his astronomical pursuits. Even when he had to go to London to read his
papers before the Royal Society, he chose a moonlight night (when the
stars would be mostly invisible), so that it might not interfere with
his regular labours.

Poor Carolina was horrified at the house at Datchet, which seemed
terribly desolate and poor, even to her modest German ideas; but William
declared his willingness to live permanently and cheerfully upon "eggs
and bacon" now that he was at last free to do nothing on earth but
observe the heavens. Night after night he and Carolina worked together
at their silent task--he noting the small features with his big
telescope, she "sweeping for comets" with a smaller glass or "finder."
Herschel could have had no more useful or devoted assistant than his
sister, who idolized him with all her heart. Alexander, too, came to
stay with them during the slack months at Bath, and then the whole
strength of the family was bent together on their labour of love in
gauging the heavens.

But what use was it all? Why should they wish to go star-gazing? Well,
if a man cannot see for himself what use it was, nobody else can put the
answer into him, any more than they could put into him a love for
nature, or for beauty, or for art, or for music, if he had it not to
start with. What is the good of a great picture, a splendid oratorio, a
grand poem? To the man who does not care for them, nothing; to the man
who loves them, infinite. It is just the same with science. The use of
knowledge to a mind like Herschel's is the mere possession of it. With
such as he, it is a love, an object of desire, a thing to be sought
after for its own sake; and the mere act of finding it is in itself
purely delightful. "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man
that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the