104 SIE WM. AND CAROLINE HERSCHEL. 



maps and telescopes. I saw its situation last 

 night, it has a long tail.' 7 



Caroline wrote on this small slip of yellow 

 paper : " I keep this as a relic ! Every line now 

 traced by the hand of my dear brother becomes a 

 treasure to me." 



Every day hereafter she spent the forenoon with 

 Sir William. On the 15th of August she went as 

 usual and found that he was confined to his room. 

 " I flew there immediately," she says. " As soon as 

 he saw me, I was sent to the library to fetch one 

 of his last papers and a plate of the forty-foot tele- 

 scope. But for the universe 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 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 anx- 

 ious care for his papers and workroom 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. 



"After half an hour's vain attempt to support 

 himself, my brother was obliged to consent to be 

 put to bed, leaving no hope ever to see him rise again. 

 For ten days and nights we remained in the most 

 heart-rending situation till the 25th of August, 

 when not one comfort was left to ine but that of 



