out his little income with comparative comfort.

William Herschel, the great astronomer (born in 1738), was the fourth
child of his mother, and with his brothers he was brought up at the
garrison school in Hanover, together with the sons of the other common
soldiers. There he learned, not only the three R's, but also a little
French and English. Still, the boy was not content with these ordinary
studies; in his own playtime he took lessons in Latin and mathematics
privately with the regimental schoolmaster. The young Herschels, indeed,
were exceptionally fortunate in the possession of an excellent and
intelligent father, who was able to direct their minds into channels
which few people of their position in life have the opportunity of
entering. Isaac Herschel was partly of Jewish descent, and he inherited
in a marked degree two very striking Jewish gifts--a turn for music, and
a turn for philosophy. The Jews are probably the oldest civilized race
now remaining on earth; and their musical faculties have been
continuously exercised from a time long before the days of David, so
that now they produce undoubtedly a far larger proportion of musicians
and composers than any other class of the population whatsoever. They
are also deeply interested in the same profound theological and
philosophical problems which were discussed with so much acuteness and
freedom in the Book of Ecclesiastes and the subtle argument of Job and
his friends. There has never been a time when the Jewish mind has not
exercised itself profoundly on these deep and difficult questions; and
the Hanover bandsman inherited from his Jewish ancestry an unusual
interest in similar philosophical subjects. Thus, while the little ones
were sleeping in the same common room at night, William and his father
were often heard discussing the ideas of such abstruse thinkers as
Newton and Leibnitz, whose names must have sounded strange indeed to the
ordinary frequenters of the Hanover barracks. On such occasions good