222 [Dee. 1, 
Field.] 
ically pure gold and silver, in place of the standard trial plates. The 
following extract from Sir John’s correspondence may be appropriately 
introduced here. 
“The almost mathematical coincidence of the result of the Pyx (about 
30 millions) with the legal standard, is the best proof which can be ad- 
duced of the admirable system of working the assays.”’ 
As illustrative of the unfailing kindness of this great man towards 
friends, as well as towards those, who had had the happiness to serve 
under him, the writer may be pardoned for introducing some of his last 
utterances contained in a letter, penned only five weeks before his depart- 
ure to those realms of Light and Truth, amidst the wonders of which, 
while in the flesh, he loved to live. 
“T am suffering under an attack of Bronchitis, which has lasted me all 
the winter, so excessively severe that I can hardly hold the pen, which 
must excuse the brevity of this, and being now in my 80th year, I can 
hope for no relief. I shall retain, however, to the last, a pleasing recol- 
lection of aid and support I received from you during the period of my 
administration of the Mint, and I know you will believe me ever, my 
dear sir, yours, most truly, ; 
| To'H. W. YT. (Signed) J. F. W. HERSCHEL. 
In his domestic circle, he could unbend to the capacity of the young, 
in whose amusements he joined with spirit, and considering his advanced 
years, with wonderful energy. It may be instanced that, only a few years 
back, the great astronomer condescended to enter cordially into the 
children’s Christmas gambols, and played in the most animated manner 
the part of Sir George with the Dragon; habiting himself in a coat of 
mail, extemporized from various culinary articles. His impromptu dia- 
logue with his son as ‘‘the Dragon,’’ was said by the elders to be ab- 
surdly clever. ‘‘The Herschels do everything well’? was a common way 
of speaking of the philosopher and his family ; so here the Dragon was 
so life-like, though made only of brown paper with a scarlet cloth tongue, 
and the knight looked so doughty, that the tableau nearly sent one of the 
children into convulsions. 
Sir John F. W. Herschel, Bart., K. H., D.C. L., &c., was born at 
Slough, near Windsor, 7 March, 1792. He married, in 1829, Margaret 
Brodie, daughter to the Rev. Dr. Alexander Stewart, by whom he had a 
family of three sons and nine daughters. One is married to General, the 
Hon. Alexander Gordon, uncle of the present Lord Aberdeen, and now 
heir presumptive to that title. His youngest son is an officer in the Royal 
Bengal Engineers. He is succeeded in the title by his son Mr. William 
James Herschel, of the Bengal Civil Service, who was born in 1833 and 
married in 1864, Anne Emma Haldane Hardcastle, daughter of the late 
Mr. Alfred Hardcastle, of Hatcham, Surrey. 
Sir John died at his seat, Collingwood, Hawkhurst, Kent, on Thurs- 
day, the 11th May, 1871, at 10 o’clock a. M., being in his 80th year. He 
was buried in Westminster Abbey, on Tuesday, the 19th May. His re- 
