Sir,

I am almost at a loss how to express my thanks sufficiently for the kind visit with which you honoured me when last in Hanover, for not only the wish of seeing the man of whom I so often had heard my late brother speak in the highest terms of admiration has been at last gratified, but I flatter myself of having found in you, sir, a friend who will do me the kindness of presenting the works of Flamsteed (published in 1725, with my Index to the Observations contained in his second volume) to the Royal Observatory of the Royal Academy of Göttingen.

The regret I feel at the separation from books which have afforded me so many days interesting employment will be greatly softened by knowing that, referring to the memorandums in the margin of the pages in Flamsteed’s second volume, much time may yet be saved to any astronomer who wishes to consult former observations, and therefore I hope you will pardon the trouble I am thus giving you, and, with the greatest esteem, believe me,

... I know not how it comes that I am so barren of subjects for filling up these pages; my spirits are rather depressed at present on account of my brother’s health, who suffers very frequently much from weakness, so that to combat against infirmities and peevishness (the usual companions of old age) depends entirely on my exertion to bear my share without communication, for unfortunately we are never in the same mind, and with a nervous person of an irritable temper one can only talk of the weather or the flavour of a dish, for which I care not a pin about. But I think I shall do well enough, for I am a subscriber to the plays for two evenings per week, and Thursdays and Saturdays two ladies with long titles are at home. This is what they imagine (I believe) a learned society, or blue-stocking club, of which, to make it complete (for all what I can say), I must make one. I am to have a day too, viz., Tuesday, and I begin to tremble for the end of October, when we are to start, for in the morning I cannot work, and if I gad about all the evenings nothing will be done. But we shall see! one thing I must not forget, there are no gentlemen of the party to set us right; but luckily not much is required,—to talk of Walter Scott, Byron, &c., will go a long way; and I subscribe to an English library, where they have all the monthly reviews and Edinburgh Quarterly, Scott’s works, and a few other novels....

Dear Aunt,—

I have sent by Mr. Goltermann several volumes of Mr. South’s and my paper on double stars, which form the third part of the Philosophical Transactions for 1824. You will, I have no doubt, be gratified to hear that the French Academy of Sciences have thought so well of this work as to give us the prize of astronomy for the present year (a large and handsome gold medal to each of us). Our competitors, it is whispered, were Bessel, Struve, and Pons, the first for his immense catalogue of stars; the second for his observations, also of double stars; the third for his discovery of twenty or thirty comets. Will you, on receiving them, distribute them as follows:—1. Keep the bound copy for yourself; 2. My uncle; 3. M. Harding; 4. M. Gauss; 5. The Royal Society of Göttingen. The three last, I have no doubt, M. Blumenbach will forward. I was gratified some time back by a short note from Professor Blumenbach, from which I find he received the pictures safely.

I have already found your Catalogue of Nebulæ in zones, very useful in my twenty-foot sweeps, and I mean to get it in order for publication by degrees; but it will take a long time, as it will require a great deal of calculation to render it available as a work of reference.

The permission to examine Leibnitz’s MSS. will be very acceptable to me should I again visit Hanover, but of that I have no immediate prospect. A very intimate friend of mine, Mr. James Grahame, talks of taking up his residence at Göttingen for the sake of the library of the University. He is writing a history of America. I shall give him a letter to Professor Blumenbach, and shall beg you to introduce him to his son, Regierungsrath B., and perhaps Dr. Groskopf will make him acquainted with Dr. Koch, of the Royal Library at Hanover, who may be able to assist him in his researches.... If there is anything in England you wish for, or that you cannot get so well in Hanover, pray name it, and I will make a point of procuring it....

I have not been doing much in the astronomical way of late—but, en revanche, Mr. South has been hard at work, and has sent a second paper of 460 double stars to the Royal Society. He is returned from Paris, and is now busy erecting an observatory, as he means to stay six months in England, and cannot be so long without star-gazing. I enclose a little thing which I published in Schumacher’s Astronomische Nachrichten which may interest you. Shortly I shall have the pleasure to transmit you some papers on the longitude of Paris, and on the parallax of the fixed stars, which I have now in hand. Do not suppose that I pretend to have discovered parallax, but if it exists to a sensible amount, I think it cannot long remain undiscovered if anybody can be found to put into execution the method I am about to propose, and I hope it will be taken up by astronomers in general.

I have so far perfected the system of sweeping with the twenty-foot that I can now make sure of the polar distances of objects to within 1ʹ, and their right ascensions to certainly within 2ʺ of time. I have re-observed a great many of the nebulæ, and in the course of the few sweeps I have made, have discovered many not in your most useful catalogue. But I am now fixed in town for the winter, and have brought up the said catalogue to consider of the best mode of preparing it for publication, if it meets with your approbation.

Mr. South’s later observations strikingly confirm the results obtained by us jointly respecting the revolving stars, and afford new and very remarkable instances in support of my father’s ideas on this subject. Of one pair (the double star ξ Ursa Majoris) I have no doubt we shall soon obtain elliptic elements.

The following is the answer from Professor Gauss to the letter already given:—

Dear Madam,—

Being returned hither a few days ago from a journey that had kept me absent during a month, I found your favour of September 8th, together with your extremely valuable present of Flamsteed’s “Hist. Cœl.,” “Atlas Cœl.,” and your own catalogue. Be assured that I acknowledge your kindness with the most sincere gratitude, and that these works, so precious by themselves, but much more so by the numerous enrichments from your own hand, shall always be considered as the greatest ornament of the library of our Observatory.

I am very sorry that my absence from Göttingen has deprived me of the pleasure of seeing Mr. Grahame, who was calling upon me the same day I had set out for my journey. However, I am glad to understand from your nephew’s letter, which Mr. Grahame has left here, that this gentleman intends to return to Göttingen in the next year.

I cannot express how much I feel happy of having made the personal acquaintance [of one] whose rare zeal and distinguished talents for science are paralleled by the amiability of her character, and I flatter myself that in future, if I find once more an opportunity of staying in Hanover, I shall not be denied the permission to repeat personally the assurance of the high esteem with which I am,

Göttingen, Sept. 28, 1825.