MUTUAL AFFECTION 3 



the early life of thui musician not much i* known 

 beyond the <-"r<l i.y hi* sister MM! fellow - 



( '.ir. lii..- Lurr. *h.-l, written when 



he was pant eighty yean of age, and twenty yean 

 his death. It wan, M she Btyled it, "a linl 



not intend' 



the eyes of an a \\.-rM i.ut j.r. pmvd i'.,r her 



iguished nephew. Sir .I.lm th. 

 A illiam Heneliel. 1 



; story of difficulties overcome in the punn 

 knowledge, difficulties that were then almost insuper- 

 able, of the devoted love with which she helped to 

 smooth his path to fame, and of the moral beauty 

 which ennobled her brothers life. An affection so 



ting between brother and sister is far from an 



uncommon thing in the records of mankind, but it 



xluced rich, r fruit Off shone with brighter 



lustre than in the lives of William Herschel and hi- 



sister Caroli 



\Villiam ! 1, although hi- dropped 



the name Frederick in England after 1758, till it 

 reappeared in his son's name in 1792, the fourth of a 



iy of ten children, was born on November 15, 

 1738. His sister, Caroline Lucre tia, the eighth of the 

 family, was born on March 16, 1750. She was thus 

 nearly twelve yean his junior, an interval sufficient to 

 surround the elder of the two with the haze of romance 

 in the eyes of the younger. Between them there was 

 a strong attachment, from the time the little sister 

 could show or express her feelings. From infancy to 



_:e he was "the best and dearest of brothers"; 

 his son was her pet, her dearest nephew; and both 

 were worthy of her affection. The dependence of a 



