Page:Hector Macpherson - Herschel (1919).djvu/70

64 into the carriage were spent in walking through his library and workrooms, pointing with anxious looks to every shelf and drawer, desiring me to examine all and to make memorandums of them as well as I could. He was hardly able to support himself, and his spirits were so low that I found difficulty in commanding my voice so far as to give him the assurance he should find on his return that my time had not been misspent."

But Herschel was not always, even in extreme old age, depressed and gloomy. A German visitor to Slough, in 1819, thus described the great astronomer: "While we were standing by the great telescope, which we more admired than comprehended, its master appeared, a cheerful old man aged eighty-one. How unassumingly did he make his communications! How lightly did he ascend the steps to the gallery! With what calm pleasure did he seem to enjoy the success of his efforts in life. All accounts from his native country seemed to please him, although the German language had become somewhat less familiar to his ear. After a short comversation, we took our leave, charged with friendly greetings to all beyond the sea who might still remember him."

On 5th April, 1816, he received the first mark of recognition from the British Government—the third class of the Hanoverian Guelphic Order. In the following month he was created a Knight of the same Order. In 1920, when the Astronomical Society of London—now the Royal Astronomical Society—was founded, Herschel was elected as the first President. His health did not permit him to attend the meetings, but he communicated his last paper—on double stars—to its "Memoirs" in 1821.

Caroline Herschel's Memoirs record the agony of soul through which she passed as her brother became weaker and weaker. In 1819 he sent a note across to her lodgings, notifying her of the appearance of a "great comet".