years.

King George the Third, hearing of the achievements of the Hanoverian
musician, felt much interest in his discovery, and accordingly
Herschel was bidden to come to Windsor, and to bring with him the
famous telescope, in order to exhibit the new planet to the King, and
to tell his Majesty all about it. The result of the interview was to
give Herschel the opportunity for which he had so long wished, of
being able to devote himself exclusively to science for the rest of
his life.

[PLATE: VIEW OF THE OBSERVATORY, HERSCHEL HOUSE, SLOUGH.]

The King took so great a fancy to the astronomer that he first, as I
have already mentioned, duly pardoned his desertion from the army,
some twenty-five years previously. As a further mark of his favour
the King proposed to confer on Herschel the title of his Majesty's
own astronomer, to assign to him a residence near Windsor, to provide
him with a salary, and to furnish such funds as might be required for
the erection of great telescopes, and for the conduct of that mighty
scheme of celestial observation on which Herschel was so eager to
enter. Herschel's capacity for work would have been much impaired if
he had been deprived of the aid of his admirable sister, and to her,
therefore, the King also assigned a salary, and she was installed as
Herschel's assistant in his new post.

With his usually impulsive determination, Herschel immediately cut
himself free from all his musical avocations at Bath, and at once
entered on the task of making and erecting the great telescopes at
Windsor. There, for more than thirty years, he and his faithful