24 HERSCHEL AND HIS WORK 



went over to England." 1 Herschel's friends did not 

 know how to gloss over this unhappy passage in his 

 life. What they said in England was as wide of the 

 reality as what he unfortunately said of himself 

 "Unable, however, long to endure the drudgery of 

 such a situation, and conscious of superior proficiency 

 in his art, he determined on quitting the regiment," 

 and arrived in England in the end of 1757. This is 

 not a barefaced statement of untruth, like the resigna- 

 tion of his position in the band. 2 But the mother's 

 foolishness was singularly overruled for good. 



Of William Herschel's wanderings after escaping from 

 the beaten army of Cumberland the pages that are torn 

 out of his sister's journal would probably have given 

 information, but it is not till two years have passed 

 that we again hear of him. He was then in England, 

 along with his eldest brother, Jacob. On Jacob's return 

 home in the end of 1759, William remained behind, 

 studying apparently the theory of music. Many of 

 his letters to Jacob on that subject were written in 

 English, a proof apparently that his mind was made 

 up not to seek his fortunes elsewhere. For five years 

 he again almost disappears from view, till he is seen 

 on a short visit to his Hanover home in the spring of 

 1764, to the joy of his family, especially of his father, 

 then an invalid, and of his young sister, Caroline. 

 In the interval his musical ability obtained for him in 

 his adopted country the post of bandmaster to a regi- 

 ment, stationed in one of the northern counties, said 

 to have been the Durham Militia. The Earl of 

 Darlington is said to have selected him "to super- 



1 Quoted in Holden's Life and Works of William fferschel, p. 4. 



2 Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xcii. (1822). 



