August 19th.—I went to Greenwich to meet some company at Dr. Maskelyne’s, and after having spent a week at the R. Observatory, I went with Dr., Mrs., and Miss M. to pay a visit to Sir George Schuckburgh, at Buxted Place, where I left the Ms. on the 30th, and arrived at Slough the 31st.
It was so very rarely that Miss Herschel ever slept from home, that this visit was a memorable event in her experience. A small sheet, written by Miss Maskelyne, headed “Journal from the 19th to the 30th of August, 1799,” is preserved, with the superscription: “By Miss Maskelyne’s memorandum only I found it possible to have any recollection of the occurrences during the eleven days I had intended to spend at Greenwich for the purpose of copying the memorandums from my brother’s second volume of Flamsteed’s Observations into Dr. Maskelyne’s volume. But the succession of amusements, &c., &c., left me no alternative between contenting myself with one or two hours’ sleep per night during the six days I was at Greenwich, or to go home without having fulfilled my purpose.”
The journal was enclosed in a letter from Mrs. Maskelyne, which bears pleasant testimony to the agreeable impression which her visitor must have made on the ladies, as well as the astronomer.
Dear Miss Herschel,
We thank you for your polite message, are sorry you left Buxted at eight o’clock; hoped you would have taken two dishes of coffee, and not gone till half-past eight, for we were up at seven, to be ready to accompany you to Uckfield.
Margaret has sent the enclosed, and will be glad to hear if it is what you meant; she was writing it when you stopped at the door, but did not venture to open it for fear of disturbing us. Present our compliments to Dr. and Mrs. Herschel. Pray let me know what sort of a journey you have had to your dear sweeper, and accept our love.
The following letter has reference to this visit, and is inserted here, although belonging to a somewhat later date:—
Dear Sir,
If it was not highly necessary to make you acquainted with the safe arrival of your valuable present at Slough, I might perhaps be a long while before I should think myself sufficiently collected to express the grateful feelings the sight of it occasioned me. My being pleased at having two such useful and convenient instruments has but very little connection with my present ideas; and if they had come to me from any other hands but those of the Astronomer Royal, I should use them as occasion required, and think myself much obliged to the giver. But as it is, I cannot help wishing I were capable of doing something to make myself deserving of all these kind attentions.
I feel gratified in particular when I think of the stipulation I was making when you were taking measure of the distance [apart] of my eyes: viz., that if you in future should change in opinion, and not think me worthy of the present, not to bestow it on me.
Mrs. Maskelyne’s good-natured looks, and all she said at the time, come now again to my remembrance, and seeing not only the binocular (which I had but a conditional expectation of receiving), but also the night-glass, makes me hope that during the time I had the honour of being in the company of such esteemed friends, I have suffered no loss in their former good opinion of me, which was a circumstance I often feared might have happened; for I have too little knowledge of the rules of society to trust much to my acquitting myself so as to give hope of having made any favourable impressions.
You see, dear sir, that you have done me more good than you were perhaps aware of: you have not only enabled me to peep at the heavens, but have put me into good humour with myself.
With my respectful compliments to Mrs. and Miss Maskelyne,
The following is from a friend who took the deepest interest in the career of both brother and sister:—
Madam,
It is with much satisfaction that I received through the hands of Dr. Herschel, the valuable publication you are so kind as to send me, and which indeed is the more welcome as I have the volumes of the “Historia Cœlestis,” and shall most probably have occasion to use them. Were Flamsteed alive, how cordially would he thank you for thus rendering the labours of his life so much more useful and acceptable to posterity, for he surely little thought that his great work required to be elucidated by an additional folio volume of explanations, errata, and indexes, the advantages of which, by their excellence and accuracy, must every day be more and more acknowledged, and future astronomers, as well as those of the present times will doubtless often be conscious of the merit and obligation you are entitled to.
Dr. and Mrs. Herschel, whom I have occasionally the pleasure of seeing, though by no means so often as I could wish, are well, and desired to be mentioned to you.
August 31st.—At six in the evening both my brothers arrived from Bath. Alexander gave me a call.
September 8th.—Professor Vince, his lady, and Alexander came to see me.
October 18th.—My brother returned from Bath, but with a violent cough and cold, and was obliged to go to Newbury for change of air and meet Mrs. H., who was there on a visit.
November 19th.—The bailiffs took possession of my landlord’s goods, and I found my property was not safe in my new habitation.
December 31st.—The king had been at the Observatory.
February 1st.—My brother went to Bath.
Mem.—Miss Baldwin [a niece of Mrs. Herschel’s] and little John[20] frequently call on me.
April 28th.—My brother went to town for a fortnight. I was at the Observatory after he was gone, from ten till two, to select work for me to do at home.
April 29th.—From ten till three at the Observatory to make order in the books and MSS.
May 1st.—Dined with Dr. Lind. Fetched my nephew from Mrs. Clark and brought him to his boarding-dame, Mrs. Howard, at Eton. Worked every day some hours at the Observatory.
May 26th.—I went to take leave of my nephew, who entered at Dr. Gretton’s School.
June 23rd.—Paid my rent, and gave notice of quitting my apartments at Michaelmas.
June 25th.—Began to pack up what I must take to Bath with me, for there I am to go!
June 29th.—I dined with Mrs. H. and went with her to the Terrace, where I took leave of my friends at the Lodge. Everything was arranged for my books and furniture to remain at my lodging, to which my brother was to keep the keys. But on receiving information they would be seized along with my landlord’s goods by bailiffs, I prepared the same night for their removal, and all was safely lodged in a garret at Mrs. H.’s by July 2 at night.
July 3rd.—I left Slough by the nine o’clock Newbury coach, and remained with the Miss Whites [at Newbury] till next morning.
July 4th.—At six in the evening I was received at Bath by my brother Alex. and his old housekeeper in a house Mrs. H. had taken for the next winter in Little Stanhope Street. The house had been uninhabited, and the furniture moved into it from the house on Sion Hill by strangers, labourers; the things met me helter-skelter in the passage, some belonging to the drawing-room amongst curry-combs and bridles and other stable utensils. My first care was to make an inventory of the whole, before I let a stranger come into the house, but by the 10th of July I hired a maid of all work to assist me to bring the house into habitable order, and by July 29th I was ready for resuming the work of re-calculating sweeps, or despatching some copying, &c., which was sent me by the coach from Slough, and from the printer in London, my brother being with his family at Tunbridge Wells.
Sept. 10th.—I received a box from Slough. My brother was come home, and Alex. went to assist in re-polishing the forty-foot mirror, and left Bath Sept. 15; he returned
Oct. 2nd.—Some of my time during his absence I spent at his house on Margaret’s Hill to clean and repair his furniture, and making his habitation comfortable against his return.
Oct. 29th.—I received notice that in about a fortnight I should be wanted at Slough.
Dear Sister,—
Last night my paper on which I have been so long at work was read at the society. I came to London to bring it, and have been so hurried as not to be able to look out any work for you, but shall now be at liberty to do something of that kind. My things here are in considerable disorder, and in a short time Mrs. Herschel and myself wish to come for a little time to Bath, then we will let you know if it’s soon, that you may come here on a visit before we go, that I may point out to you the work that is most necessary to be done in our short absence. I thought it best to give you this early notice, because, though we have not fixed upon the time, it will be towards the latter end of this month that we mean to come for perhaps a fortnight or three weeks, according to the weather; for, if that should be fine we shall return, that I may have a few sweeps before you go back to Bath. Miss Baldwin is at Slough, and stays while we are away, so that you will have company, and the chaise will also be left, so that you can pay visits at Windsor, and show yourself to all your friends and ours.
My last paper consisted of eighty pages, so that you will have a piece of work to gather it together out of the scraps I leave. Some part of it was brought together in the beginning by Miss Baldwin and Mrs. Herschel which will show the order, but the rest remains in bits, which I have gathered together and numbered....
Remember me to our good brother Alexander, and, with compliments from Mrs. Herschel,
P.S.—The bacon and cheese are very excellent. I have not had time to try Alexander’s green lenses; they look beautiful.
Nov. 14th.—I left Bath, slept the night at the inn at Newbury, and left there between three and four.
Nov. 15th.—I arrived at my brother’s house, and as soon as I had dined began to calculate and copy a paper which was to go to the R.S.
Nov. 24th.—My brother went with Mrs. H. and Miss Baldwin to Bath, the keys to Obs., &c., were given me to make order and for despatching memorandums which would have employed me for much longer time than it was likely I should be allowed for doing them to my own satisfaction.
Dec. 15th.—The family returned, my brother extremely ill, and the next day I had my furniture transported to Windsor, where I had taken a couple of rooms to board and lodge with my eldest nephew, G. Griesbach, and
Dec. 17th.—I slept there for the first night.
March 28th.—The MSS. and astronomical books in general were removed out of the observatory above stairs and lodged in my brother’s library. This alteration proved to be an additional clog to my business (which besides was daily increasing on me) for I lost by this means my workroom and found it very difficult to keep the necessary order among the MSS. * * * * *
April 20th.—Moved from Windsor to a small house at Chalvy, rented from Mr. House, the wood-cutter.
June 9th.—My brother went to Bath; by the 25th he was returned.
July 1st.—Alexander came from Bath.
July 29th.—I went to Slough to take (along with Alex.) care of the house whilst my brother, with his family, were from home.
February 20th.—The first time Mrs. Beckedorff’s[21] name being mentioned in my memorandums as having dined with her, and the whole party leaving the dining-room on the Princesses Augusta, Amelia, and the Duke of Cambridge coming in to see me.
March 2nd.—I went with Mrs. H. and Miss Baldwin to town on a visit to Dr. and Miss Wilson, and went with a party to F. Griesbach’s concert at the Opera House. The 4th we returned.
April 7th.—I shut my house at Chalvy, and went with my maid to Slough, the latter to supply the place of the servants Mrs. H. took with her to town.
May 6th.—My brother went to take a paper to the R. S., and remained there till the 15th.
May 26th.—I returned home to Chalvy very ill with a bad leg, having waited too long before I called in assistance.
June 27th.—The carriage was sent to take me to Slough. Hitherto work had been daily sent me.
July 13th.—My brother, Mrs. H., my nephew John, and Miss Baldwin left Slough to go to Paris.
August 25th.—All returned with my nephew dangerously ill. Going daily for some hours to work at the Observatory, and to receive visitors and letters, had not hastened my recovery, for it required no less than seven months before I could be without the attendance of Dr. Pope.
March 25th.—I moved from Chalvy to Upton.
April 3rd.—Spent the day at Slough. Dr. and Miss Wilson, Miss Whites, and Professor Johnes, from Cambridge, were there.
April 12th.—Had an account of my sister Griesbach’s death. She died March 30th.
May 1st.—From the 1st till the 18th I worked with my brother at Slough, when he went to town, and I returned to Upton; but went daily to the library to work till the 26th, when my brother, with his family, came home from town.
June 13th.—Alexander arrived from Bath.
June 25th.—Spent a melancholy day at the Queen’s Lodge on account of the French having taken Hanover.
September 18th.—My brother Alex. returned to Bath.
October 18th.—I changed my rooms for the accommodation of Mr. and Mrs. Slaughter, who had taken the house and gardens at Upton, excepting two rooms for my habitation.
November 6th.—I spent the day at Slough. Professor Valis,[22] with his lady, from Marlow, was there.
November 19th.—I dined at Slough to meet Dr., Mrs., and Miss Maskelyne.
December.—Almost throughout the whole month I worked at Slough from breakfast till nine in the evening.
March 16th.—Finished re-calculating sweeps.
Mem.—Above 8,760 observations have been brought to [the year] 1800.
April 4th.—Dined at Slough to meet Mrs. Bates and a large party. In the evening we heard Mrs. B. sing Mad Bess, &c., &c.
April 18th.—I went to Slough. My brother went, with his family, to Bath.
May 10th.—My brother returned.
August 5th.—My brother Alexander came from Bath.
November 22nd.—I went to make some stay at Slough during the time my brother spent in town with his family.
December 10th.—I returned to Upton.
January 14th.—I went, with my brother’s family, to a morning concert, to my nephew, H. Griesbach, to hear the Hanoverian Concert-Meister Le Vec play.
March 5th.—Went to make some stay with my brother at Slough, Mrs. H. being in town.
March 27th.—All returned, and I went with my work to Upton again.
August 14th.—I went to stay with Alex. at Slough while my eldest brother went with his family from home. They had intended to have left Slough on the 12th, but were detained in consequence of a report of an expected invasion.
In September was much hindered in my work by the packing of the Spanish telescope, which was done at the barn and rick-yard at Upton, my room being all the while filled with the optical apparatus.
September 24th.—I went to work with my brother at Slough.
October 1st.—When Mrs. H., with her niece, returned from Newbury, I went again to Upton. The Spanish telescope left England in October.[23]
November 13th.—I went to Slough, the family to town; but, in the absence of the moon, my brother was at home, and much observing, and work was despatched.
December 1st.—All came home, and I went to my solitude again.[24] During the winter months I suffered much from a violent cough and cold, and found great difficulty in despatching the copying, &c., which daily was sent to me when I was unable to go to my brother.
May 1st.—I went to Slough to make some stay with my brother.
July 4th.—My brother went to Gravesend to meet my youngest brother (who came to pay us a visit), and was detained there for a passport.
July 6th.—In the evening they both arrived at Slough.
July 10th.—Alexander joined us from Bath.... The same day my eldest brother went to the visitation of the Observatory at Greenwich, and my brother D. accompanied him. They returned on the 12th.
July 13th.—We went all to the Terrace, and took our tea with Mrs. Bremeyer and Mr. Beckedorff at the Castle.
July 23rd.—Dietrich took leave of his friends at Cumberland Lodge. Alex. and I accompanied him. In Windsor I went shopping to buy presents for my Hanoverian relations.
July 24th.—D. left us. My eldest brother and Mrs. H. accompanied him to London.
August 1st.—I left Upton for Slough. My brother went with Mrs. H. and Miss B. on an excursion. My nephew went to spend the holidays at Newbury, at the Miss Whites. One man and a woman were left with me to take care of the house. I distracted my thoughts by undertaking an amazing deal of work; among the rest, I made catalogues of all books and MSS. my brother’s library contained, and arranged them, to the best of my knowledge, according to what the confined room would allow.
September 8th.—My brother and family returned, and I went with my works to Upton. Dr. and Miss Wilson were at Slough from September 22nd to September 30th.
Mem.—During September, and the early part of October, many days were spent at Slough in assisting my brother when the 40-foot mirror was re-polishing.
December 28th.—I went to see Mrs. Bremeyer, but found she had died ten hours before my arrival at the Castle.
January 15th.—My brother went to Bath to see his brother and Sir Wm. Watson.
January 24th, 5th, and 6th.—I spent with my friends at Windsor. My brother returned with a violent cough, added to a nervous headache which it had been hoped would, by change of air, have been removed. My brother brought the place of a comet announced in the papers with him. I had also heard of it at the Castle, and saw it on the 27th at Upton. Next day I had my sweeper carried to Slough, but the nights of the 28th, 29th, and 30th were not clear enough, and I could not find it again till the 31st, when my brother began his observations on it....
May 2nd.—I left Upton for Slough, to work with my brother. Mrs. H. being in town till
June 18th.—Spent the day at Slough, Mr. and Mrs. Watt being there on a visit, and a large party to dinner.
Aug. 13th.—I went with Mrs. H. and my nephew to pay a visit to our friends at Cumberland Lodge. My brother, again finding it necessary to recruit his strength by absenting himself for a few days from his work-rooms, had left Slough for Tunbridge Wells just the day before, and at our return we found the Duke of Kent, with the Dukes of Orleans, &c., waiting for us, and my nephew [ætat. 15] and myself showed them Jupiter, the Moon, &c., in the seven-foot.
Aug. 29th.—I dined at the Castle. The Queen and Princess Elizabeth honoured me with kind enquiries after the health of my brother, &c. The Princesses Augusta and Mary also came to see me in Miss Beckedorff’s room. On coming home the next day, I found my brother had arrived the day before.
Sept. 22nd.—In taking the forty-foot mirror out of the tube, the beam to which the tackle is fixed broke in the middle, but fortunately not before it was nearly lowered into its carriage, &c., &c. Both my brothers had a narrow escape of being crushed to death.
Oct. 1st.—Received an account and letters announcing a comet.
Oct. 2nd.—Saw the comet, visible to the naked eye.
Oct. 4th.—My brother came from Brighton. The same night two parties from the Castle came to see the comet, and during the whole month my brother had not an evening to himself. As he was then in the midst of polishing the forty-foot mirror, rest became absolutely necessary after a day spent in that most laborious work; and it has ever been my opinion that on the 14th of October his nerves received a shock of which he never got the better afterwards; for on that day (in particular) he had hardly dismissed his troop of men, when visitors assembled, and from the time it was dark till past midnight he was on the grass-plot surrounded by between fifty and sixty persons, without having had time for putting on proper clothing, or for the least nourishment passing his lips. Among the company I remember were the Duke of Sussex, Prince Galitzin, Lord Darnley, a number of officers, Admiral Boston, and some ladies.
Nov. 3rd.—I came home to Upton (Mrs. H. returned from Brighton), but went most days to assist my brother in the polishing-room or library, and from the 10th December to the 22nd I was entirely at Slough going on as above uninterruptedly, Mrs. Herschel being with my nephew, and Miss Baldwin at Newbury with the Miss Whites.
Jan.—Many days at work in the library and workrooms assisting my brother.
Feb. 3rd.—When at work in the library the Duke of Cambridge came in. We were obliged to a storm for his visit, as he came in for the shelter.
Feb. 6th.—When I came to Slough to assist my brother in polishing the forty-foot mirror, I found my nephew very ill with an inflammatory sore throat and fever.
Feb. 9th.—Still very ill; and my brother obliged to go on with the polishing of the great mirror, as every arrangement had been made for that purpose. Mem. I believe my brother had reason for choosing the cold season for this laborious work, the exertion of which alone must put any man into a fever if he were ever so strong.
Feb. 10th.—From this day my nephew’s health kept on mending.
Feb. 19th.—My nephew mending, but my brother not well.
Feb. 26th.—My brother so ill that I was not allowed to see him, and till March 8 his life was despaired of, and by
Mar. 10th.—I was permitted to see him, but only for two or three minutes, for he is not allowed to speak.
Mar. 22nd.—He went for the first time into his library, but could only remain for a few moments.
April 7th.—I went to stay at Slough, my brother going by short stages to Bath, Mrs. H., my nephew, and Miss Baldwin with him.
May 9th.—My brother returned, nearly recovered, but with a violent cold and cough caught on the journey.
May 24th.—I went to Slough to be with my brother till the 31st. In fine nights observing; working in the daytime, and writing a paper on comets, filled up the time, though neither my brother nor myself were well.
June 7th.—Was the Montem, of course much company.
June 13th.—I dined at the Castle to meet Lady and Miss Banks, Mr. De Luc,[25] &c.
July 1st.—Alexander arrived at Slough. Mem. We received very distressing accounts from our brother at Hanover.
July 21st till 26th.—My brother was absent, and I was daily at work in the library.
Sept. 5th.—Alexander returned to Bath, leaving his brother far from well. The laborious exertions required for the polishing of the forty-foot mirror, besides the overlooking and directing the workmen out of doors, who were at work on the repairs of the apparatus, during the month of August, had again proved too much for him.
Oct. 4th.—I went to Slough; my brother, Mrs. H., my nephew, and his cousin, went to Brighton. My brother was absent about a week, during which time I worked as long as I could see in the library, and spent the evenings in booking observations, &c., and such works as could be done within doors.
Nov. 2nd.—My brother went to town, endeavouring to gain some information about my brother Dietrich, who, according to a message from a merchant in town, ought to have by this time been in England.
Nov. 6th.—A letter from Harwich arrived informing us that D. was waiting there for a passport.
Nov. 7th.—D. arrived at Slough, but was obliged to return for his trunk and to show himself at the alien office, and I did not see him till the evening of the 9th.
Dec. 19th.—Dietrich left Slough for lodgings in Pimlico, London. Came with Fr. Griesbach the day before Christmas Day, and returned to town the 26th.
Mem. From the hour of Dietrich’s arrival in England till that of his departure, which was not till nearly four years after, I had not a day’s respite from accumulated trouble and anxiety, for he came ruined in health, spirit, and fortune, and, according to the old Hanoverian custom, I was the only one from whom all domestic comforts were expected. I hope I have acquitted myself to everybody’s satisfaction, for I never neglected my eldest brother’s business, and the time I bestowed on Dietrich was taken entirely from my sleep or from what is generally allowed for meals, which were mostly taken running, or sometimes forgotten entirely. But why think of it now!
Jan.—Throughout the whole month I had a cough, my nephew a sore throat and fever. Great flood and stormy weather. The communication between Slough and Upton was very troublesome to me.
Jan. 13th.—I spent the day at Slough. Dietrich came for the evening to assist at a concert. I was shocked to see him so much worse, but I was obliged to see him return to town the next morning with Fr. Griesbach. I was prevented by my own illness and the severity of the weather from going to see him in town, and
Feb. 5th.—I sprained my ankle in coming home in the evening from Slough, by attempting to walk through the snow in pattens, and my brother was obliged to send me work to Upton, for it was not till a fortnight after, that I could walk again, and I felt the effects of the accident for above three months after.
Mar. 9th.—I went to Slough to work with my brother. His family were from home. Much work was done during the time, but the polishing the forty-foot was interrupted on the 24th by the hot weather.
Oct. 2nd.—Alex left Slough. I was very ill, and had Dr. Pope to attend me.
Oct. 9th.—Dismissed Pope and went to Dr. Phips.
Oct. 17th.—My nephew went to Cambridge. His mother and Miss Baldwin remained in lodgings at Cambridge.
Nov. 20th.—Phips pronounced me out of danger from becoming blind, which he ought to have done much sooner, or rather not to have put me unnecessarily under such dreadful apprehension.
Dec. 6th.—Dietrich went to London for the winter.