4 HERSCHEL AND HIS WORK 



weaker nature on a stronger wan not the lxm<l tint 

 unit'-<l 1 M M lir-l'n^ devotion to 



acience and to each ot 1 1 i 'I'll- r.- \\as Mum'tliin^ in<v 

 Tln-y \\. P- tin- two members My in 



whom genius and perseverance united to overcome 

 diilirultios. None of the others possessed equal genius : 

 none of them were gifted with the same perseverance. 

 What these two undertook they cli<l with intense 

 affection for each other, and with a determination ni 

 to be ba! htre other- nml.l not he hlam.,1 had 



submitted to defeat. The other memhrrs <>i the 

 family that enter into the story of the lives of these 

 two were, the elder brother, Jacob, and the younger, 

 Alexander; the one nearly four years older than 

 William, and the other seven years younger. Flighty, 



^Itish. and uncertain, Jacob was a specimen of 

 what the eldest brother in a family should not bo, Imt 

 is frequently allowed to become by indulgent ;ml 

 foolish parents. Of such inferior capacity to William 

 that the latter mastered their French lessons in hall 

 the time taken by Jacob, he had the power of 

 creating unhappiness by starting difficulties at every- 

 thing that was done for him ; by selfishly insist ing on 

 travelling comfortably by post, while his father, with 

 an impaired constitution, and his brother William, 

 a fast-growing and delicate lad, were content, for 

 economy's sake, to trudge the weary miles homeward 

 on foot; by whipping his little sister, sixteen years 

 younger than himself, because, in her awkwardness, 

 she did not come up to his lordly ideas of what a 

 tablemaid should be to a man of his standing; by his 

 bad humour when his beefsteak was hard, or because 

 Caroline could not use brick -dust in cleaning the lit t N- 



