century it resorted almost exclusively to Bath. The Octagon Chapel was
in one sense the centre of life in Bath; and through his connection
with it, Herschel was thrown into a far more intelligent and learned
society than that which he had left behind him in still rural
Yorkshire. New books came early to Bath, and were read and discussed
in the reading-rooms; famous men and women came there, and contributed
largely to the intellectual life of the place; the theatre was the
finest out of London; the Assembly Rooms were famous as the greatest
resort of wit and culture in the whole kingdom. Herschel here was far
more in his element than in the barracks of Hanover, or in the little
two-roomed cottage at rustic Doncaster.

He worked very hard indeed, and his work soon brought him comfort and
comparative wealth. Besides his chapel services, and his later
engagement in the orchestra of the Assembly Rooms, he had often as many
as thirty-eight private pupils in music every week; and he also
composed a few pieces, which were published in London with some modest
success. Still, in spite of all these numerous occupations, the eager
young German found a little leisure time to devote to self-education;
so much so that, after a fatiguing day of fourteen or sixteen hours
spent in playing the organ and teaching, he would "unbend his mind" by
studying the higher mathematics, or give himself a lesson in Greek and
Italian. At the same time; he was also working away at a line of
study, seemingly useless to him, but in which he was afterwards to earn
so great and deserved a reputation. Among the books he read during
this Bath period were Smith's "Optics" and Lalande's "Astronomy."
Throughout all his own later writings, the influence of these two
books, thoroughly mastered by constant study in the intervals of his
Bath music lessons, makes itself everywhere distinctly felt.

Meanwhile, the family at Hanover had not been flourishing quite so
greatly as the son William was evidently doing in wealthy England.
During all those years, the young man had never forgotten to keep up a
close correspondence with his people in Germany. Already, in 1764,
during his Yorkshire days, William Herschel had managed out of his
Savings as an oboe-player to make a short trip to his old home; and his
sister Carolina, afterwards his chief assistant in his astronomical
labours, notes with pleasure the delight she felt in having her beloved
brother with her on