Of the interest attaching to the life of such a woman, whose
recollections went back to the great earthquake at Lisbon; who lived
through the American War, the old French Revolution, the rise and fall
of Napoleon; who saw the development of the great factors of modern
civilization, "from the lumbering post wagon in which she made her first
journey from Hanover to the railroads and electric telegraphs which have
intersected all Europe;" of the interest which such a life possesses,
apart from that which attaches to it as that of a noble,
self-sacrificing woman, who was content to serve when she might have led
in a great cause, but few will be insensible.
Caroline Herschel was born on the 16th of March 1750, and was the eighth
child of ten children. Her father, Isaac Herschel, traced his ancestry
back to the early part of the seventeenth century, when three brothers
Herschel left Moravia through religious differences, they being
Protestant. The father, Isaac, was passionately fond of music, to the
study of which, as a youth, he devoted himself, and, at the time of his
marriage in Hanover, was engaged as hautboy player in the band of the
Guards. When, in the course of time, his family grew up around him, each
child received an education at the garrison school, to which they were
sent between the ages of two and fourteen; and at home the father strove
to cultivate the musical talents of his sons, one of whom, William, soon
taught his teacher, while another, Jacob, was organist of the garrison
church.
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