of knighthood and the post of the king's astronomer. He played the oboe,
like his father before him, and no doubt underwent the usual severe
military discipline of that age of stiff stocks and stern punishments.
His pay was very scanty, and out of it he only saved enough to carry
home one memento of his English experiences. That memento was in itself
a sufficient mark of the stuff from which young Herschel was compounded.
It was a copy of "Locke on the Human Understanding." Now, Locke's famous
work, oftener named than read, is a very tough and serious bit of
philosophical exposition; and a boy of seventeen who buys such a book
out of his meagre earnings as a military bandsman is pretty sure not to
end his life within the four dismal bare walls of the barrack. It is
indeed a curious picture to imagine young William Herschel, among a
group of rough and boisterous German soldiers, discussing high
mathematical problems with his father, or sitting down quietly in a
corner to read "Locke on the Human Understanding."

In 1757, during the Seven Years' War, Herschel was sent with his
regiment to serve in the campaign of Rossbach against the French. He was
not physically strong, and the hardships of active service told terribly
upon the still growing lad. His parents were alarmed at his appearance
when he returned, and were very anxious to "remove" him from the
service. That, however, was by no means an easy matter for them to
accomplish. They had no money to buy his discharge, and so, not to call
the transaction by any other than its true name, William Herschel was
forced to run away from the army. We must not judge too harshly of this
desertion, for the times were hard, and the lives of men in Herschel's
position were valued at very little by the constituted authorities. Long
after, it is said, when Herschel had distinguished himself by the
discovery of the planet Uranus, a pardon for this high military offence
was duly handed to him by the king in person on the occasion of his