It soon became evident that the big, tumble-down old house, which had been taken possession of with such eagerness, would not do: the rain came through the ceilings; the damp situation brought on ague, and in June the brother and sister left it for a place called Clay Hall, Old Windsor. But here again unlooked-for troubles arose in consequence of the landlady being a “litigious woman,” who refused to be bound to reasonable terms, and at length, on the 3rd of April, 1786, the house and garden at Slough were taken, and all the apparatus and machinery immediately removed there.
... And here I must remember that among all this hurrying business, every moment after daylight was allotted to observing. The last night at Clay Hall was spent in sweeping till daylight, and by the next evening the telescope stood ready for observation at Slough.... A workman for the brass and optical parts was engaged, and two smiths were at work throughout the summer on different parts for the forty-foot telescope, and a whole troop of labourers were engaged in grinding the iron tools to a proper shape for the mirror to be ground on (the polishing and grinding by machines was not begun till about the end of 1788). These heavy articles were cast in town, and caused my brother frequent journeys to London, they were brought by water as far as Windsor.... At Slough no steady out-of-door workman for the sweeping handle could be met with, and a man-servant was engaged as soon as one could be found fit for the purpose. Meanwhile Campion assisted, but many memorandums were put down: “Lost a neb. by the blunder of the person at the handle.” If it had not been sometimes for the intervention of a cloudy or moonlight night, I know not when my brother (or I either), should have got any sleep; for with the morning came also his workpeople, of whom there were no less than between thirty and forty at work for upwards of three months together, some employed in felling and rooting out trees, some digging and preparing the ground for the bricklayers who were laying the foundation for the telescope, and the carpenter in Slough, with all his men. The smith, meanwhile, was converting a washhouse into a forge, and manufacturing complete sets of tools required for the work he was to enter upon. Many expensive tools also were furnished by the ironmongers in Windsor, as well for the forge as for the turner and brass man. In short, the place was at one time a complete workshop for making optical instruments, and it was a pleasure to go into it to see how attentively the men listened to and executed their master’s orders; I had frequent opportunities for doing this when I was obliged to run to him with my papers or slate, when stopped in my work by some doubt or other.
I cannot leave this subject without regretting, even twenty years after, that so much labour and expense should have been thrown away on a swarm of pilfering work-people, both men and women, with which Slough, I believe, was particularly infested. For at last everything that could be carried away was gone, and nothing but rubbish left. Even tables for the use of workrooms vanished: one in particular I remember, the drawer of which was filled with slips of experiments made on the rays of light and heat, was lost out of the room in which the women had been ironing. This could not but produce the greatest disorder and inconvenience in the library and in the room into which the apparatus for observing had been moved, when the observatory was wanted for some other purpose; they were at last so encumbered by stores and tools of all sorts that no room for a desk or an Atlas remained. It required my utmost exertion to rescue the manuscripts in hand from destruction by falling into unhallowed hands or being devoured by mice.
But I will now return to July, 1786, when my brother was obliged to deliver a ten-foot telescope as a present from the King to the Observatory of Göttingen. Before he left Slough on July 3rd, the stand of the forty-foot telescope stood on two circular walls capped with Portland stone (which, cracking by frost, were afterwards covered with oak) ready to receive the tube. The smith was left to continue to work at the tube, which was sufficient employment cut out for him before he would want farther direction. The mirror was also pretty far advanced, and ready for the polish, for I remember to have seen twelve or fourteen men daily employed in grinding or polishing.
To give a description of the task (or rather tasks) which fell to my share, the readiest way I think will be to transcribe out of a day-book which I began to keep at that time, and called “Book of work done.”
July 3.—My brothers William and Alex. left Slough to begin their journey to Germany. Mrs. [Alex.] Herschel was left with me at Slough. By way of not suffering too much by sadness, I began with bustling work. I cleaned all the brass-work for seven and ten-foot telescopes, and put curtains before the shelves to hinder the dust from settling upon them again.
4th.—I cleaned and put the polishing-room in order, and made the gardener clear the work-yard, put everything in safety, and mend the fences.
5th.—I spent the morning in needle-work. In the afternoon went with Mrs. Herschel to Windsor. We chose the hours from two to six for shopping and other business, to be from home at the time most unlikely for any persons to call, but there had been four foreign gentlemen looking at the instruments in the garden, they had not left their names. In the evening Dr. and Mrs. Kelly (Mr. Dollond’s daughter) and Mr. Gordon came to see me.
6th.—I put all the philosophical letters in order, and the collection of each year in a separate cover.
12th.—I put paper in press for a register, and calculated for Flamsteed’s Catalogue.
Mem.—When Flamsteed’s Catalogue was brought into zones in 1783, it was only taken up at 45° from the Pole, the apparatus not being then ready for sweeping in the zenith.
By July 23rd the whole Catalogue was completed all but writing it in the clear, which at that time was a very necessary provision, as it was not till the year 1789 that Wollaston’s Catalogue made its appearance. Many sweeps nearer the Pole than the register of sweeps, which only began at 45°, being made, it became necessary to provide a register for marking those sweeps and the nebulæ discovered in them.
14th.—Dr. and Mrs. Maskelyne called here with Dr. Shepherd.
15th.—I spent the day with Mrs. Herschel at Mrs. Kelly’s. We met Dr. and Mrs. Maskelyne and Dr. Shepherd, Marquis of Huntley, &c., &c., there.
16th.—I ruled part of the register of sweeps.
18th.—I spent the whole day in ruling paper for the register; except that at breakfast I cut out ruffles for shirts. Mr. and Mrs. Kelly and Mrs. Ramsden (Dollond’s sister) called this evening. I tried to sweep, but it is cloudy, and the moon rises at half-past ten.
19th.—In the evening we swept from eleven till one.
20th.—Prince Charles (Queen’s brother) Duke of Saxe-Gotha and the Duke of Montague were here this morning. I had a message from the King to show them the instruments.
I had intended to go on with my Diary till my brother’s return, but it would be tedious, so of the rest I shall give only a summary account, and will mention in this place that all what follows would but be the same thing over again; for the advantage of being quietly at work in the presence of my brother to whom I could apply for information the moment a doubt occurred, never returned again, and often have I been racking my poor brains through a day and a night to very little purpose. I found it necessary to continue my memoranda of “work done” to the last day I had the care of my brother’s MS. papers. But I had rather copy a few days more, as they contain the discovery of my first comet, and will serve also to show that I attempted to register all discovered nebulæ, after a precept my brother had left me, as this was necessary for revising the MS. of the catalogue of the first thousand nebulæ, which he expected at his return to find ready for correction from the printers.
22nd.—I calculated all the day for Flamsteed’s Catalogue. Lord Mulgrave called this evening.....
23rd.—Received letters from Hanover. Finished calculating for Flamsteed’s Catalogue.
The two following short letters were carefully preserved, and, though they contain nothing of importance, they are of interest as being of the very few from the same pen which are not on scientific subjects.
Dear Sister,—
This morning we arrived safely at Hanover. We are a little tired, but perfectly well in health. We travelled extra post all the way through very bad roads. The post is going out in a very little time, so that I write in a hurry that you might hear from us so much sooner. After a night or two of sleep here (by way of recovery) I shall go on to Göttingen; but when I have collected my thoughts better together I will write more. Mamma is perfectly well and looks well. Jacob looks a little older, but not nearly so much as I expected. In Sophy [Mrs. Griesbach] there is hardly any change, but a few white hairs on her head. John [Dietrich] is just the same as before, his little boy seems to be a charming creature. Farewell, dear Lina. I hope we shall see you again in a few weeks. I must finish for Alexander to write. Adieu once more.
Dear Lina,—
We are still in Hanover, and find it a most agreeable place. I have been in Göttingen, where Jacob went along with me, and the King’s telescope arrived there in perfect order. The Society of Göttingen have elected me a member. We long very much to hear from you, as we have never had a letter yet. This is the fourth we have sent you, and we hope you received the former ones. This day fortnight we have fixed for our setting out from this place, and be assured that we shall be happy to see old England again, though old Germany is no bad place. Yesterday and the day before I have seen the Bishop of Osnaburgh and the Prince Edward. If an inquiry should be made about our return, you may say (I hope with truth) that we shall be back by about the 24th of August. Adieu, Lina.
24th.—I registered some sweeps in present time and Pole distance. Prince Resonico came with Dr. Shepherd to see the instruments. I swept from ten till one.
28th.—I wrote part of Flamsteed’s Catalogue in the clear. It was a stormy night, we could not go to bed.
29th.—I paid the smith. He received to-day the plates for the forty-foot tube. Above half of them are bad, but he thinks there will be as many good among them as will be wanted, and I believe he intends to keep the rest till they return. Paid the gardener for four days which he worked with the smith. I registered sweeps to-day. By way of memorandum I will set down in this book in what manner I proceed.
I began some time ago with the last sweep which is booked in the old register (Flamsteed’s time and P. D.), viz., 571, and at different times I booked 570, 569, 568, 567, 566, 565. To-day I booked 564; 563 is marked not to be registered; 560 and 561 I was obliged to pass over on account of some difficulty. The rest of the day I wrote in Flamsteed’s Catalogue. The storm continued all the day, but now, 8 o’clock, it turns to a gentle rain.
30th.—I wound up the sidereal timepiece, Field’s and Alexander’s clocks, and made covers for the new and old registers.
31st.—I booked 558, 557, and 554; 556, 555, I was obliged to leave out on account of some difficulty.
Mem.—I find I cannot go on fast enough with the registering of sweeps to be serviceable to the Catalogue of Nebulæ. Therefore I will begin immediately to recalculate them, and hope to finish them before they return. Besides, I think the consequences of registering the sweeps backwards will be bad.
August 1.—I have counted one hundred nebulæ to-day, and this evening I saw an object which I believe will prove to-morrow night to be a comet.
2nd.—To-day I calculated 150 nebulæ. I fear it will not be clear to-night. It has been raining throughout the whole day, but seems now to clear up a little.
1 o’clock.—The object of last night is a comet.
3rd.—I did not go to rest till I had wrote to Dr. Blagden and Mr. Aubert to announce the comet. After a few hours’ sleep, I went in the afternoon to Dr. Lind, who, with Mr. Cavallo, accompanied me to Slough, with the intention of seeing the comet, but it was cloudy, and remained so all night.
Sir,—
In consequence of the friendship which I know to exist between you and my brother, I venture to trouble you, in his absence, with the following imperfect account of a comet:—
The employment of writing down the observations when my brother uses the twenty-foot reflector does not often allow me time to look at the heavens, but as he is now on a visit to Germany, I have taken the opportunity to sweep in the neighbourhood of the sun in search of comets; and last night, the 1st of August, about 10 o’clock, I found an object very much resembling in colour and brightness the 27 nebula of the Connoissance des Temps, with the difference, however, of being round. I suspected it to be a comet; but a haziness coming on, it was not possible to satisfy myself as to its motion till this evening. I made several drawings of the stars in the field of view with it, and have enclosed a copy of them, with my observations annexed, that you may compare them together.
August 1, 1786, 9h 50ʹ. Fig. 1. The object in the centre is like a star out of focus, while the rest are perfectly distinct, and I suspect it to be a comet.
10h 33ʹ. Fig. 2. The suspected comet makes now a perfect isosceles triangle with the two stars a and b.
11h 8ʹ. I think the situation of the comet is now as in Fig. 3, but it is so hazy that I cannot sufficiently see the small star b to be assured of the motion.
By the naked eye the comet is between the 54 and 53 Ursæ Majoris and the 14, 15, and 16 Comæ Berenices, and makes an obtuse triangle with them, the vertex of which is turned towards the south.
Aug. 2nd, 10h 9ʹ. The comet is now, with respect to the stars a and b, situated as in Fig. 4, therefore the motion since last night is evident.
10h 30ʹ. Another considerable star, c, may be taken into the field with it by placing a in the centre, when the comet and the other star will both appear in the circumference, as in Fig. 5.
These observations were made with a Newtonian sweeper of 27-inch focal length, and a power of about 20. The field of view is 2° 12ʹ. I cannot find the stars a or c in any catalogue, but suppose they may easily be traced in the heavens, whence the situation of the comet, as it was last night at 10h 33ʹ, may be pretty nearly ascertained.
You will do me the favour of communicating these observations to my brother’s astronomical friends.
Dear Sir,—
August 1st, in the evening, at 10 o’clock, I saw an object very much resembling (in colour and brightness) the 27 of Mr. Messier’s Nebulæ, except this object being round. I suspected it to be a comet; but a haziness came on before I could convince myself of its having moved. I made several figures of the objects in the field, whereof I take the liberty to send the first, that you might compare it with what I saw to-night.
In Fig. 1 I observed the nebulous spot in the centre, a bright red but small star upwards, another very faint white star following, and in the situation as marked in the figure. There is a third star preceding, but exceedingly faint. I suspected several more, which may perhaps appear in a finer evening, but they were not distinct enough to take account of.
In Fig. 2, August 2nd, are only the red and its following star: the preceding, in Fig. 1, is partly hid in the rays of the comet, and by one or two glimpses I had, I think it is got before it.
In Fig. 3 I took the comet in the edge by way of taking in the assistance of another star of about the same size and colour as that in the centre.
The only stars I can possibly see with the naked eye which might be of service to point out the place of the comet are 53 and 54 Ursæ Maj., from which it is at about an equal distance with the 14, 15, and 16 Comæ Ber., and makes an obtuse angle with them. I think it must be about 1° above the parallel of the 15 Comæ.
I made these observations with my little Newtonian sweeper, and used a power of about 30: the field is about 1½ degree.
I hope, sir, you will excuse the trouble I give you with my wag [qy. vague] description, which is owing to my being a bad (or what is better) no observer at all. For these last three years I have not had an opportunity to look as many hours in the telescope.
Lastly, I beg of you, sir, if this comet should not have been seen before, to take it under your protection in regard to A. R. and D. C.
With my respectful compliments to the ladies, your sisters, I have the honour to be,
Madam,—
Mr. Aubert’s letter, as well as that with which you favoured me, both arrived safe. The evening was fine on Thursday, but Mr. Aubert was prevented from going to Loam Pit Hill, and I have no opportunity of making astronomical observations here, so that I believe the comet has not yet been seen by anyone in England but yourself. Yesterday the visitation of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich was held, where most of the principal astronomers in and near London attended, which afforded an opportunity of spreading the news of your discovery, and I doubt not but many of them will verify it the next clear night. I also mentioned it in a letter to Paris, and in another I had occasion to write to Munich, in Germany. If the weather should be favourable on Sunday evening, it is not impossible that Sir Joseph Banks and some friends from his house may wait upon you to beg the favour of viewing this phenomenon through your telescope.
Accept my best thanks for your obliging attention in communicating to me the news, and believe me to be, with great esteem,
Dear Miss Herschel,—
I am sure you have a better opinion of me than to think I have been ungrateful for your very, very kind letter of the 2nd August. You will have judged I wished to give you some account of your comet before I answered it. I wish you joy, most sincerely, on the discovery. I am more pleased than you can well conceive that you have made it, and I think I see your wonderfully clever and wonderfully amiable brother, upon the news of it, shed a tear of joy. You have immortalized your name, and you deserve such a reward from the Being who has ordered all these things to move as we find them, for your assiduity in the business of astronomy, and for your love for so celebrated and so deserving a brother. I received your very kind letter about the comet on the 3rd, but have not been able to observe it till Saturday, the 5th, owing to cloudy weather. I found it immediately by your directions; it is very curious, and in every respect as you describe it. I have compared it to a fixed star, on Saturday night and Sunday night....
You see it travels very fast—at the rate of 2° 10ʹ per day—and moves but little in N. P. D. These observations were made with an equatorial micrometer of Mr. Smeaton’s construction, which your brother must recollect to have seen at Loam Pit Hill. I need not tell you that meridian observations with my transit instrument and mural quadrant must have been much more accurate. I give you a little figure of its appearance last night and the preceding night upon the scale of Flamsteed’s Atlas Cœlestis [here follows the sketch-figure].
By the above, you will see it will be very near 19 of Comæ Berenices to-night, and it will be a curious observation if it should prove an occultation of one of the stars of the Comæ. Notice has been given to astronomers at home and abroad of the discovery. I shall continue to observe it, and will give you by-and-by a further account of it. In the meanwhile believe me to be, with much gratitude and regard,
P.S.—I was glad to hear to-day, by my friends at our club, that they had seen you last night in good health; pray let me know what news you have of your brother, and when we may expect to see him. I have had twice at Loam Pit Hill his serene highness the Duke of Saxe Gotha, and entertained him, Count Bruhl, and Mr. Oriani (a Milanese astronomer), with your comet last night. My sisters return you many thanks for your kind remembrance, and, with their best compliments, enjoin me to wish you joy.
Dear Brother,—
We received yesterday William’s and Alexander’s letter, and find that they intend to leave Hanover on the 8th of August, therefore they will not see the contents of this. However, as you have an instrument, I think you are entitled to information of a telescopic comet which I happened to discover on the 1st of August, and which I found, by the observations of the 2nd, to have moved nearly three-quarters of a degree. Last night it was cloudy, but I hope the weather will be more favourable another night, that we may see a little more of it. I believe you have a pair of Harris’s maps; the place where I saw the comet is between 53 and 54 Ursæ Maj. and the 14, 15, and 16 Comæ Ber. of Flamsteed’s Catalogue. All stars of Flamst. are in Bode’s Cat. to be found, and if you cannot do without it, I dare say it is to be met with at Hanover....
I found it with a magnifier of about 30, with a field of about 1½ degree. Now, if you have a piece which is nearly like this, I would advise you to make use of that in sweeping all around this place, for it must be, by the time you receive this letter, at a considerable distance.
When I saw it, it appeared like a very bright, but round, small nebula.
The first letter I received from Hanover from William gave us the greatest satisfaction imaginable, for it contained an account of the good health of all our dear relations. I hope our dear mother does not grieve too much now they have left her. I dare say William will pay soon another visit, and then I will take that opportunity of coming to see her. Farewell, dear brother; give my best love, &c.
To this period of Miss Herschel’s life belongs a folio manuscript book, written with the utmost neatness, which she sent with one of her various consignments of papers to her nephew after her return to Hanover, and introduced as follows:—
Dear Nephew,—
This is the fragment of a book which was too bulky for the portfolio in which I was collecting such papers as I wished might not fall into any other but your own hands. They contain chiefly answers of your father to the inquiries I used to make when at breakfast before we separated each for our daily tasks.
The information is of a very miscellaneous kind, but matters connected with her special study form the greater part of the questions. For instance:—
4th.—I wrote to-day to Hanover, booked my observations, and made a fair copy of three letters. Made accounts. The night is cloudy.
5th.—I calculated nebulæ all day. The night was tolerably fine, and I saw the comet.
6th.—I booked my observations of last night. Received a letter from Dr. Blagden in the morning, and in the evening Sir J. Banks, Lord Palmerston, and Dr. Blagden, came and saw the comet. The evening was very fine.
7th, 8th.—Booked my observations; was hindered much by being obliged to find a man to assist the smith. Dr. Lind and Mr. Cavallo came on the 8th, and Mr. Paradise in the afternoon, but the evening was cloudy.
9th.—I calculated 100 nebulæ....
10th.—Calculated 100 nebulæ. The smith borrowed a guinea. He complains of Turner (the gardener), but we will, if possible, have patience till my brother returns.
11th. I completed to-day the catalogue of the first thousand.
12th. ... calculated 200 nebulæ of the second thousand.
13th. Professor Kratzensteine, from Copenhagen, was here to-day. In the evening I saw the comet and swept.
14th. ... I calculated 140 nebulæ to-day, which brought me up to the last discovered nebulæ, and, therefore, this work is finished.
15th. I went up with Mrs. H. to Windsor to pay some bills and to buy several articles against my brother’s return.
16th. ... my brothers returned about three in the afternoon.
It would be impossible for me, if it were required, to give a regular account of all that passed around me in the lapse of the following two years, for they were spent in a perfect chaos of business. The garden and workrooms were swarming with labourers and workmen, smiths and carpenters going to and fro between the forge and the forty-foot machinery, and I ought not to forget that there is not one screw-bolt about the whole apparatus but what was fixed under the immediate eye of my brother. I have seen him lie stretched many an hour in a burning sun, across the top beam whilst the iron work for the various motions was being fixed.
At one time no less than twenty-four men (twelve and twelve relieving each other) kept polishing day and night; my brother, of course, never leaving them all the while, taking his food without allowing himself time to sit down to table.
The moonlight nights were generally taken advantage of for experiments, and for the frequent journeys to town which he was obliged to make to order and provide the tools and materials which were continually wanting, I may say by wholesale.
The discovery of the Georgian satellites caused many breaks in the sweeps which were made at the end of 1786 and beginning of 1787, by leaving off abruptly against the meridian passage of the planet, which occasioned much work, both in shifting of the instrument and booking the observations. Much confusion at first prevailed among the loose papers on which the first observations were noted, and some of them have perhaps been lost; for I remember several configurations of the situation of the satellites having been made by Sir William Watson and Mr. Marsden, and only one could be found....
That the discovery of these satellites must have brought many nocturnal visitors to Slough may easily be imagined, and many times have I listened with pain to the conversation my brother held with his astronomical friends when quite exhausted by answering their numerous questions. For I well knew that on such occasions, instead of renewing his strength by going to rest, that there were too many who could not go on without his direction, among whom I often was included, for I very seldom could get a paper out of his hands time enough for finishing the copy against the appointed day for its being taken to town. But considering that no less than seven papers were delivered to the Royal Society in 1786-1787, it may easily be judged that my brother’s study had not been entirely deserted. I had always some kind of work in hand with which I could proceed without troubling him with questions; such as the temporary index which I began in June, 1787. Some years after, the index to Flamsteed’s observations, calculating the beginning and ending of sweeps and their breadth, for filling up the vacant places in the registers, and works of that kind, filled up the intervals when nothing more necessary was in hand.
My brother Jacob was with us from April till October, 1787, when he returned to Hanover again. Alexander came only for a short time to give his brother the meeting, Mrs. H. being too ill to be left long alone. (She died in January of 1788.)
Professor Snaidecky often saw some objects through the twenty-foot telescope, among others the Georgian satellites. He had taken lodgings in Slough for the purpose of seeing and hearing my brother whenever he could find him at leisure; he was a very silent man.
My brother’s bust was taken by Lochée, according to Sir Wm. Watson’s order. Professor Wilson and my brother Jacob[11] were present.
In August an additional man-servant was engaged, who would be wanted at the handles of the motions of the forty-foot, for which the mirror in the beginning of July was so far finished as to be used for occasional observations on trial.
Such a person was also necessary for showing the telescopes to the curious strangers, as by their numerous visits my brother or myself had for some time past been much incommoded. In consequence of an application made through Sir J. Banks to the King, my brother had in August a second £2,000 granted for completing the forty-foot, and £200 yearly for the expense of repairs, such as ropes, painting, &c., &c., and the keep and clothing of the men who attended at night. A salary of fifty pounds a year was also settled on me as an assistant to my brother, and in October I received twelve pounds ten, being the first quarterly payment of my salary, and the first money I ever in all my lifetime thought myself to be at liberty to spend to my own liking. A great uneasiness was by this means removed from my mind, for though I had generally (and especially during the last busy six years) been almost the keeper of my brother’s purse, with a charge to provide for my personal wants, only annexing in my accounts the memorandum for Car. to the sums so laid out—when cast up, they hardly amounted to seven or eight pounds per year since the time we had left Bath. Nothing but bankruptcy had all the while been running through my silly head, when looking at the sums of my weekly accounts and knowing they could be but trifling in comparison with what had been and had yet to be paid in town, for my brother had not been fortunate enough to meet with a reasonable man for a caster who could also furnish the crane, &c., and his bills came in greatly overcharged. But more of this in another place. I will only add that from this time the utmost activity prevailed to forward the completion of the forty-foot. An additional optical workman was engaged, and preparation made for casting the second mirror. Journeys to town were made for moulding, and at the end of January a fine cast mirror arrived safely at Slough. Several seven-foot telescopes were finished and sent off.
The fine nights were not neglected, though observations were often interrupted by visitors. Messrs. Cassini, Mechain, Le Genre, and Carochet spent November 26th and 27th with my brother, and saw many objects in the twenty-foot and other instruments.
The Catalogue of the second thousand new nebulæ wanted but a few numbers in March to being complete. The observations on the Georgian satellites furnished a paper which was delivered to the Royal Society in May. The 8th of that month being fixed on for my brother’s marriage, it may easily be supposed that I must have been fully employed (besides minding the heavens) to prepare everything as well as I could against the time I was to give up the place of a housekeeper, which was the 8th of May, 1788.