Page:Memoir and correspondence of Caroline Herschel (1876).djvu/84

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62
Caroline Lucretia Herschel.
[1786.

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.

FROM W. HERSCHEL TO CAROLINE HERSCHEL.

HANOVER, Friday, July 14, 1786.
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