28 HERSCHEL AND HIS WORK 



of all the young men by her beauty and accomplish- 

 ments. Offer after offer was made for her hand, but 

 the preference was given by her father, for reasons not 

 creditable to him, to a suitor very much older than she 

 was, but immensely wealthy. With difficulty the girl 

 was persuaded to agree to the match. She withdrew 

 from all public engagements, and nothing was talked 

 of in Bath but the approaching wedding. While the 

 town was in this state of expectation, William Herschel, 

 seeing that great prizes were in prospect for attractive 

 singers, bethought himself of his sister Caroline, then 

 two or three years older than Miss Linley. He proposed 

 that she should join him at Bath, after receiving lessons 

 from their eldest brother, Jacob, in the hope that she 

 " might become a useful singer for his winter concerts 

 and oratorios." Should the experiment not succeed, 

 he promised to bring her back to Hanover at the end 

 of two years. Evidently Jacob he is described as 

 " brilliant " had been a failure in Bath. A bully, 

 such as he was, could not help feeling that it was a 

 reflection on him to suggest she might succeed where 

 he had failed. Without ever hearing the girl sing, 

 he " turned the whole scheme into ridicule," but she 

 resented his conduct "by taking every opportunity 

 when all were from home to imitate, with a gag be- 

 tween my teeth, the solo parts of concertos, shake and 

 all, such as I had heard them play on the violin ; in 

 consequence I had gained a tolerable execution before 

 I knew how to sing." The cruelty or stupidity of the 

 eldest brother had no effect on William, except to 

 deepen his determination to make this experiment. 



Meanwhile, strange things were happening at Bath. 

 Miss Linley 's admirer threw up his engagement, and, 



