2 HERSCHEL AND HIS WORK 



concerts and balls in a " rendezvous of the diseased/' 

 where "ministers of state, judges, generals, bishops, 

 projectors, philosophers, wite, poets, players, liddln-s. 

 and liutr.M.n-. d trill^'l. amid " dressing. ;nid 



fi<Mling, and dancing, and gadding, an.l court i HIT. and 

 I lotting." But so it was; and never were men and 

 lite so unlike brought face to face, or placed side 

 by side in the business of lit* 



When " the music and entertainments of Bath were 

 for the season," and " when not a soul was seen 

 in the place but a few brok-n-\vinded parsons, waddling 

 like so many crows along the North Parade, great 

 overgrown dignitaries and rectors, with rubicund 

 noses and gouty ankles, or broad bloated faces, drag- 

 ging along great swag bellies, the emblems of sloth and 

 indigestion," this pleasant- faced director of concerts 

 and oratorios, this man of smiling look and noble 

 bearing, wearied out with the music of the season, 

 lit rest and refreshment in a constant and devoted 

 study of the higher music of the heavens. He had 

 none to help him but a younger sister, who was un- 

 willingly draped from the concert- room and the 

 theatre to less congenial pursuits, and for some time a 

 younger brother, who was believed to play the violon- 

 cello divinely, and who certainly could apply himself 

 with credit to mechanical pursuits. With untiring 

 energy he worked out this ancient music of the spl i 

 till the world was astonished at his success, lean lini; 

 confessed her debts to his genius, and a new era 

 dawned in the history of science. He sprang into fame 

 almost at one bound, passed from theatre and music-room 

 to the Hall of the Royal Society, and was saluted by 

 organs of public opinion as an " extraordinary man." 



