VISIT TO ENGLAND 17 



William, were in the band of the regiment. Whether 

 they encamped on Hounslow Heath and annoyed 

 Strawberry Hill or not is unknown ; but for a whole 

 year they remained in England, till apparently the 

 invasion of Hanover by the French rendered their 

 presence necessary at home. There was no invasion 

 of England except by a flute-player, who saw the com- 

 forts of the land, and came back a year later to make 

 it and himself famous in the arts of peace, and to give 

 Walpole a chance of handing down to posterity in his 

 Letters the wonder excited, even among idlers and 

 diners-out, by the earnest labours of William Herschel. 

 The only spoil the musician carried home with him 

 to Hanover was a copy of Locke's Essay con- 

 cerning Human Understanding, on which he spent 

 as much of his pay as he could spare. His brother 

 Jacob took back some English goods and some fine 

 clothes. 



Caroline Herschel is of opinion that had it not been 

 for the war troubles, in which Hanover was now 

 involved, and had peace allowed these scenes of happy 

 discussion between father and son to continue till their 

 natural application to practice, her brother would have 

 given proof of his inventive genius long before it 

 revealed itself, in the thirty-sixth year of his age. 

 Prophecies of this kind after the event are not un- 

 common, but they may be as groundless as they are 

 uncertain. Seed was sown in Herschel's mind by an 

 enlightened father, who " was a great admirer of 

 astronomy, and had some knowledge of that science." 

 The boy of sixteen was also encouraged by him to try 

 his hand on mechanical contrivances, of which one took 

 an especial hold on his sister's childish mind, " a neatly 



