WIS SISTER CAROLINE. 263° 
laborious vigils to the Royal Society of London. These 
results are contained in his memoirs; they constitute one 
of the principal riches of the celebrated collection known 
under the title of Philosophical Transactions. 
Herschel belonged to the principal Academies of Eu- 
rope, and about 1816 he was named Knight of the Guel- 
phic order of Hanover. According to the English habit, 
from the time of that nomination the title of Sir William 
took the place, in all this illustrious astronomer’s memoirs, 
already honoured with so much celebrity, of the former 
appellation of Doctor William. Herschel had been named 
a Doctor (of laws) in the University of Oxford in 1786. 
This dignity, by special favour, was conferred on him 
without any of the obligatory formalities of examination, 
disputation, or pecuniary contribution, usual in that learned 
corporation, 
I should wound the elevated sentiments that Herschel 
professed all his life, if I were not here to mention two 
indefatigable assistants that this fortunate astronomer 
found in his own family. ‘The one was Alexander Her- 
schel, endowed with a remarkable talent for mechanism, 
always at his brother’s orders, and who enabled him to 
realize without delay any ideas that he had conceived ; * 
the other was Miss Caroline Herschel, who deserves a 
still more particular and detailed mention. 
Miss Caroline Lucretia Herschel went to England as 
soon as her brother became special astronomer to the 
king. She received the appellation there of Assistant 
‘Astronomer, with a moderate salary. From that moment 
* When age and infirmities obliged Alexander Herschel to give up 
his profession as a musician, he quitted Bath, and returned to Hano- 
ver, very generously provided by Sir William with a comfortable in- 
dependence for life. 
