Notices of Books . 
1876.] 
405 
Memoir and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel. By Mrs. 
John Herschel, London: John Murray. 
Biographies, as a class, are not the most satisfactory of literary 
performances. Sometimes the author is led by natural affeCtion 
or especial interest to overrate the importance of his hero. 
Sometimes, as in books of travel, the subject is used as a mere 
occasion for self-display on the part of the writer. From both 
these faults the work before us may be pronounced free. It 
brings before us a personage who is well worth knowing, and 
its authoress suppresses her own individuality in her theme. 
Every student of that important question, the “ heredity of 
genius,” must be aware that the Herschel family affords a valu- 
able affirmative instance. Two of its members, Sir William and 
Sir John, have taken a position in science on which it is quite 
needless to enlarge, and the present inheritor of the name may 
be said to be following in the footsteps of his illustrious father 
and grandfather. But it is not so generally known that the 
father of Sir William Isaac was a meritorious musician, and his 
grandfather, Benjamin, an eminent landscape gardener; nor 
that the founder of the family, in company with his two brothers, 
left Moravia in the early part of the seventeenth century for 
the sake of his religion, and settled in the north of Germany. 
This latter faCt, though it gives no evidence of extraordinary 
intellect, is yet a convincing proof of that fixity of purpose 
without which the most splendid intellect rarely leads to any 
tangible results. Nor is it widely known, even in cultivated 
circles, to what an extent Caroline Lucretia Herschel, the sister 
of Sir William, shared his genius, participated in his studies, 
and contributed to his glory. This general ignorance the work 
before us will remove. It has the additional merit of throwing 
much novel light upon the career and character of the great 
astronomer himself, of whom, as the authoress informs us in the 
preface, no good biography is in existence. 
The career of Caroline Herschel, though prolonged to the 
unusual term of ninety-eight years, and bridging over the interval 
from the Seven Years’ War to the Third French Revolution, 
offers little of a striking nature. It is throughout an example of 
“ plain living and high thinking.” She was born at Hanover in 
1750, followed her brother to England in 1772, and took up her 
residence at Bath, where he was then established as a music- 
master. His professional avocations, however, were but the 
means to an end. Every spare moment was devoted to astro- 
nomical research and to the improvement of the necessary instru- 
ments. In this arduous undertaking his sister rendered him 
the most essential service. How severe were his early struggles, 
and how great the difficulties with which he had to contend, 
may be learnt from this memoir. “ My only reason,” says Miss 
Herschel, in a note addressed to her nephew, the late Sir J. F. 
Herschel, “ for saying so much of myself is to show with what 
