William, were in the band of the regiment. Whether they encamped on Hounslow Heath and annoyed Strawberry Hill or not is unknown; but for a whole year they remained in England, till apparently the invasion of Hanover by the French rendered their presence necessary at home. There was no invasion of England except by a flute-player, who saw the comforts of the land, and came back a year later to make it and himself famous in the arts of peace, and to give Walpole a chance of handing down to posterity in his Letters the wonder excited, even among idlers and diners-out, by the earnest labours of William Herschel. The only spoil the musician carried home with him to Hanover was a copy of Locke's Essay concerning Human Understanding, on which he spent as much of his pay as he could spare. His brother Jacob took back some English goods and some fine clothes.
Caroline Herschel is of opinion that had it not been for the war troubles, in which Hanover was now involved, and had peace allowed these scenes of happy discussion between father and son to continue till their natural application to practice, her brother would have given proof of his inventive genius long before it revealed itself, in the thirty-sixth year of his age. Prophecies of this kind after the event are not uncommon, but they may be as groundless as they are uncertain. Seed was sown in Herschel's mind by an enlightened father, who "was a great admirer of astronomy, and had some knowledge of that science." The boy of sixteen was also encouraged by him to try his hand on mechanical contrivances, of which one took an especial hold on his sister's childish mind, "a neatly
