Ill K> IT COMETS 81 



amused herself by sweeping the heavens f 



et reflector, of which her brother had 

 made her a present. She waa ao aucceaaful that 

 fame soon sounded ON j >e. " Miss Herschel," one 



writer reports, "sister of the celebrated astronomer, 

 haa observed a comet, and its orbit haa been calculated. 

 third comet of which we know 

 s celestial viaitor waa talked < 

 sor Castle aa the Lady's Comet Unfortun. 

 the name waa not retained, aa it ought to have been, 

 v on to a later discovery by Miss Herachel. 

 Between 1786 and 1707 ahe discovered eight comets 

 altogether o was she the first discoverer, 



seen by her on November 7, 1795, was 

 specially worthy of this name, but is now known aa 

 'a Comet Her value aa an assistant to 



l>eaidea her own personal merit aa a woman 

 once, got for her a pension of 60 from the Civil 

 granted to the King by Parliament It was 

 for the modest wants of a woman who not 

 only handled a telescope with the dexterity of a 

 ised observer, but \vh. -u M\ty years of age, spent 

 some of the last days of her stay at Slough " in paint- 

 ing and papering the rooms ahe waa to occupy in a 

 small house attached to the Crown 



h ahe remov 



Yea year, from 1780 to 1812, the active mind 



.111 Herachel enriched the 



Proceedings of the Royal Society with one or more 

 paper h astonished the world of science and 



ted the attention of mankind The years 1813, 

 were blanks, but 1814, 1MV 1817, and 

 showed ii iig of hand or eye, although for years 



6 



