ccupied from 1782 till 1785, was a
source of despair to CAROLINA HERSCHEL, who looked upon its desolate and
isolated condition with a housekeeper's eyes. This was nothing to her
brother, who gayly consented to live upon "eggs and bacon," now that he
was free at last to mind the heavens. The ruinous state of the place had
no terrors in his eyes, for was there not a laundry which would serve as
a library, a large stable which was just the place for the grinding of
mirrors, and a grass-plat for the small twenty-foot reflector?

Here they set to work at astronomy; the brother with the twenty-foot,
the sister aiding him, and at odd times sweeping for comets. In the
course of her life she discovered no less than eight, and five of these
were first seen by her.

* * * * *

In 1787 HERSCHEL wrote his paper "On three Volcanoes in the Moon,"
which he had observed in April of that year. In this he mentions
previous observations of the same sort. I do not remember that the
following account of these has ever been put on record in English.
Baron VON ZACH writes from London to BODE:[18]

"Probably you have heard also of the volcanoes in the moon, which
HERSCHEL has observed. . . . I will give you an account of it as I
heard it from his own lips. Dr. LIND, a worthy physician in Windsor,
who has made himself known through his two journeys in China, and
who is a friend of our HERSCHEL'S, was with his wife one evening on
a visit to HERSCHEL in Datchet [1783, May 4]. On this evening there
was to be an occultation of a star at the moon's dark limb. This was
observed by HERSCHEL and Doctor LIND. Mrs. LIND wished also to see
what was occurring, and placed herself at a telescope and watched
attentively.

"Scarcely had the star disappeared before Mrs. LIND thought she saw
it again, and exclaimed that the star had gone in front of, and not
behind the moon. This provoked a short astronomical lecture on the
question, but still she would not credit it, because she _saw_
differently. Finally HERSCHEL stepped to the telescope, and in fact
he saw a bright point on the dark disc of the moon, which he
followed attentively. It gradually became fainter and finally
vanished.". . .

The life at Datchet was not free from its annoyances.

"Much of my brother's time was taken up in going, when the evenings
were clear, to the queen's lodge, to