FLIGHT FROM HANOVER 19 



Hanoverians, when he accompanied that King on his 

 visit to the Electorate in 1821. Perhaps Herschel's 

 mother was an example of this great simplicity, mis- 

 placed. At least it resulted in years and recollections 

 of exceeding bitterness to William Herschel and his 

 sister. There can be little doubt that both of them 

 laid on her the blame of great mistakes committed, 

 and grave responsibilities incurred, which darkened her 

 son's future life. Possibly it had something to do with 

 the difficulty he had, as he approached his eightieth 

 year, in drawing up an autobiography, as he wished to 

 do. He found " himself much at a loss for the dates 

 of the month, or even the year, when he first arrived 

 in England with his brother Jacob." The work was 

 handed over to Caroline, who undertook it with the 

 " proviso not to criticise on my telling my story in 

 my own way." Her youngest brother, Dietrich, the 

 scapegrace of the family, was under three years 

 of age when these sorrowful passages occurred in 

 their household history. When past seventy he was 

 as hard to deal with as in his teens. " Let me touch on 

 what topic I would," she writes, " he maintained the 

 contrary, which I soon saw was done merely because 

 he would allow no one to know anything but himself." 

 There were two strains in this large family, as 

 there are in many others, one tending downwards, 

 another soaring upwards, and the former is usually 

 a grief to the latter. Jacob, Dietrich, and Sophia 

 represented the one : William, Caroline, and, in a 

 lesser degree, Alexander represented the other. The 

 only one who made a fortune was William, and 

 the one who got a larger share of it than any 

 of the others, even than Caroline and Alexander, 



