XXIII. CAROLINE HERSCHEL. IS there anything favorable to longevity in the study of Astronomy ? Two ladies in recent times have attained universal celebrity for their knowledge of the heavenly bodies, Caroline Herschel and Mrs. Somerville, both of whom lived to an extraordinary age. Mrs. Somerville died at ninety-two, and Miss Herschel at ninety-eight : and both of them appear to have had lives as happy as they were long. Imagine Caroline Herschel, first of all, as a very little German girl, seven years of age, living at Hanover in her father's house, with plenty of brothers and sisters about her. Her father was a musician and brought up all his children to music. It appears to have been a musical race, for we hear of a good many Herschels, musicians, in and about the courts 01 George the Second and George the Third, kings of Hanover and England. She grew up, then, in an atmosphere of music ; and, about the time of her birth, her brother William, a boy of fourteen, obtained the appointment of flageolet player in the king's own band — a joyful event, doubtless, in the poor musician's large family. But Caroline is seven years of age, and an event is about to take place in the household the opposite of joyful. Her brother, William, a youth now of nineteen, is going to England, in quest of better fortune. He departs, and the affairs of the family resume their usual course. Let- ters arrive, from time to time, from the adventurer in (304)
