It seems that 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 recognised, he was appointed as organist at the parish church at Halifax, and his prospects in life now being fairly favourable, and the Seven Years’ War being over, he ventured to pay a visit to Hanover to see his father.  We can imagine the delight with which old Isaac Herschel welcomed his promising son, as well as his parental pride when a concert was given at which some of William’s compositions were performed.  If the father was so intensely gratified on this occasion, what would his feelings have been could he have lived to witness his son’s future career?  But this pleasure was not to be his, for he died many years before William became an astronomer.

In 1766, about a couple of years after his return to England from This visit to his old home, we find that Herschel had received a further promotion to be organist in the Octagon Chapel, at Bath.  Bath was then, as now, a highly fashionable resort, and many notable personages patronised the rising musician.  Herschel had other points in his favour besides his professional skill; his appearance was good, his address was prepossessing, and even his nationality was a distinct advantage, inasmuch as he was a Hanoverian in the reign of King George the Third.  On Sundays he played the organ, to the great delight of the congregation, and on week-days he was occupied by giving lessons to private pupils, and in preparation for public performances.  He thus came to be busily employed, and seems to have been in the enjoyment of comfortable means.

[Plate:  7, New king street, Bath, where Herschel lived.]

From his earliest youth Herschel had been endowed with that invaluable characteristic, an eager curiosity for knowledge.  He was naturally desirous of perfecting himself in the theory of music, and thus he was led to study mathematics.  When he had once tasted the charms of mathematics, he saw vast regions of knowledge unfolded before him, and in this way he was induced to direct his attention to astronomy.  More and more this pursuit seems to have engrossed his attention, until at last it had become an absorbing passion.  Herschel was, however, still obliged, by the exigency of procuring a livelihood, to give up the best part of his time to his profession as a musician; but his heart was eagerly fixed on another science, and every spare moment was steadily devoted to astronomy.  For many years, however, he continued to labour at his original calling, nor was it until he had attained middle age and become the most celebrated astronomer of the time, that he was enabled to concentrate his attention exclusively on his favourite pursuit.