“My brothers were often introduced as solo performers and assistants in the orchestra at the court, and I remember that I was frequently prevented from going to sleep by the lively criticisms on music on coming from a concert. Often I would keep myself awake that I might listen to their animated remarks, for it made me happy to see them so happy. But generally their conversation would branch out on philosophical subjects, when my brother William and my father often argued with such warmth that my mother’s interference became necessary when the names Euler, Leibnitz, and Newton sounded rather too loud for the repose of her little ones, who had to be at school by seven in the morning.” The child, whose reminiscences are here given, became afterwards the famous Caroline Herschel. The narrative of her life is a most interesting book, not only for the account it contains of the remarkable woman herself, but also because it presents the best picture we have of the great astronomer, to whom Caroline devoted her life. This modest family circle was, in a measure, dispersed at the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War in 1756. The French proceeded to invade Hanover, which, it will be remembered, belonged at this time to the British dominions. Young William Herschel had already obtained the position of a regular performer in the regimental band of the Hanoverian Guards, and it was his fortune to obtain some experience of actual warfare in the disastrous battle of Hastenbeck. He was not wounded, but he had to spend the night after the battle in a ditch, and his meditations on the occasion convinced him that soldiering was not the profession exactly suited to his tastes. He left his regiment by the very simple, but somewhat risky, process of desertion. He had, it would seem, to adopt disguises in order to effect his escape. By some means he succeeded in eluding detection, and reached England in safety. The young musician must have had some difficulty in providing for his maintenance during the first few years of his abode in England. It was not until he had reached the age of twenty-two that he succeeded in obtaining any regular appointment. He was then made instructor of music to the Durham Militia. Shortly afterwards, his talents being more widely recognized, he was appointed as organist of the parish Church at Halifax.