< Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 9.djvu
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CAROLINE LUCRETIA HERSCHEL.

she took possession of a cottage in Slough, belonging to her brother, and, although mention is made in her diary of moving again in 1814, yet she continued to live in Slough.

Notwithstanding all her prudence about paining relations, the multiplied repetition in her diary of such entries as the following is painfully suggestive:

"March 5th.—Went to make some stay with my brothers at Slough, Mrs. Herschel being in town.
"27th.—All returned, and I went with my work to Upton again.
"September 24th.—Went to work with my brother at Slough.
"October 1st.—Mrs. Herschel and niece returned. I went back to Upton.
"August 1st.—I left Upton for Slough. My brother went with Mrs. Herschel and Miss Baldwin on an excursion. I distracted my thoughts by undertaking an amazing deal of work.
"September 8th.—My brother and family returned, and I went with my works to Upton.
"May 2d.—I left Upton for Slough to work with my brother; Mrs. Herschel being in town till June 18th.
"November 3d.—I came home to Upton (Mrs. Herschel returned from Brighton), but went most days to assist my brother in the polishing-room or library, and, from the 10th of December to the 22d, was entirely at Slough, Mrs. Herschel being away.
"January.—I had a cough all the month; the communication between Slough and Upton very troublesome to me.
"March 9th.—Went to Slough to work with my brother; his family from home.
"May 11th.—Went to be with my brother; Mrs. Herschel went to town for a month.
"June 12th.—Mrs. Herschel returned from town, and I went home."

It is pleasant to find, however, that the asperities of this period of her life were so much softened by time and distance that in 1829, when living in Hanover, she was able to write to her sister-in-law, confidentially as to "a dear sister, for as such I now know you."

The diary closes in 1822, with an account of her brother's death, and her departure from England. We quote the following characteristic passage relating to this period. She had come as usual to spend the morning with her brother:

"August 15th.—I hastened to the spot where I was wont to find him, with the newspaper which I was to read to him. But instead I found Mrs. Morson, Miss Baldwin, and Mr. Bulman, from Leeds, the grandson of my brother's earliest acquaintance in this country. I was informed my brother had been obliged to return to his room, whither I flew immediately. Lady Herschel and the housekeeper were with him, administering everything which could be thought of for supporting him. I found him much irritated at not being able to grant Mr. Bulman's request for some token of remembrance for his father. As soon as he saw me, I was sent to the library to fetch one of his last papers, and a plate of the forty-foot telescope. But, for the universe, I could not have looked twice at what I had snatched from the shelf, and when he faintly asked if the
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