98 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 917 



paign. His parents, seeing that he had not 

 the strength for a soldier's life, determined 

 to remove him from the regiment. The re- 

 moval may be described more bluntly as 

 desertion, for we learn that when he had 

 passed the last sentinel at Herrenhausen, 

 he took off his uniform and his luggage 

 was secretly sent after him to Hamburg. 

 At any rate, fortunately for science, he 

 escaped, and in 1757 or 1758 made his way 

 to England. 



It would perhaps be impossible to follow 

 him throughout his wanderings, but we 

 know that he was at one time instructor of 

 the band of the Durham Militia, and after- 

 wards that he gained his living as a music- 

 ian in Leeds, Halifax, Pontefract and 

 Doncaster. In 1764 he even ventured back 

 to Hanover for a short time, and thus saw 

 his favorite sister again. 



During her early years Caroline seems 

 to have been practically the household 

 drudge or general servant, and whatever 

 she learned was by stealth or in the scanty 

 intervals snatched from her household du- 

 ties, for her mother thoroughly disapproved 

 of education for a girl. 



"When we reflect on the difficulties under 

 which both brother and sister labored, and 

 then consider how much they were able to 

 accomplish, we might be tempted to under- 

 rate the value of educational advantages. 

 Concerning education. Bishop Creighton 

 once said in my hearing, "It is surprising 

 how little harm we do notwithstanding all 

 the pains we take." Paraphrasing the re- 

 mark, although spoiling the epigram, I 

 would say, "It is surprising how little 

 harm the lack of opportunity does to a 

 great genius." 



In 1766 William took a position as 

 organist at Bath, then at the height of 

 fashion. The orchestra at the Pump 

 Kooms and at the theatre at Bath was then 

 one of the best in the kingdom, and Eliza- 



beth Linley, daughter of the director of the 

 orchestra, was the prima donna of the con- 

 certs. When in 1771 she became engaged 

 to Charles Sheridan, Herschel thought that 

 the expected vacancy would make an open- 

 ing for his sister at Bath, and suggested 

 that she should join him. And, in fact, 

 after a time such a vacancy did occur, for 

 Elizabeth Linley, after flirting with 

 Charles Sheridan, jilted him and eloped 

 with and married the celebrated Richard 

 Brinsley Sh&ridan. 



Caroline was very anxious to accede to 

 her brother's suggestion, but the rest of the 

 family would not for a time hear of it. 

 At length, however, in 1772, Herschel came 

 to Hanover and carried off his sister with 

 the mother's reluctant consent. Even 

 from boyhood his intense love of astron- 

 omy had been manifest, and it is interest- 

 ing to note that in passing through London 

 on their way from Harwich to Bath, when 

 they went out to see the town, the only 

 sights which attracted their attention were 

 the opticians' shops. 



On Mr. Linley 's retirement from the 

 orchestra at Bath, Herschel became the 

 director and the leading music-master in 

 the town, and he thus obtained an estab- 

 lished position. Although Caroline sang 

 a little in public, her aspiration to become 

 the prima donna of Bath was not fulfilled. 

 But she was kept busy enough at first in 

 the cares of housekeeping, -with endless 

 wrangling with a succession of incompetent 

 slaveys, and then she gradually became 

 more and more her brother's astronomical 

 assistant. 



In the midst of Herschel's busy musical 

 life he devoted every spare moment to as- 

 tronomy, and when his negotiations for the 

 purchase of a small reflecting telescope 

 failed — and they were all small in those 

 days — he set to work to make mirrors for 

 himself. 



