Page:Memoir and correspondence of Caroline Herschel (1876).djvu/33

 contents of which," remains unfinished, and the narrative recommences with: "After reading over many pages, I thought it best to destroy them, and merely to write down what I remember to have passed in our family." Accordingly there is no record of anything preserved during this interval until May, 1760, when the head of the family returned to it for good—broken in health and worn out by hardships to which he was no longer equal, but strong in purpose and devoting himself at once to the musical education of his children and to giving lessons to the numerous pupils who soon came to seek instruction from so excellent a master. Jacob returned for the second time from England at the end of 1759, and obtained the place of first violin in the court orchestra. As usual the appearance of this member of the family caused a general upset of domestic comfort, for

The younger children made great progress under their father's careful training, and with all her propensity for seeing the dark side, the daughter's recollections of this period afford glimpses of a tolerably happy household. If it was "a helpless and distracted family" to which, as she writes, her