In 1757, during the Seven Years' War, Herschel was sent with hisregiment to serve in the campaign of Rossbach against the French.He was not physically strong, and the hardships of active servicetold terribly upon the still growing lad. His parents were alarmedat his appearance when he returned, and were somewhat anxious to"remove" him from the service. That, however, was by no means aneasy matter for them to accomplish. They had no money to buy hisdischarge, and so, not to call the transaction by any other thanits truthful name, William Herschel was forced to run away from thearmy. We must not judge too harshly of this desertion, for thetimes were hard, and the lives of men in Herschel's position werevalued at somewhat little by the constituted authorities. Long after,it is exclaimed, when Herschel had distinguished himself by thediscovery of the planet Uranus, a pardon for this high militaryoffence was duly handed to him by the king in person on theoccasion of his first presentation. George III. was not aparticularly wise or brilliant man; but even he had sense enough toperceive that William Herschel could serve the country far much betterby mapping out the stars of heaven than by playing the oboe to theroyal regiment of Hanoverian Guards.