Of her very early childhood one gets the impression that Caroline was a
quiet, modest little maiden, "deeply interested in all the family
concerns," content to be eclipsed by her more brilliant and less patient
elder sister, and overlooked by her thoughtless brothers, toward one of
whom, William, she already began to cherish that deep affection which
she maintained throughout their lives. The lives of this brother and
sister, indeed, in this respect, recall to mind those of Charles and
Mary Lamb. When she was five years old the family life was disturbed by
war, which took away temporarily father and sons, and left the little
girl at home, her mother's sole companion. Her recollections of this
time are very dismal, and may be read at length in the memoir by Mrs.
John Herschel, to which we are indebted for much aid. When she was
seventeen her father died, and the polished education which he had hoped
to give her was supplanted by the rough but useful knowledge which her
mother chose to inculcate in her--an education which was to help to fit
her to earn her bread, and to be of great assistance to her beloved
brother William. He had now for some years been living at Bath, England,
from which he wrote in 1772, proposing that his sister should join him
there to assist him in his musical projects, for he had now become a
composer and director. In August of this year she accomplished a most
adventurous and wearisome journey to London, encountering storms by land
and sea, and on the 28th of the month found herself installed in her
brother's lodgings at Bath.
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