viii Introduction. 



much valued by Sir John Herscliel, and they are 

 carefully preserved by the family along with her 

 letters. The perusal of them is like reading of another 

 world. The glimpses of the life of a soldier's family 

 in Hanover at the time the Seven Years' "War was 

 going on are very touching. Both father and mother 

 must have been remarkable persons, and the sterling 

 quality of character developed in William and Caroline 

 Herschel was evidently derived from them. All the 

 family seem to have been endowed with something 

 like touches of genius, but William and Caroline were 

 the only two who had the strong back-bone of per- 

 severance and high principle which made genius in 

 them fulfil its perfect work. 



Her own recollections go back to the Great Earth- 

 quake at Lisbon ; she lived through the American 

 War, the old French Revolution, the rise and fall of 

 Napoleon, and all manner of lesser events and wars. 

 She saw all the improvements and inventions, from 

 the lumbering post waggon in which she made her 

 first journey from Hanover, to the railroads and 

 electric telegraphs which have intersected all Europe, 

 for she lived well down into the reign of Victoria. 

 But her work of " minding the heavens " with her 

 brother engrossed all her thoughts, and she scarcely 

 mentions any public event. 



Her own astronomical labours were remarkable, and 

 in her later life she met with honour and recognition 



