CHAPTER III 



IN ENGLAND 



FROM the brief and guarded indications given by his 

 sister Caroline, then a child of seven, sitting on the 

 outer doorstep and watching all that took place with 

 the wondering eyes of childhood ; from her picture of 

 the mourning mother, and the parcel which she carried 

 containing her son's accoutrements ; from her view 

 of the disguised brother stealing past, and from the 

 prohibition even to mention his name, it is plain that 

 William Herschel was smuggled out of Hanover in 

 the summer of 1757. What we might call the con- 

 scription was then in full force in town and country 

 to supply the beaten army of Cumberland with 

 recruits. But Herschel was a soldier, and was run- 

 ning away from the colours. He was of a weakly 

 constitution, growing rapidly, and unfit for the hard- 

 ships of a soldier's life. So his mother said and, 

 perhaps, also thought. For three months both 

 Hanover and England had been expecting something 

 to happen in the war with France. The Duke of 

 Cumberland, of Culloden fame, found it necessary to 

 go abroad to " take command of the army of observa- 

 tion." But so ill was he liked in England that, though 

 " the drum was beat, none would list." The soldiers 

 under his command in Hanover, and a motley crew 



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