252 HERSCHEL AND HIS WORK 



Herschel at the Cape of Good Hope. " Each time after 

 having read them over again they are put by, under 

 thanksgiving to the Almighty, with a prayer for future 

 protection." 



" Writing to my absent friends is one of the most 

 laborious employments I could fly to when under 

 bodily and, of course, mental sickness, for it is not 

 impossible I might, instead of making inquiry about 

 my little precious grand-nephew, and the young ladies, 

 who play, sing and sew so prettily, write, ' Oh ! my 

 back, O ! I have the cramp here, there,' etc." She is 

 nearing the end of life, " going many nights to bed 

 without the hope of seeing another day." But the old 

 spirit of drollery, and the lifelong love of science are 

 constantly flashing out. " I could not live without that 

 little business of keeping my accounts," she writes, and 

 shows herself true to a woman's household-place, and 

 to science at the same time. " I hope people in England 

 will never go such lengths in foolery as they do here." 

 At Christmas time, " Cooks and housemaids present one 

 another with knitted bags and purses, the cobbler's 

 daughter embroidered neck-cushions for her friend the 

 butcher's daughter, which are made up by the uphol- 

 sterer at great expense, lined with white satin, the 

 upper part, on which the back is to rest, is worked 

 with gold, silver, and pearls." And, drollest of all, she 

 adds, " Writing this, puts me in mind that I never could 

 remember the multiplication table, but was obliged to 

 carry always a copy of it about me." 



A last gratification, and certainly not the least of 

 the many she enjoyed during her retirement, was the 

 placing in her hands of her nephew's completion in 

 South Africa of his father's survey of the heavens. 



