1912] on Sir WilJinm HcrscM. 151 



liuiid of the Durluun Militia, and afterwards that be gained his living 

 as a musician in Leeds, Halifax, Pontefract, and Doncaster. In 17(54 

 he even ventured Imck to Hanover for a short time, and thus saw his 

 favourite sister agiiiu. 



During her early years Caroline seems to have been practically 

 the household drudge or general servant, and whatever she learnt was 

 by stealth or in the scanty intervals snatched from her household 

 duties, for her mother thoroughly disapproved of education for a girl. 



When we reflect on the difficulties under wjiich both brother and 

 sister lal)oured, and then consider how much they were able to ac- 

 complish, we might be tempted to under-rate the value of educational 

 advantages. Concerning education, Bishop Creighton once said in 

 my hearing, " It is surprising how little harm we do notwithstanding 

 all the pains we take." Paraphrasing the remark, although spoiling 

 the epigram, I would say, '• It is surprising how little harm the lack 

 of opportunity does to a great genius." 



In 17(56 William took a position as organist at Bath, then at the 

 height of fashion. The orchestra at the Pump Rooms and at the 

 theatre at Bath was then one of the best in the kingdom, and 

 Elizabeth Linley, daughter of the director of the orchestra, was the 

 prima donna of the concerts. When in 1771 she became engaged to 

 Charles Sheridan, Herschel thought that the expected vacancy would 

 make an opening for his sister at Bath, and suggested that she should 

 join him. And, in fact, after a time such a vacancy did occur, for 

 Elizabeth Linley, after flirting with Charles Sheridan, jilted him and 

 eloped with and married the celebrated Richard Brinsley Sheridan. 



Caroline was very anxious to accede to her brother's suggestion, 

 bnt the rest of the family would not for a time hear of it. At length, 

 however, in 1772, Herschel came to Hanover and carried off his sister 

 with the mother's reluctant consent. Even from boyhood his intense 

 love of astronomy had been manifest, and it is interesting to note that 

 in passing through London on their way from Harwich to Bath, when 

 they went out to see the town, the only sights which attracted their 

 attention were the opticians' shops. 



On Mr. Ijinley's retirement from the orchestra at Bath, Herschel 

 became the director and the leading music-master in the town, and he 

 thus oljtained an established position. Although Caroline sang a 

 little in public, her aspiration to become the prima donna of Bath 

 was not fulfilled. But she was kept busy enough at first in the cares 

 of housekeeping, with endless wrangling with a succession of incom- 

 petent slaveys, and then she gradually became more and more her 

 l3rother's astronomical assistant. 



In the midst of Herschel's busy musical life he devoted every spare 

 moment to astronomy, and when his negotiations for the purchase of 

 a small reflecting telescope failed — and they were all small in those 

 days — he set to work to make mirrors for himself. 



One room in the house was kept tidy for pupils, and the rest of the 



Vol. XX. (No. 106) 2 k 



