too much expense. The last time the mirror was obliged to + be taken from the polisher on account of some obstacle, I heard + him say (in his usual manner of thinking aloud on such + occasions), 'It is impossible to make the machine act as + required without a room three times as large as this.' + + "I must say a few words of apology for the good King (George + III.), and ascribe the close bargains which were made between + him and my brother to the _shabby, mean-spirited advisers_ who + were undoubtedly consulted on such occasions; but they are dead + and gone, and no more of them." + +In February 1828, the great services which this high-souled woman had +rendered to astronomical science were fitly rewarded by the presentation +to her of the Royal Astronomical Society's gold medal,--the greatest +honour which an astronomer can receive. + +Mr. South, himself an astronomer of deserved repute, was charged with +the duty of presenting the medal; and in the course of his address he +dwelt on the labours of her brother, and the share she had had in them. + +Sir William's first catalogue of new nebulae and clusters of stars, he +said, amounting in number to one thousand, was compiled with +observations made from a twenty-foot reflector in the years 1783, 1784, +and 1785. By the same instrument he was enabled to discover the +positions of a second thousand of these distant worlds in 1785 to 1788; +while the places of five hundred others were registered on the celestial +map between 1788 and 1802. What, we may ask, were the discoveries of +Columbus compared with these? He revealed to Europe the existence of +only a single continent; Herschel unfolded to man the mysteries of the +depths of the heavens. + +But, continued Mr. South, when we have thus enumerated the results +obtained in the course of "sweeps" with this instrument, and taken into +consideration the extent and variety of the other observations which +were at the same time in progress, a most important part yet remains +untold. Who participated in his toils? Who braved with him all the +experiences of inclement weather? Who shared, and consoled him in, his +privations? A woman. And who was she? His sister. Miss Herschel it was +who by night acted as his amanuensis; she it was whose pen conveyed to +paper his observations as they issued from his lips; she it was who +noted the various aspects and phenomena of the objects observed; she it +was who, after spending the still night beside the wonder-exhibiting +instrument, carried the rough, blurred manuscripts to her cottage at +daybreak, and by the morning produced a clean copy and register of the +night's achievements; she it was who planned the labour of each +succeeding night; she it was who reduced into exact form every +calculation; she it was who arranged the whole in systematic order; and +she it was who largely assisted her illustrious brother to obtain his +imperishable renown. + +Miss Herschel's claims to the gratitude of men of science, and to the +admiration of all who can appreciate the beauty of self-sacrifice, did +not end here. She was herself an astronomer, and an original observer. +At times her brother was enabled to dispense with her attendance. You +would suppose that such leisure nights she would gladly give up to rest. +Not she. Her brother might, at some unforeseen moment, require her aid, +and consequently she preferred to be close at hand. A seven-foot +telescope planted on the lawn helped to while away the hours of waiting; +and it was to the occupation of these hours that science owed the +discovery of the comet of 1786, of the comet of 1788, of the comet of +1791, of the comet of 1793, and of that of 1795, now connected with the +name of Encke. Many, also, of the nebulae contained in Sir William +Herschel's catalogues were detected by her keen and accurate gaze during +these nights of lonely observation. Indeed, as South remarked, when +looking at the joint-labours of these two enthusiasts, we scarcely know +whether the warmer praise should be given to the intellectual might of +the brother or the ardent industry of the sister. + +In 1797, continued her eulogist, she presented to the Royal Society a +catalogue of 560 stars, taken from Flamsteed's observations, the exact +positions of which had not been previously defined. + +Soon after the death of him to whom she had given up so much of her +life, her best energies, and her ripest faculties, she returned to +Hanover,--unwilling, however, to relinquish the astronomical researches +which had been so pure and permanent a source of pleasure. She undertook +and completed the laborious "reduction" or registration of the places of +2500 nebulae, down to the 1st of January 1800; thus presenting in one +view the results of all the observations Sir William Herschel had made +upon those wonderful bodies, and triumphantly bringing to a close half a +century of scientific toil. + + * * * * * + +We return to Miss Herschel's biography, in order to gather up a few +particulars of her last years, and to exhibit some of the tenderer +features of her character. + +On the occasion of her nephew's marriage, in 1829, she wrote to him in +the following terms:-- + + + "MY DEAREST NEPHEW,--I have spent four days in vain endeavours + to gain composure enough to give you an idea of the joyful + sensation your letter of February 5th has caused me. But I can + at this present moment find no words which would better express + my happiness than those which escaped in exclamation from my + lips, according to Simeon (see St. Luke ii. 29), 'Lord, now + lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.' + + "I have now some hopes of passing the few remainder of my days + in as much comfort as the separation from the land where I + spent the greatest portion of my life, and from all those which + are most dear to me, can admit. For, from the description given + me of the dear young lady of your choice, I am confident my + dear nephew's future happiness is now established. + + "I beg you will give my love to your dear lady, and best + regards to all your new connections where they are due, in the + best terms you can think of, for I am at present too unwell for + writing all I could wish to say. + + "I have suffered much during this severe winter, and have not + been able to leave my habitation above three or four times for + the last three months; and feel, moreover, much fatigued by + sitting eight times within the last ten days to Professor + Tiedemann for having my picture taken--which he did at my + apartment, and now he has taken it home to finish. I must + conclude, for I wish to say a few words to your dear mother. It + is now between eleven and twelve, and perhaps you are at this + very moment receiving the blessing of Dr. Jennings; in which I + most fervently join by saying, 'God bless you both!'" + +Though eighty-three years old, Miss Herschel retained all her old powers +of memory; and in a letter to her new niece, Lady Herschel, written in +1833, she narrated some amusing reminiscences of her nephew's early +childhood. + +He was only in his sixth year, she said, when she was separated for a +while from the family circle. But this did not hinder "John" and her +from remaining the most affectionate friends, and many a half or whole +holiday he spent with her, devoting it to chemical experiments, in which +all kinds of boxes, tops of tea-canisters, pepper-cruets, tea-cups, and +the like, served for the necessary vessels, and the sand-tub furnished +the matter to be analysed. Miss Herschel's task was to prevent the +introduction of water, which would have produced havoc on her carpet. +For his first notion of building, "John" was indebted to the affection +of his aunt, who, on his second or third birthday, lifted him in the +trenches to lay the south corner-stone of the building which was added +to Sir William's original house at Slough. On further reflection, she +felt convinced that this incident occurred in the second year of her +nephew's age, for she remembered being obliged to use "a deal of +coaxing" to make him part with the money he was to lay on the +comer-stone. + +About the same time, when she was sitting near him one day, listening to +his prattle, her attention was drawn to his repeated and formidable +hammering. On investigating into its object, she found that it was the +continuation of the labour of many days, during which he had undermined +the ground about the corner of the house, had entirely removed the +corner-stone, and was zealously toiling to overthrow the next! His aunt +gave the alarm, and old John Wiltshire, a favourite carpenter, ran to +the spot, exclaiming, "Heaven bless the boy! if he is not going to pull +the house down!" + + * * * * * + +In 1834, Sir John, as already stated, made a voyage to the Cape of Good +Hope, in order to undertake a series of observations of the southern +heavens. His aunt had now reached the ripe old age of eighty-four, an +age attained by few,--and when attained, bringing with it in almost +every case a painful diminution of physical energy, and a corresponding +decline in mental force. But such was not the case with this remarkable +woman. She still continued an active correspondence with her nephew, and +manifested the liveliest interest in all his movements. It is +astonishing to mark the vivacity and clearness of the letters she wrote +at this advanced period of her life. Thus, on the 1st of May 1834, she +writes to Sir John:-- + + + "Both yourself and my dear niece urged me to write often, and + to write always twice; but, alas! I could not overcome the + reluctance I felt of [at] telling you that it is over with me + for getting up at eight or nine o'clock, dressing myself, + eating my dinner alone without an appetite, falling asleep over + a novel (I am obliged to lay down to recover the fatigue of the + morning's exertions), awaking with nothing but the prospect of + the trouble of getting into bed, where very seldom I get above + two hours' sleep. It is enough to make a parson swear! To this + I must add, I found full employment for the few moments, when I + could rouse myself from a melancholy lethargy, to spend in + looking over my store of astronomical and other memorandums of + upwards of fifty years' collecting." + +Later in the year she writes:-- + + + "I know not how to thank you sufficiently for the cheering + account you give of the climate agreeing so well with you and + all who are so dear to me, and that you find all about you so + agreeable and comfortable;... so that I have nothing left to + wish for but a continuation of the same, and that I may only + live to see the handwriting of your dear Caroline, though I + have my doubts about lasting till then, for the thermometer + standing 80° and 90° for upwards of two mouths, day and night, + in nay rooms (to which I am mostly confined), has made great + havoc in my brittle constitution. I beg you will look to it + that she learns to make her figures as you find them in your + father's MSS., such as he taught me to make. The daughter of a + mathematician must write plain figures. + + "My little grand-nephew making alliance with your workmen shows + that he is taking after his papa. I see you now in idea, + running about in petticoats among your father's carpenters, + working with little tools of your own; and John Wiltshire (one + of Pitt's men, whom you may perhaps remember) crying out, 'Dang + the boy, if he can't drive in a nail as well as I can!' + + "I thank you for the astronomical portion of your letter, and + for your promise of future accounts of uncommon objects. It is + not _clusters of stars_ I want you to discover in the body of + the Scorpion [the astronomical sign, so called], or thereabout, + for that does not answer my expectation, remembering having + once heard your father, after a long, awful silence, exclaim, + 'Hier ist wahrhaftig ein loch ein Himmel!' [Here, indeed, is a + great gap in Heaven!], and, as I said before, stopping + afterwards at the same spot, but leaving it unsatisfied." + +These extracts may seem trivial to some of our readers, but they are not +so, rightly considered. They illustrate the wonderful mental vivacity of +their venerable writer, and in this respect are useful; but still more +useful in showing how cheerfully she bore the burden of her years, and +with what intellectual serenity she looked forward to her end. + +We own that the lives of the Herschels are what the world would call +uneventful. The discovery of a new planet, or of the orbit of a star, +seems less romantic to the vulgar taste than the slaughter of ten +thousand men on a field of battle. It will seem to the unthinking that +the victorious general or the daring seaman, the leader of a forlorn +hope, or the captain who goes down with his sinking ship, affords an +example worthier of imitation than the patient, watchful, enthusiastic +astronomer or his devoted sister. _His_, they will say, was a noble +life. Be it so; but every life is noble which is spent in the path of +duty. Do what comes to your hand to do with all honesty and +completeness, and you will make _your_ life noble. Subdue your passions, +master your evil thoughts, observe the laws of temperance and purity, be +truthful, be firm, be honest, and keep ever before you the law of Christ +as the law of your daily work, and you will make _your_ life noble. We +cannot all be great commanders or daring captains, we cannot all be +distinguished men of science; but we can all be righteously-living men, +endeavouring to raise others by our example, and it is a higher aim to +live purely than to live successfully. We cannot all command the +success, just as we do not all enjoy the intellectual powers, of a +Herschel; but we can emulate the industry and perseverance of the +astronomer, we can copy the devoted affection and self-denial of his +sister. The sorriest mistake of which men can be guilty,--yet it is a +mistake which has clouded many lives,--is to suppose that duty is less +imperative in its claims on the humble and unknown than on men raised or +born to eminent position. Let it be understood and remembered that each +one of us can rise to a standard of true heroism, by cultivating the +graces of the Christian character, and doing the work which God has +appointed. + + * * * * * + +Sir John Herschel returned to England in 1838, and in July of the same +year he and his little son paid a visit to Miss Herschel. It is +characteristic that her intense anxiety as to the proper treatment of +her little grand-nephew--his sleep, his food, his playthings--greatly +disturbed her peace. "I rather suffered him," she writes, "to hunger, +than would let him eat anything hurtful; indeed, I would not let him eat +anything at all unless his papa was present." Her biographer remarks, +that great as was her joy to see once more almost the only living being +upon whom she poured some of that wealth of affection with which her +heart never ceased to overflow, yet it was on the disappointments and +shortcomings of those few days, those precious days, that she chiefly +dwelt; and the abrupt termination of her nephew's visit filled her with +the deepest sorrow. With the generous, but, as it proved, mistaken +intention of sparing her feelings, her nephew left without informing her +beforehand of the exact time of his departure, simply bidding her +good-night prior to his return to his inn. Great was her distress when +she found that he and his son had quitted Hanover at four o'clock on the +following morning. + +Her introduction to her grand-nephew, as described by his father, Sir +John, was exceedingly quaint:-- + + "Now, let me tell you how tilings fell out. Dr. Groskopff took + Willie with him to Aunty, but without saying who he was. Says + she, 'What little boy is that?' Says he, 'The son of a friend + of mine. Ask him his name.' However, Willie would not tell his + name. 'Where do you come from, little fellow?' 'From the Cape + of Good Hope,' says Willie. 'What is that he says?' 'He says he + comes from the Cape of Good Hope.' 'Ay! and who is he? What is + his name?' 'His name is Herschel.' 'Yes,'says Willie. 'What is + that he says?' 'He says he comes from the Cape of Good Hope.' + 'Ay! and who is he? What is his name?' 'His name is Herschel.' + 'Yes,' says Willie, 'William James Herschel.' 'Ach, mem Gott! + das nicht möglich; ist dieser kleines neffeu's sohn?' And so it + all came out; and when I came to her all was understood, and we + sat down and talked as quietly as if we had parted but + yesterday." + + * * * * * + +In a letter which she wrote to Lady Herschel in 1838, we find some +reminiscences of her early years. She says that when, at the age of +twenty-two, she first visited England, there was no kind of ornamental +needle-work, knitting, plaiting hair, stringing beads and bugles, and +the like, of which she did not make samples by way of mastering the art. +As she was the only girl, and consequently the Cinderella, of the +family, she could not find time, however, for much self-improvement. She +was not, for instance, a skilled musician, but she was able to play the +second violin part of an overture or easy quartette. And it is worth +notice that the Herschels were something more than astronomers only. +Both Sir William and his son, great as they were in their special +department of science, took care to cultivate their minds generally; +were mathematicians, chemists, geologists, and men of letters. And here +is a lesson for our younger readers. The mind should always be diverted +towards one particular object; it should be the aim of everybody to +attain towards supreme excellence, if possible, in some one pursuit. On +the other hand, he should gather knowledge, more or less, in every +field, so as to avoid narrowness of view and poverty of idea. +Versatility does not necessarily mean superficiality; we may know much +of many things, and more of one thing. A man who is only a botanist, +shuts himself out from all the truest and deepest pleasures of +knowledge. It may be very clever for a violinist to play on a single +string; but he must play on _all_, if he would bring out the full +harmonies of his instrument, and do justice to its extraordinary powers. + + * * * * * + +Miss Herschel's enjoyment of life, which, when not carried to an excess, +is a Christian duty, continued to the very last. When she was in her +ninetieth year, she rose as usual every day, dressed, ate, drank, rested +on her sofa, read and conversed with her numerous visitors; still +taking an interest in science and literature, even in public affairs, +and still occupying herself with all that concerned the evergrowing +reputation of her nephew. Of course, she could not escape the +infirmities of old age, but by cheerfulness and patience she did her +best to alleviate them. In recalling incidents of her early life, she +frequently gave evidence of her good-humoured contentment. In 1840, +writing to her niece, she refers to an incident which occurred in the +early part of the forty-foot telescope's existence, when "God save the +King" was sung in it by her brother and his guests, who rose from the +dinner-table for the purpose, and entered the tube in procession. She +adds that among the company were two Misses Stows, one of whom was a +famous pianoforte player; some of the Griesbachs (well-known musicians), +who accompanied on the oboe, or any instrument they could get hold of; +and herself, who was one of the nimblest and foremost to get in and out +of the tube. "But now," she adds, "lack-a-day! I can hardly cross the +room without help. But what of that? Dorcas, in the _Beggar's Opera_, +says, 'One cannot eat one's cake and have it too!'" + +She relates, in the same letter, a curious anecdote of the old and +celebrated tube. Before the optical apparatus was finished, many +visitors took a pleasure in walking through it,--among the rest, on one +occasion, King George III. and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The latter +following the king, and finding it difficult to proceed, his majesty +turned and gave him his hand, saying, "Come, my Lord Bishop; I will show +you the way to heaven!" + +Then, with that astonishing memory of hers, which kept its greenness +until the very last, she notes that this occurred on August 17, 1787, +when the King and Queen, the Duke of York, and some of the princesses +were of the company. + + * * * * * + +From another letter we take a lively little picture of a Christmas in +Hanover:-- + +She had been told that keeping Christmas in the German sense was coming +to be very general in England; but her shrewd, practical turn of mind +induced her to hope that the English would never go "such lengths in +foolery." At Hanover, she wrote, the tradespeople had been for many +weeks in full employ, framing and mounting the embroideries of the +ladies and girls of all classes; of _all_ classes, for not a folly or +extravagancy existed among the great but it was imitated by the little. +The shops were beautifully lighted up by gas, and the last three days +before Christmas all that could tempt or attract was exhibited in the +market-places in booths lighted up in the evening, whither everybody +hastened to gaze and to spend their money. Cooks and housemaids +presented one another with knitted bags and purses; the cobbler's +daughter embroidered "neck-cushions" for her friend the butcher's +daughter. These were made up by the upholsterer at great expense, lined +with white satin; the upper part, on which the back rested, being +wrought with gold, silver, and pearls. + + * * * * * + +But we must no longer delay the reader by our gossip. Enough has been +said to illustrate the character of a remarkable woman, and of those +features of it--her cheerfulness, her patience, her industry, her +devoted affection, her unselfishness--which all of us may be the better +for studying and imitating. Our limits compel us to draw our simple +narrative to a close, and we must pass over the delight with which she +received and read Sir John Herschel's great work, "Cape +Observations,"--a noble monument of the perseverance and strenuous +labour of genius; but of twofold interest to her, because it not only +testified to the eminent qualities of her nephew, but brought to a noble +conclusion the vast undertaking of that nephew's father and her own +beloved brother--the survey of the nebulous heavens. + +A letter written by her friend Miss Becksdorff, on the 6th of January +1848, describes Caroline Herschel's last days:-- + + + "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 her doctor'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. + But 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 only 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 I am good for nothing,' and went to sleep again." + +On the 9th of January 1848 she breathed her last, passing away with a +Christian's tranquillity.[1] + +[Footnote 1: The particulars recorded in the foregoing pages are chiefly +taken from Mrs. John Herschel's very interesting "Memoir and +Correspondence of Caroline Herschel."] + + * * * * * + +Her body was followed to the grave by many of her relatives and friends, +the royal carriages forming part of the funeral procession. The coffin +was adorned with garlands of laurel and cypress and palm branches, sent +by the Crown-Princess from Herrnhausen; and the service was conducted in +that same garrison-church in which, nearly a century before, she had +been christened, and afterwards confirmed. And, as proving her love and +fidelity to the last, in her coffin were placed, by her express desire, +"a lock of her beloved brother's hair, and an old, almost obliterated +almanac that had been used by her father." + + * * * * * + +May our readers be induced, by their perusal of these pages, to emulate +the Herschels--brother, sister, nephew--in all the bright and lovely +qualities that ennoble life; in their fixity of purpose, their elevation +of thought, their purity of character, their self-denial, their +industry, their hopefulness, and their faith! + + [The following inscription is engraved on Miss Herschel's tomb. + It begins: "Hier ruhet die irdische Hülle von CAROLINA + HERSCHEL, Geboren zu Hannover den 16ten Marz 1750, Gestorben, + den 9ten Januar 1848." But, for the convenience of our young + readers, we give it in English:-- + + HERE RESTS THE EARTHLY CASE OF + C A R O L I N E H E R S C H E L. + BORN AT HANOVER, MARCH 10, 1750. + DIED JANUARY 9, 1848. + + "The eyes of her now glorified were, while here below, directed + towards the starry heavens. Her own discoveries of comets, and + her share in the immortal labours of her brother, William + Herschel, bear witness of this to succeeding ages. + + "The Royal Irish Academy of Dublin, and the Royal Astronomical + Society of London, enrolled her name among their members. + + "At the age of 97 years 10 months, she fell asleep in calm + rest, and in the full possession of her faculties; following + into a better life her father, Isaac Herschel, who lived to the + age of 60 years, 2 months, 17 days, and has lain buried not far + off since the 29th of March 1767." + + This epitaph was mainly written by Miss Herschel herself, and + the allusion to her brother is characteristic.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of the Herschels, by Anonymous + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12340 *** |