224 Caroline Lucretia Herschel. [1828. 



inclemency of the weather ? Who shared his privations ? 

 A female. 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 right ascensions and polar 

 distances of the objects observed ; she it was who, having 

 passed the night near the instrument, took the rough manu- 

 scripts to her cottage at the dawn of day and produced a 

 fair copy of the night's work on the following morning ; she 

 it was who planned the labour of each succeeding night; 

 she it was who reduced every observation, made every cal- 

 culation ; she it was who arranged everything in systematic 

 order; and she it was who helped him to obtain his imperish- 

 able name. 



But her claims to our gratitude end not here; as an 

 original observer she demands, and I am sure she has, our 

 unfeigned thanks. Occasionally her immediate attendance 

 during the observations could be dispensed with. Did 

 she pass the night in repose? No such thing: wherever 

 her brother was, there you were sure to find her. A 

 sweeper planted on the lawn became her object of amuse- 

 ment ; but her amusements were of the higher order, and to 

 them we stand indebted for the discovery of the comet of 

 1786, of the comet of 1788, of the comet of 1791, of the 

 comet of 1793, and of the comet of 1795, since rendered 

 familiar to us by the remarkable discovery of Encke. Many 

 also of the nebulae contained in Sir W. Herschel's catalogues 

 were detected by her during these hours of enjoyment. 

 Indeed, in looking at the joint labours of these extraordi- 

 nary personages, we scarcely know whether most to admire 

 the intellectual power of the brother, or the unconquerable 

 industry of the sister. 



In the year 1797 she presented to the Royal Society a 

 Catalogue of 560 stars taken from Flamsteed's observations, 



