CHAPTER II.

Herschel's parents--The two brothers--A musical family--An inventive genius--The brothers in England--Herschel as an organist--A laborious life--Mechanical ingenuity of William Herschel--Telescope-making--A Sunday misadventure--Constructing a twenty-foot telescope--A domestic picture--Discovery of a new planet--Herschel's combined musical and astronomical pursuits--A thirty-foot telescope--Casting the mirror--An explosion