she would soon be so well again that he might come and give her a kiss, as he had done on her birthday,’ she looked only archly at her, and said, ’Tell the general that I have not tasted anything since I liked so well.’  I have just left her, and upon my asking her to give me a message for her nephew, she said, ‘Tell them I am good for nothing,’ and went to sleep again.”

On the 9th of January 1848 she breathed her last, passing away with a Christian’s tranquillity.[1]

[Footnote 1:  The particulars recorded in the foregoing pages are chiefly taken from Mrs. John Herschel’s very interesting “Memoir and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel.”]

* * * * *

Her body was followed to the grave by many of her relatives and friends, the royal carriages forming part of the funeral procession.  The coffin was adorned with garlands of laurel and cypress and palm branches, sent by the Crown-Princess from Herrnhausen; and the service was conducted in that same garrison-church in which, nearly a century before, she had been christened, and afterwards confirmed.  And, as proving her love and fidelity to the last, in her coffin were placed, by her express desire, “a lock of her beloved brother’s hair, and an old, almost obliterated almanac that had been used by her father.”

* * * * *

May our readers be induced, by their perusal of these pages, to emulate the Herschels—­brother, sister, nephew—­in all the bright and lovely qualities that ennoble life; in their fixity of purpose, their elevation of thought, their purity of character, their self-denial, their industry, their hopefulness, and their faith!

[The following inscription is engraved on Miss Herschel’s tomb.  It begins:  “Hier ruhet die irdische Huelle von CAROLINA HERSCHEL, Geboren zu Hannover den 16ten Marz 1750, Gestorben, den 9ten Januar 1848.”  But, for the convenience of our young readers, we give it in English:—­

HERE RESTS THE EARTHLY CASE OF
C A R O L I N E H E R S C H E L.
BORN AT HANOVER, MARCH 10, 1750. 
DIED JANUARY 9, 1848.

“The eyes of her now glorified were, while here below, directed towards the starry heavens.  Her own discoveries of comets, and her share in the immortal labours of her brother, William Herschel, bear witness of this to succeeding ages.

“The Royal Irish Academy of Dublin, and the Royal Astronomical
Society of London, enrolled her name among their members.

“At the age of 97 years 10 months, she fell asleep in calm rest, and in the full possession of her faculties; following into a better life her father, Isaac Herschel, who lived to the age of 60 years, 2 months, 17 days, and has lain buried not far off since the 29th of March 1767.”

     This epitaph was mainly written by Miss Herschel herself, and
     the allusion to her brother is characteristic.]