Honours were showered on Herschel. He was knighted in 1816, and became President of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1820, besides receiving several honorary degrees. But honours in no way elated him. Advancing years in no way affected his wonderful mind. But his duties as King’s Astronomer necessitated his acting as “showman of the heavens” on the visits of royalties to Windsor, often after a whole day’s work, when rest was absolutely necessary. This tremendous strain, which reflects little credit on the Court, proved too much for the old man. His health began to give way, although his mind was as vigorous as ever. Herschel contributed his last paper to the Royal Society in 1818, and three years later sent a list of double stars to the new Astronomical Society. He made his last observation on June 1, 1821. His strength had now left him, and to this he could not reconcile himself. As Miss Clerke puts it, “All his old instincts were still alive, only the bodily power to carry out their behests was gone. An unparalleled career of achievement left him unsatisfied with what he had done.... His strong nerves were at last shattered.” After a prolonged period of failing health he died at Slough, at the age of eighty-three, on August 25, 1822. On September 7 he was buried in the church-yard of St Laurence at Upton. On his tombstone are engraved the words—“Cœlorum perrupit claustra”—he broke through the barriers of the skies. The death of her brother was a terrible blow to Caroline Herschel. Expecting to live only a twelvemonth, she returned to Hanover to the home of her brother, Dietrich Herschel. But she lived twenty-five years among people who cared nothing for astronomy. She was delighted at Sir John Herschel’s continuation of his father’s work. She compiled a catalogue of all the clusters and nebulæ observed by her brother, for which she received the gold medal of the Astronomical Society, and she was created an honorary member. In 1846 she received from the King of Prussia the gold medal of science. But no honours made her in any way elated. She always held that whoever said much of her said too little of her brother. After a prolonged decline of health, she died on January 9, 1848, aged ninety-seven years, and was buried beside her father in the churchyard of the Gartengemeinde at Hanover, leaving behind her a noble example of self-sacrifice and devotion. CHAPTER II. HERSCHEL THE DISCOVERER.