102 SIR WM. AND CAROLINE HERSCHEL. 



looked further into space than ever human being 

 did before me. I have observed stars of which 

 the light takes two millions of years to travel to 

 this globe." 



He gave much study to light and heat. So 

 boundless was his knowledge believed to be, that 

 a farmer called one day to ask the proper time for 

 cutting his grass. 



"Look at that field, " said the scientist, "and 

 when I tell you it is mine, I think you will not 

 need another proof to convince you that I am no 

 more weatherwise than yourself or the rest of my 

 neighbors." 



He worked earnestly till he was seventy-six, 

 always depending upon his faithful and insepara- 

 ble Caroline for aid in his labors. He made a tele- 

 scope for her, with which she swept the heavens 

 for comets, finding eight, five of which she discov- 

 ered for the first time. 



At seventy-six his health began to fail. He had 

 worked incessantly from his struggling boyhood, 

 but brain work does not wear us out; care and 

 anxiety bring the marks of age upon us. He now 

 took little journeys away from Slough for change 

 of scene and air, while Caroline stayed at home to 

 copy his papers for the Eoyal Society, and to 

 arrange his manuscripts. In 1816, he was made a 

 knight of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order, 

 by the Prince Kegent, and in 1821 was the first 

 president of the Eoyal Astronomical Society, his 

 son being its first foreign secretary. 



