Page:Memoir and correspondence of Caroline Herschel (1876).djvu/23

 The family group to which Miss Herschel's autobiography introduces us consisted of— (4) 3. Frederic William, born 15th November, 1738. (6) 4. John Alexander, born 13th November, 1745. (8) 5. Carolina Lucretia, born 16th March, 1750; and (10) 6. The little Dietrich, born 13th September, 1755.
 * 1) Sophia Elizabeth, born in 1733. [Afterwards Mrs. Griesbach.]
 * 2) Henry Anton Jacob, born 20th November, 1734.

With the exception of frequent absences from home which attendance on a regiment made inevitable, the family life went on smoothly enough for some years, the father taking every opportunity, when at home, to cultivate the musical talents of his sons, who depended for the ordinary routine of education on the garrison school, to which all the children went from the age of two to fourteen. Here the splendid talents of William early displayed themselves, and the master confessed that the pupil had soon got beyond his teacher. Although four years younger than Jacob, when the two brothers had lessons in French, the younger had mastered the language in half the time needed by the elder, and he in some measure satisfied his eager desire for