lf>8 HERSCHEL. 



then that he learned Latin and Italian, though without any other help 

 than a grammar and a dictionary, and that he also acquired some 

 knowledge of Greek. So great was the desire for knowledge with which 

 he was inspired that while residing at Halifax he found means to continue 

 his philological exercises, and at the same time to study deeply the learned 

 but very obscure mathematical work of Smith on the theory of music. 

 This treatise, either explicitly or implicitly, supposed the reader to 

 have a knowledge of algebra and geometry, which Herschel did not 

 possess, but of which he made himself master in a very short time. 



In 170G Herschel obtained the a])poiutment of organist to the Octagon 

 Chapel at Bath. This was a more lucrative post than that at Halifax, 

 but it also devolved on him new obligations. He had to play inces- 

 santly either at the oratorios, or in the rooms at the baths, at the 

 theater, and in the public concerts. Besides this, from among his patrons 

 in the most fashionable circle of England, he could not refuse to take 

 numerous pupils who wished to be instructed in his art. It is difficult to 

 imagine how, among so many duties, so many distractions of various 

 kinds, Herschel could continue the studies, which even at Halifax had 

 required so much resolution and perseverance, with a very uncommon 

 degree of talent. We have seen that it was by music that Herschel 

 was led to mathematics ; mathematics in their turn led hini to optics, 

 the principal and fertile source of his illustrious career. The time 

 finally arrived when his theoretic knowledge was to guide tiie young 

 musician into a laborious application of principles quite foreign to his 

 habits ; and of which the brilliant success, as well as the excessive 

 temerity, must excite reasonable astonishment. 



A telescope — a simple reflector, only two English feet in length falls 

 into the hands of Herschel during his residence at Bath. This in- 

 strument, however imperfect, shows him a multitude of stars in the 

 sky that the naked eye cannot discern; shows him also enlarged known 

 objects, under their true dimensions; reveals forms to him that the 

 richest imaginations of antiquity had never suspected. He is trans- 

 ported with enthusiasm, and resolves, without delay, to have a similar in- 

 strument but of larger size. The answer from Loudon is delayed for 

 some days. These few days appear to him as years. When the answer 

 arrives, tlie price that the optician demands proves to be much beyond 

 the pecuniary resources of a mere organist. To any other man this 

 would have been an un surmountable obstacle. This unexpected diffi- 

 culty, on the contrary, inspired Herschel with fresh energy. He can- 

 not buy a telescope; then he will construct one with his own hands. 

 The musician of the Octagob Chapel rushes immediately into a mul- 

 titude of experiments, on metallic alloys that reflect light with the 

 greatest intensity, on the means of giving the parabolic figure to the 

 mirrors, on the causes that in the operation of x)olishing affect the 

 regularity of the reflection, &c. So rare a degree of perseverance at last 

 receives its reward. In 1774 Herschel has the happiness of being 



