Page:Memoir and correspondence of Caroline Herschel (1876).djvu/62

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It is evident that had she chosen to persevere, her reputation as a singer would have been secure. The following year she was first singer at the concerts, and was offered an engagement for the Birmingham Festival, which she declined, having resolved only to sing in public where her brother was conductor. At this time he had repeated proposals from London publishers to bring out some of his vocal compositions, but with the exception of "The Echo" catch, none of them ever appeared in print. Besides the regular Sunday services, concerts and oratorios had to be prepared for and performed in steady routine, sometimes at Bristol also, while the poor prima-donna-housekeeper "hobbled on" with one dishonest servant after another, until Whit Sunday, 1782, when both brother and sister played and sung for the last time, in St. Margaret's Chapel. On this occasion, their last performance in public, the anthem selected for the day was one of the last compositions, of which mention has been made above.

The name of William Herschel was fast becoming famous, as a writer, a discoverer, and the possessor and