8 HERSCHEL AND HIS WORK 



for music, this neglected girl was neither taught nor 

 allowed to sing a note. Her anchor of safety lay in 

 the simple devotion with which, even then, she wor- 

 shipped "her best and dearest of brothers, William." 

 She herself called it the affection of "a well-trained 

 puppy-dog" for its master. In after life she showed 

 more regard for her sister's son, George Griesbach, 

 one of the musicians of George m.'s court, than she 

 ever entertained for his father or mother. But her 

 affection for him was lukewarm compared with the 

 intensity of its glow towards another nephew, the son 

 of her brother William, the distinguished mathema- 

 tician and philosopher, Sir John F. Herschel. Of the 

 latter she can never speak enough, nor in terms of 

 praise sufficiently high : and deservedly. 



Such was the household William Herschel was 

 brought up in. It was, or might have been, a home 

 of genius. The father had much in him of music 

 and of knowledge generally to fit him for the training 

 and encouragement of his sons. But they were not 

 all equally worthy of his regard. Ill health, while 

 they were still children, the eldest not more than ten, 

 may have weakened his vital power at the time when 

 it was most indispensable for him firmly to hold the 

 household helm and keep every member in his own 

 place. His wife was badly fitted to rule or guide 

 their little community of boys and girls. She had to 

 fight a battle with privation and a small income ; she 

 had to face the hostile occupation of the country, 

 and the unscrupulous exactions of invaders. Driven 

 from pillar to post, she pampered some of her sons, 

 she petted a favoured daughter, and turned another 

 daughter, more deserving of affection, into a household 



