intend and instruct a military band then forming by that nobleman in the county of Durham. After this engagement ended, he spent several years in Leeds, Pontefract, Doncaster, etc." That he had been a soldier, officers and men would soon discover from his language and bearing. But he was, and seems to have remained, a mystery for years. In 1764 he was residing in Leeds, and went from that town on a visit to his relations in Hanover. Towards the end of 1765 he became organist of a church in Halifax, where he applied himself to the study of Latin, Italian, and mathematics. Music he continued to cultivate as his profession in life during these years of wilderness wandering.
Southey, in one of his stories from Doncaster,[1] represents Herschel, the astronomer, to have been, in 1760, "only a few months in England, and yet" able to speak "English as well as a native." Miller, the organist of Doncaster, who lived in a two-roomed cottage, but had a collection of classical English works, became acquainted with him through an officer of the Durham Militia, found that his engagement with that regiment was "only from month to month," and urged him to leave them, and take up his abode in the "but and a ben," which he did. Swift is alone mentioned as the English author Herschel preferred to read, which, though it be consistent with the list of favourite authors given by his sister, is not altogether satisfactory evidence of the authenticity of Southey's story. But, be that as it may, Miller was thus entitled to be called his "earliest acquaintance" in England, and certainly his best friend, if it be true that he en-
- ↑ The Doctor, ii. 261, from Miller's Doncaster (1804), p. 162.
