4, 1819_."

Then follows:--

"I keep this as a relic! Every line _now_ traced by the hand of
my dear brother becomes a treasure to me.

"C. HERSCHEL."

We know of nothing more touching in literary history than this noble,
self-sacrificing, generous affection of the sister towards her eminent
brother. Such instances of absolute self-denial and all-absorbing love
elevate our opinion of human nature generally, and prove that something
of the Divine image lingers in it still.

Herschel was now bordering upon the ripe old age of eighty, and it is no
wonder that, after a life of incessant study, his strength should daily
diminish. In 1822 it became painfully evident to his attached relatives
and friends that the end was not far off; and on the 25th of August he
passed away to his rest. We owe an account of his last days to his
sister, but for whose pious care, indeed, very little of his private
life would have been known, and Herschel could have been judged only
from the recorded results of his immense labours.

"_May 20th_.--The summer proved very hot; my brother's feeble
nerves were very much affected, and there being in general much
company, added to the difficulty of choosing the most airy
rooms for his retirement.

"_July 8th_.--I had a dawn of hope that my brother might regain
once more a little strength, for I have a memorandum in my
almanac of his walking with a firmer step than usual above
three or four times the distance from the dwelling-house to the
library, in order to gather and eat raspberries, in his garden,
with me. But I never saw the like again.

"The latter end of July I was seized by a bilious fever, and I
could for several days only rise for a few hours to go to my
brother about the time he was used to see me. But one day I was
entirely confined to my bed, which alarmed Lady Herschel and
the family _on my brother's account_. Miss Baldwin [a niece of
Lady Herschel] called and found me in despair about my own
confused affairs, which I never had had time to bring into any
order. The next day she brought my nephew to me, who promised
to fulfil all my wishes which I should have expressed on paper;
he begged me not to exert myself, for his father's sake, of
whom he believed _it would be the immediate death if anything
should happen to me_."

Afterwards she wrote:--