ASTRONOMY IN THE AIR 15 



after years, was of common occurrence in the talks 

 of father and son. Nothing is more likely, for other 

 great names are known to have been discussed be- 

 tween them. Another astronomer, afterwards a friend 

 of Herschel, made himself a name in the scientific 

 world, Schroeter, of the Observatory at Lilienthal, in 

 the Duchy of Bremen, about twenty miles from Hano- 

 ver. Olbers and Harding, two of the astronomers who 

 afterwards undertook to rival Herschel in the dis- 

 covery of planets, belonged to the same neighbourhood. 

 There was at that time something in the air of 

 Hanover and its neighbourhood that turned the eyes 

 of young men of genius to the stars. It is therefore 

 not surprising that students of the sciences so eminent 

 as Newton, Leibnitz, and Euler entered freely into 

 the talks between the father and his two eldest boys. 

 Jacob preferred sleep to talk. William never grew 

 tired of talk on men and subjects so attractive. He was 

 surrounded by living and famous astronomers. Their 

 works and fame served, probably, to nurse in him the 

 spark of science that his father thus lighted or cherished. 

 The prospect of war with France in 1755 gave 

 Herschel an opportunity of visiting the country of his 

 dreams, England. Discontent was rife in our large 

 towns ; incapacity was still more rife in the army and 

 navy. It was the age of Admiral Byng, of Lord 

 George Sackville, and of the Duke of Cumberland. 

 The French king was known to be planning, and was 

 likely to carry into effect, a descent on the English 

 coast. In April it was supposed the storm would 

 burst on Ireland, for that island was so defenceless 

 that ten thousand troops might walk from one end of 

 it to the other. In October it was reported that a 



