hair, and peculiar eyes, of which I find it difficult to give a description as they appeared to me in later life. They were large and well shaped; their colour a reddish brown; but if the iris were closely examined, it appeared to be composed of a great variety of tints. The usual expression was of quiet, listening intelligence; but now and then, on some just occasion for vivid interest or wholesome indignation, a light would shine out, as if some spiritual lamp had been kindled, which glowed behind those expressive orbs. I never saw the like in any other human creature. As for the rest of her features, they were plain, large, and ill set; but, unless you began to catalogue them, you were hardly aware of the fact; for the eyes and power of the countenance overbalanced every physical defect; the crooked mouth and the large nose were forgotten, and the whole face arrested the attention and presently attracted all those whom she herself would have cared to attract. Her hands and feet were the smallest I ever saw; when one of the former was placed in mine, it was like the soft touch of a bird in the middle of my palm. The delicate long fingers had a peculiar fineness of sensation, which was one reason why all her handiwork, of whatever kind-writing, sewing, knitting--was so clear in its minuteness. She was remarkably neat in her whole personal attire; but she was dainty as to the fit of her shoes and gloves."

The

There are different classes of great minds. Some are great in collecting, others in creating. former is talent, the latter is genius. Some have the power of absorbing what they see and hear in the external world: they "gather honey all the day from

every opening flower; " but they add no new thoughts. Others are characterized by originality of thought; they investigate new subjects, form new worlds, and spin new creations out of their own minds. Currer Bell belonged to this class. Some are capable of receiving much knowledge, but are unable to turn it to any purpose; they have read the standard authors, and have plenty of facts, but they know not how to use them. Currer Bell could form a system, she

knew how to write a book.

Through the whole of her life she had a sacred regard for the rules of morality. One of her schoolfellows informs us that she could get on with those who had bumps at the top of their heads. An intelligent old man living at Haworth, said to her biographer :"Charlotte would sit and inquire about our circumstances so kindly and feelingly! Though I am a poor working man (which I never felt to be any degradation), I could talk with her with the utmost freedom. I always felt quite at home with her. Though I never had any school education, I never felt the want of it in her company."

CHAPTER VI.

Scientific Women.

SECTION I.-CAROLINE LUCRETIA

HERSCHEL.

"Prior to her demise, hope had long become certainty, and prophecy passed into truth; and assemblies of the learned, through means of just though unusual tributes to herself, had recognised the immortality of the name she bore!"

J. P. NICHOL, LL.D.

ASTRONOMY.

In most other sciences, the mind is so often lost in details, that it is difficult to stand where you may gaze freely out upon the unknown. In astronomy, however, you are brought almost at once to stand face to face with the Infinite. A wonderful study are these old heavens. They have excited the curiosity, and called forth the discoveries of both male and female students. What an immensity of sublime magnificence God has crowded into a few yards of sky. There is truth in the well-known lines :

"When science from creation's face

Enchantment's veil withdraws,

What lovely visions yield their place

To cold material laws."

But if science has torn from the heavens the false

lustre of fiction, it has supplied the clear light of fact. From points, the stars have magnified into worlds, and from thousands they have multiplied into millions.

"Come forth, O man, yon azure round survey,

And view those lamps that yield eternal day;

Bring forth your glasses; clear thy wondering eyes,

Millions beyond the former millions rise;

Look farther-millions more blaze from remoter skies."

Sir William Herschel assuming that the instrument which he used could enable him to penetrate 497 times farther than Sirius, reckoned 116,000 stars to pass in a quarter of an hour, over the field of view, which subtended an angle of only 15'. If from such a narrow zone we compute, the whole celestial vault must display, within the range of telescopic vision, the stupendous number of more than five billions of stars. If each of these be the sun to a system similar to ours, and if the same number of planets revolve round it, then the whole planets in the universe will be more than fifty-five billions, not reckoning the satellites, which may be even more numerous. That part of the science which gives a description of the motions, figures, periods of revolution, and other phenomena of the celestial bodies, is called descriptive astronomy; that part which determines the motions, figures, periodical revolutions, distances, etc., of these orbs, is called practical astronomy; and that part which explains the causes of their motions, and demonstrates the laws by which those causes operate, is termed physical astronomy.

BIOGRAPHY.

On the 16th of March, 1750, Caroline Lucretia Herschel was born. Her birthplace was Hanover. She was the fourth daughter of Isaac Herschel, and Ann Ilse Moritzen, his wife. Her parents had also six sons. The childhood of this distinguished woman is to us a blank. Till her twenty-second year, she lived in her native place; and her father and mother seem to have been anxious about her education, but their means were limited; and moreover, Hanover, during the latter end of the last century, did not possess the facilities for the acquirement of literature, science, and art, that it does now. Since 1837, when

it became a royal residence, many changes have taken place, and numerous improvements continue to be made. We may therefore consistently affirm, that among the female examples of the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties, few deserve a higher place than Miss Herschel.

In 1772, she came to England to live with her brother William, who had been appointed organist to the Octagon chapel, at Bath. When he changed his profession for astronomical labours, she became his helpmate. "From the first commencement of his astronomical pursuits," says an authority, who writes from intimate knowledge, "her attendance on both his daily labours and nightly watches was put in requisition, and was found so useful, that on his removal to Datchet, and subsequently to Slough, she performed the whole of the arduous and important duties of his astronomical assistant-not only reading the clock and noting down all the observations from dic