8 A CENTURY'S PROGRESS IN ASTRONOMY. 



soldiering would not be his profession. He 

 deserted, and, with the consent of his parents, 

 he sailed for England. After his arrival at 

 Dover, he wandered through the country in 

 search of musical employment. At length, in 

 1760, he was appointed to train the band of 

 the Durham Militia, and four years later paid a 

 secret visit to Hanover, where he was welcomed 

 by his father, whose health was now failing, 

 and by his sister Caroline. In the following 

 year he was promoted to the post of organist 

 at Halifax, and in 1766 he removed to Bath as 

 oboist in Linley's Orchestra. Finally, in 1767, 

 he became organist in the new Octagon Chapel 

 at Bath. Herschel was now twenty-nine years 

 old, and known as a famous musician. As Miss 

 Clerke remarks : " The Octagon Chapel soon 

 became a centre of fashionable attraction, and 

 he soon found himself lifted on the wave of 

 public favour. Pupils of high rank thronged to 

 him, and his lessons often mounted to thirty- 

 five a- week." 



In the year of his appointment his father died, 

 aged sixty, after a life of trouble and hardship. 

 His death was a great blow to his daughter 

 Caroline, whom he had educated when her 

 mother was from home. Caroline Herschel was 

 naturally possessed of musical ability, but her 



