He never recollected the eight years’ care and attention he had received from his father, but for ever murmured at having received too scanty an education, though he had the same schooling we all of us had had before him.

I ought to remember here, I suppose it was in the year 1818, or perhaps earlier, your father wished to draw up the biographical memorandum you have in your possession. But finding himself much at a loss for the dates of the month, or even the year when he first arrived in England with his brother Jacob, I offered to bring some events to his recollection by telling what I remembered having passed at home during the two years his brother was with him, with the proviso not to criticize on telling my story in my own way. But not being very positive about the exact date when my eldest brother returned, I wrote to my brother D. for the date when Jacob entered the orchestra, and found not to have been much out in my reckoning. And from that time on, your father became more settled, and could have recourse to the heads of his compositions, &c., &c., for the dates he wanted for his purpose.

Of all that follows I do not remember to have shown him a single line. But as I had once begun the subject I did not know how or where to leave off, and went on, thinking my brother D. might some time or other profit by getting better acquainted with what had passed in our family before his time, and during his infancy, till the death of his father, which happened when D. was in his twelfth year, of which, from the conversation I had with him during the four years between 1809 and 1813, when last in England, I found he had not the least notion, or had purposely formed a very erroneous one.

But in the last hope of finding in Dietrich a brother to whom I might communicate all my thoughts of past, present, and future, I saw myself disappointed the very first day of our travelling on land. For let me touch on what topic I would, he maintained the contrary, which I soon saw was done merely because he would allow no one to know anything but himself.... Of course, about these papers I could never have any conversation with him nor anybody else, and I send them to you for your perusal, because I do not wish to keep them any longer, and you may put them in the fire after having read them over.

... Of Dr. Olbers, I hear frequently through a sister and niece here at Hanover; the last was that he was lamenting at Captain Müller not having brought the paper you had intended for him; the poor man, I hear, is grown corpulent and short-breathed, so that he cannot mount up to his observatory without difficulty.

I heard from Capt. Müller (what I had been thinking before) that poor Encke has not changed his situation for the better. I do not mean with regard to income, for I believe his salary is four or five thousand thalers per year, which is equal, or even more, than that of a Prime Minister; but he has no instruments. Much is promised, but he gets nothing; and besides, his family is settled in Götha. It is a pity such a man should be obliged to be idle.

In my last to your dear mother I wrote nearly all I had to say about myself, except what concerns my health, of which I could not give a very good account. Lately I was obliged to consult an oculist, but I suppose he cannot help me, for he has not ordered me anything. I cannot, after having been asleep, get my eyes open again for a considerable time, this is attended with a violent headache and giddiness—but no more of this.

Once you were asking me if I wanted a few of my Indexes; if it is not too late (as you have given up the secretaryship), I would be glad of a couple. N.B.—A hundred copies were promised me as a present, and were not half of them received. The one I have by me, which is intended for you, with my corrections in it, is spoilt in the binding; and I should like to give one to the Duke of Cambridge, to put him in mind of the little old woman who has so frequently been cheered by his kind attentions.

My dear Lady Herschel,

This is to be a letter of thanks, but I cannot determine to whom I am to allot the greatest portion of my thanks, to you or Miss Baldwin, for her agreeable letter of April 15th, in which so many interesting friends and acquaintances of mine are remembered. For, believe me, my dear Lady H., it is ever with great reluctance I am yearly drawing on you for so considerable a sum, which in the end must some time or other be felt by my dear nephew; but who would have thought it, that I should last so long? but now I am losing strength daily, and I cannot expect to be long for this world. I only say this by way of putting you in mind that I received my annuity at the beginning of the first half-year, and therefore when you hear of my death all your care on my account must be at an end, for I leave a sufficient sum to defray all possible expenses attending a funeral, &c.

But there is nothing grieves me more than that, at my leaving England, I gave myself, with all I was worth, to this branch of my family, believing them (from what my brother D. and their letters told me) as many noble-hearted and perfect beings as there were individuals. But though I am disappointed, I should not like to take back my promise, which could not be done without creating ill-will, and I am too feeble to bear up against any altercation.

I see I have not left room for all the loves and compliments, but I beg you will give them to whoever is kind enough to remember,

In February, 1828, Miss Herschel’s services to the Science of Astronomy were recognized by the presentation to her of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Dear Aunt,—

Herewith you will receive the medal, of whose award you will have read in the printed notice I enclosed you some ten days ago. My mother also begs your acceptance of a pair of bracelets, and begs me to thank you for your kind and beautiful present of needlework (which even I could admire), and for the mettwursts (which I fully comprehended, and part of which I still comprehend, having regaled on one for breakfast). My mother and cousin are quite well, and desire their best love. Slough stands where it did, and star-gazing goes on well. I have just erected a new instrument (Mr. South’s ci-devant large equatorial), and you shall hear from time to time what is doing....

The presentation of the medal is the natural duty of the president of the society, but as Mr. Herschel held that office on this occasion, and had with characteristic modesty “resisted,” as he confesses, the proposed honour, the following supplemental address was delivered by Mr. South, the vice-president, who presented the medal to Miss Herschel through her nephew. It is an eloquent and not unworthy tribute, and an interesting memorial of the esteem in which she was held by the most distinguished body of scientific men in the kingdom.

Address to the Astronomical Society, by J. South, Esq., on presenting the Honorary Medal to Miss C. Herschel, at its Eighth General Meeting, February 8th, 1828.

Gentlemen,—

Our excellent president, in his address, has informed you of the appropriation of two of your gold medals since our last anniversary:—a third, however, has been decreed by your council; and when it is known that Miss Caroline Herschel is the individual to whom it stands adjudged, it is not difficult to determine why the president has avoided the slightest allusion to it.

But that your Council has not selected one from the many of its members infinitely more competent to do justice to the transcendent merits of that illustrious lady is most assuredly matter of regret. I must therefore throw myself upon your indulgence, hoping that the goodness of the cause may in some measure compensate for the inability of its advocate.

The labours of Miss Herschel are so intimately connected with, and are generally so dependent upon, those of her illustrious brother, that an investigation of the latter is absolutely necessary ere we can form the most remote idea of the extent of the former. But when it is considered that Sir W. Herschel’s contributions to astronomical science occupy sixty-seven memoirs, communicated from time to time to the Royal Society, and embrace a period of forty years, it will not be expected that I should enter into their discussion. To the Philosophical Transactions I must refer you, and shall content myself with the hasty mention of some of her more immediate claims to the distinction now conferred. To deliver an eulogy (however deserved) upon his memory is not the purpose for which I am placed here.

His first catalogue of new nebulæ and clusters of stars, amounting in number to one thousand, was made from observations with the twenty-foot reflector in the years 1783, 1784, and 1785. A second thousand was furnished by means of the same instrument in 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788; while the places of 500 others were discovered between 1788 and 1802. But when we have thus enumerated the results obtained in the course of sweeps with this instrument, and taken into consideration the extent and variety of the other observations which were at the same time in progress, a most important part yet remains untold. Who participated in his toils? Who braved with him the inclemency of the weather? Who shared his privations? A female. Who was she? His sister. Miss Herschel it was who by night acted as his amanuensis: she it was whose pen conveyed to paper his observations as they issued from his lips; she it was who noted the right ascensions and polar distances of the objects observed; she it was who, having passed the night near the instrument, took the rough manuscripts to her cottage at the dawn of day and produced a fair copy of the night’s work on the following morning; she it was who planned the labour of each succeeding night; she it was who reduced every observation, made every calculation; she it was who arranged everything in systematic order; and she it was who helped him to obtain his imperishable name.

But her claims to our gratitude end not here; as an original observer she demands, and I am sure she has, our unfeigned thanks. Occasionally her immediate attendance during the observations could be dispensed with. Did she pass the night in repose? No such thing: wherever her brother was, there you were sure to find her. A sweeper planted on the lawn became her object of amusement; but her amusements were of the higher order, and to them we stand indebted for the discovery of the comet of 1786, of the comet of 1788, of the comet of 1791, of the comet of 1793, and of the comet of 1795, since rendered familiar to us by the remarkable discovery of Encke. Many also of the nebulæ contained in Sir W. Herschel’s catalogues were detected by her during these hours of enjoyment. Indeed, in looking at the joint labours of these extraordinary personages, we scarcely know whether most to admire the intellectual power of the brother, or the unconquerable industry of the sister.

In the year 1797 she presented to the Royal Society a Catalogue of 560 stars taken from Flamsteed’s observations, and not inserted in the British Catalogue, together with a collection of errata that should be noticed in the same volume.

Shortly after the death of her brother, Miss Herschel returned to Hanover. Unwilling, however, to relinquish her astronomical labours whilst anything useful presented itself, she undertook and completed the laborious reduction of the places of 2,500 nebulæ, to the 1st of January, 1800, presenting in one view the results of all Sir William Herschel’s observations on those bodies, thus bringing to a close half a century spent in astronomical labour.

For this more immediately, and to mark their estimation of services rendered during a whole life to astronomy, your Council resolved to confer on her the distinction of a medal of this Society. The peculiarity of our President’s situation, however, and the earnest manner in which the feelings naturally arising from it were urged when the subject was first brought forward, caused your Council to pause,—and waive on that occasion the actual passing their proposed vote. The discussion was, however, renewed on Monday last, and, although there was every disposition to meet the President’s wishes, still under a conviction that the actual doing so would have been a dereliction of public duty, it was

Resolved unanimously, “That a Gold Medal of this Society be given to Miss Caroline Herschel, for her recent reduction, to January, 1800, of the Nebulæ discovered by her illustrious brother, which may be considered as the completion of a series of exertions probably unparalleled either in magnitude or importance in the annals of astronomical labour.” This vote I am sure every one whom I have the honour to address will most heartily confirm.

Mr. Herschel, in the name of the Astronomical Society of London, I present this medal to your illustrious aunt. In transmitting it to her, assure her that since the foundation of this Society, no one has been adjudged which has been earned by services such as hers. Convey to her our unfeigned regret that she is not resident amongst us; and join to it our wishes, nay our prayers, that as her former days have been glorious, so her future may be happy.^[37]

Extract from the Report of the Council of the Astronomical Society to the Annual Meeting, Feb. 13, 1835.^[38]

“Your Council has no small pleasure in recommending that the names of two ladies, distinguished in different walks of astronomy, be placed on the list of honorary members. On the propriety of such a step, in an astronomical point of view, there can be but one voice; and your Council is of opinion that the time is gone by when either feeling or prejudice, by whichever name it may be proper to call it, should be allowed to interfere with the payment of a well-earned tribute of respect. Your Council has hitherto felt that, whatever might be its own sentiment on the subject, or however able and willing it might be to defend such a measure, it had no right to place the name of a lady in a position the propriety of which might be contested, though upon what it might consider narrow grounds and false principles. But your Council has no fear that such a difference could now take place between any men whose opinion could avail to guide that of society at large; and, abandoning compliment on the one hand, and false delicacy on the other, submits, that while the tests of astronomical merit should in no case be applied to the works of a woman less severely than to those of a man, the sex of the former should no longer be an obstacle to her receiving any acknowledgment which might be held due to the latter. And your Council therefore recommends this meeting to add to the list of honorary members the names of Miss Caroline Herschel and Mrs. Somerville, of whose astronomical knowledge, and of the utility of the ends to which it has been applied, it is not necessary to recount the proofs....”^[39]

Dear Aunt,—

... Before this reaches you, you will have got it [the medal]. Pray let me be well understood on one point. It was none of my doings. I resisted strenuously. Indeed, being in the situation I actually hold,^[40] I could do no otherwise. The Society have done well. I think they might have done better, but my voice was neither asked nor listened to.

I ought to mention that it became a matter of discussion at the Royal Society whether one of the Royal medals for the year should not be adjudged to you, but the rule limiting the time within which those medals must be granted being precise, it could not be done without a violation of principle.

I have sent by Mr. G. a few copies of a work of mine on Light, for you to distribute. I shall by the next opportunity (possibly by this) send some copies of a third catalogue of double stars, completing the first 1,000. The nebulæ are advancing rapidly; I have got about 1,500 re-observed.

My dearest Nephew,—

And I must once more repeat my thanks to you (and perhaps to Mr. South) for thinking so well of me as to exert yourselves for having the great and undeserved and unexpected honour of a medal bestowed on me....

Here I was interrupted, and all along of the medal; for my friends are all coming to congratulate me, and leave me no time to think of what to say of myself; but I will soon write again, and for the present will only beg that you (or Miss Baldwin, for I dare say she knows,) will give me the history of the medal, such as whose head it is which is on the one side? (I know who it is like very well) and if the impression is to be permanent?

Next, I wish to know if you, or the Royal Society, or the Observatory at Greenwich (the latter I think must be) are in communication with the Imperial astronomer Littrow? If you have seen any of the publications which are yearly printed at the expense of the Emperor, I could wish, if it is not too much trouble to you, to know what you think of the work; because Count Rupfstein, Chargé d’Affaires, sent me the copy (which was to go to Göttingen) to look at, and since then he wants my opinion about it. And I know no more about it than that it is a book printed on fine paper, large folio, of 195 pages, with seven plates of the New Observatory made out of the old one, built at the top of the seventh story of the University at Vienna, a description of the store of instruments, thirty-five articles including rules, two spirit-levels and a case of drawing instruments; tables of precession, aberration, and nutation of ninety-four of the principal stars for the beginning of the year 1835; but I forgot the rest; but so much I remember, that the whole book is filled with these ninety-four stars, of which I cannot comprehend the use, but I say nothing about it, and hum and ha when the good man begins to talk about it. Dear nephew, adieu!

I have but just time to thank my dear Lady Herschel, in the first place of giving me the great pleasure of seeing her own handwriting once more, which to me continues much plainer than all the beautiful new-fashioned Italian hands. Secondly, I return my best thanks for the beautiful bracelets; I am going to let them be admired this evening, as I am obliged (though very unwell) to go to a tea-party, and it will be no small trouble to me to make myself fine enough for not disgracing your present.

When next I write I hope I shall not be hurried so, and be able to tell you how it goes here at Hanover. Last week I heard five songs by Madame Catalani at the theatre here; but of this, more in my next.

Dearest Nephew,—

I have but just time to write a few lines to accompany the Journals Nos. II. and III., therefore I must beg you to excuse the unconnected manner in which I am writing, for it must require some time before I, and many a one beside me, will recover from the fright we were put in on the 21st, at three o’clock in the afternoon, by a thunderstorm, accompanied with a shower of hail of such an uncommon size as weighing three quarters of a pound; some speak of still larger. I, of course, could only judge of them at a distance by the look, as my carpet was covered by them of all sizes and shapes; I noticed one in particular of the form of a bottle of india-rubber (as it looks before the neck is cut off), but was at the time incapable of going near enough, for I was obliged to keep out of the direction where they entered, forcing the fragments of glass to my sofa (where I was just going to take my solitary dinner) at the opposite end of the room, which is twenty-one feet distant from the window. The houses look deplorable, and the streets are still glittering with powdered glass. Expresses were sent instantly by the magistrates in all directions to the neighbouring towns and glass-houses for workmen and materials. I have been fortunate enough to get my lodging-room mended after lying only two nights without anything but a shutter.

Our gardens and country houses about Hanover have had the same fate. This happened the day before a Volks Fest, which the Hanoverian Bürgers keep for three days yearly, and for which all preparations were made, and is now by many kept with a heavy heart.

But I must not lose this opportunity of mentioning what I forgot in my last, which is to beg you will (when I am no more) take my medal under your protection, and give it a place among those you have of your father’s and your own. I will take care that it shall be delivered to you along with those books which I keep yet as companions, though it is seldom I can look into them, for most of my time I am obliged to waste in lying on the sofa, where I try to forget myself by reading nonsense, over which I soon go to sleep.

I have the two dullest months before me, for the plays and concerts do not begin again till autumn; all families are either gone to the baths or at their villas, &c. My friends are all some dozen years younger than myself, and I cannot always, or but seldom, accept their invitations. Hauptmann Müller took twice tea with me since Christmas. He heard from Encke that a great astronomical meeting was to take place at Berlin, to which Mr. South had been invited; if there should be any truth in this, and that you and Mr. South were inseparables, I might hope to see you once more; but I must not think of anything at the distance, agitations I cannot bear any longer, I only exist by attempting to be indifferent about all human events, and hardly anything can yet give me pleasure but to hear that you, my dear nephew, and those who are dear to you, are well and happy.

My dear Nephew,—

What you tell me in the short note dated May 24th, which accompanied the three copies of my Index, concerning the medal, has completely put me out of humour with the same; for to say the truth, I felt from the first more shocked than gratified by that singular distinction, for I know too well how dangerous it is for women to draw too much notice on themselves. And the little pleasure I felt at the receipt of the few lines by your hands, was entirely owing to the belief that what was done was both with your approbation and according to your recommendation. Throughout my long-spent life I have not been used or had any desire of having public honours bestowed on me; and now I have but one wish, that I may take your good opinion with me into my grave.

I have no time or inclination to think much on this subject, else I could say a great deal about the clumsy speech of the V. P. Whoever says too much of me says too little of your father! and only can cause me uneasiness.

Mr. South I have seen only twice, or perhaps three times, and that was in yours and your dear father’s presence, and to all conversation between you and Mr. South I could only be a listener, and, seeing you so well agree together I congratulated myself on your having found a friend possessing much knowledge of what passes in common life, of which a young and deep mathematician and philosopher has had no time of laying in a great stock.

I heard you would make a visit to Struve at Dorpat this summer together, and I concluded I should then have had a call on the way home. But on that account I feel now relieved from the painful prospect of a final parting from you once more, though it will cost me many melancholy hours to bring that to paper which I yet wish for you to know. But I am too much destroyed at present to explain myself any further, and will only say that by the Michaelmas messenger I will send every scrap of paper which I have yet kept solely for my amusement and for assisting my memory. You may look them over at some leisure [time] and then destroy them; for I go not one night to bed but thinking it may be the last of my life.... I have a numerous and valuable acquaintance, but I keep all my difficulties to myself, for I was ever careful not to injure a relation, or one with whom I am connected, in the opinion of others, by saying what I think of them.

I must prepare to pay a visit at the villa of a friend of mine where I have twice this summer refused an invitation.

So, God bless you, my dearest nephew, and be assured of my affectionate regard.

My dear Aunt,—

I received your most valuable diary and all the papers you sent me by Mr. Goltermann quite safe, and I most sincerely thank you for them. You speak of “exposing yourself” by presenting them to me, but I am so far from considering it in that light, that I feel proud to possess them, and if anything could increase the regard and esteem I entertain for their writer, it would have been their perusal. Your promised Christmas “scraps and lucubrations” will not be less welcome.

The Journals also came safe and well to hand, but in the series you have sent me I cannot find that for December, 1827, which prevents my binding up the set. If you can procure this and enclose it with the next, I shall be very glad.

I trust to my cousin Mary for telling you all the news of family matters. Astronomy goes on pretty well. My sweeps accumulate. I am very sorry that anything I said should have put you out of humour with the medal, which was a well-merited distinction, and so far as the Astronomical Society is concerned, most honourably conferred. All voices are agreed on that, and on the propriety of the thing, so pray don’t suffer yourself to be put out of conceit with it by my nonsense, which after all only went to the manner, not the matter. Our friend S. means well, but wants discretion.

My dear Aunt,—

I received your two letters at once, and I cannot enough thank you for the kind consideration which prompted your offer, for I will not yet call it your gift, as I cannot really consent to such a robbery. If you are bent on giving me something truly valuable—infinitely more so than money, which (though I am not rich, and am now less so by some annual hundreds than I was, and am about voluntarily^[41] to incur a still further diminution of income) yet, thank God, I am in want of nothing and would rather spare to you than let you spare to me. But if you want to give me what I shall really prize highly, let it be your portrait in oils of the size of my father’s. Let me send back the money, and employ part of it in engaging a good Hanoverian artist to paint it. You often tell me your time hangs heavy, so here I am furnishing you with a refuge from ennui, and when you know how much pleasure it will give me to see your likeness hanging by my father’s, and that you can without inconvenience or difficulty (and now without expense) do it, I entreat you not to refuse. I know what you will urge against it, but you undervalue yourself and your own merits so much that I will not allow it any weight.

My mother is ill with the gout, but I hope it is not going to be a severe fit, as she is already on the mend.

My dear Lady Herschel,—

I long to congratulate you on the happy occasion of seeing your dear son so happily settled, but am almost afraid your late illness ... may have prevented you from being present at the performance of the ceremony on which the future happiness of my dear nephew is so much depending.

I must beg you will thank Miss B. for sparing me so much of her time by her circumstantial accounts of the interesting event, and hope she will continue to write, though I am not able to answer punctually, for I am not free from pain for one hour out of the twenty-four, and so it has been for a long time past with me. N.B.—She mentions my nephew having written me a letter informing me of his future happiness, but such I have not received, and perhaps he may only have intended it, or it is lost....

The following hint is only to you as a dear sister, for as such I now know you:—

All I am possessed of is looked upon as their own, when I am gone; the disposal of my brother’s picture is even denied me—it hangs in Mrs. H.’s drawing-room, where a set of old women play cards under it on her club day....

I have no great matters to leave, a few articles of furniture which I had the trouble to provide myself with (though I paid for furnished lodgings), would not produce a capital if sold. It is only pictures, books, telescopes, globes, &c., I regret should come into hands of those who know not the value of them; but Miss Beckedorff will take my sweeper under her protection; but enough of this.... I hope, above all, to have soon the pleasure to hear that you will hold out with me now that we are entering on our eightieth year.

But as long as God pleases I shall remain

My dearest Nephew,—

I have spent four days in vain endeavours to gain composure enough to give you an idea of the joyful sensation Miss B.’s (and your P.S.) letter of February 5th has caused me. But I can at this present moment find no words which would better express my happiness than those which escaped in exclamation from my lips, according to Simeon. See St. Luke, cap. ii., v. 29: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace!”

I have now some hopes of passing the few remainder of my days in as much comfort as the separation from the land where I spent the greatest portion of my life, and from all those which are most dear to me, can admit. For from the description Miss B. has given me of the dear young lady of your choice, I am confident my dear nephew’s future happiness is now established.

I beg you will give my love to your dear lady, and best regards to all your new connections where they are due in the best terms you can think of, for I am at present too unwell for writing all I could wish to say.

I have suffered much during this severe winter, and have not been able to leave my habitation above three or four times for the last three months, and feel, moreover, much fatigued by sitting eight times within the last ten days to Professor Tielemann for having my picture taken, which he did at my apartment, and now he has taken it home to finish. You will receive it with the Easter messenger, but I must send it without frame.... I must conclude, for I wish to say a few words to your dear mother. It is now between eleven and twelve, and perhaps you are at this very moment receiving the blessing of Dr. Jennings, in which I most fervently join by saying, “God bless you both!”

Dearest Nephew,—

I have received my picture; by the enclosed card you will see the name of the artist.... Whatever you may think about my looking so young, I cannot help; for two of the days I was sitting to him, I received the agreeable news from England—one day Lady H.’s likeness was thrown in my lap (Mr. Tielemann taking it out of the box), and four days after, the account of your approaching happiness arrived. No wonder I became a dozen years younger all at once. I was sitting about seven hours in so many days in my own apartments; but there is but one voice, that the picture looks life itself.

I was unwilling to be troublesome with a repetition of the detail of my infirmities, to which I have of late to add cramps and rheumatic complaints, which rob me of many hours’ sleep and the usual nimbleness in walking, which has hitherto gained me the admiration of all who know me; but the good folks are not aware of the arts I make use of, which consist in never leaving my rooms in the daytime, except I am able to trip it along as if nothing were the matter.

I am glad you are removed again to Kensington, where you are within a few hours’ reach of all who are dear to you (a blessing I never enjoyed throughout all the years of my long life). But I must get in another strain; only when I am writing to you (in particular) I cannot help comparing the country in which I have lived so long, with this in which I must end my days, and which is totally changed since I left it, and not one alive that I knew formerly, except my dear Mrs. Beckedorff; through her means I have, however, been introduced to many valuable ladies of rank and amiable qualities, but to keep up their acquaintance I am obliged to sacrifice my ease and required quiet, which I have still vanity enough to do sometimes.

A fortnight ago I paid my respects to the Landgräfin of Hesse-Homburg (who looks younger and handsomer than when we saw her as a bride at Slough the day before she left Windsor); it was by her desire I made the visit, and I was honoured with a salute at parting, by way of showing we were friends (as she was pleased to say), and a desire to repeat my visit soon.

... I wish also to know on what subject the late Alex. Stewart may have wrote, for that he was an author I know, but I never saw any of his works and might most likely not have understood them, for you know I had no time to read anything for my improvement, but was obliged to be poring for ever over astronomical tables and catalogues, &c.

Another thing I wish Miss B. to inform me of. The 30th November the Royal Society opens with choosing their President and Council; I wish for a list of their names, and likewise of the next change of the Astronomical Society of London. But do not wonder at my being so inquisitive about these things. I cannot think of anything else which could interest me more than to see the names of learned men on paper, especially when I see any of those I have known among them. Besides, as in December our concerts begin, where the Duke of Cambridge, on seeing me, generally makes some inquiry after my nephew and family, and what is going on in the philosophical world, one does not always like to stand with one’s mouth open, or to say I cannot tell!...

Mrs. and Miss Beckedorff send their kind love....

Mr. Q., 63, he owns himself, marries a young lady in her teens, but she owns 23; she could not withstand his pretty equipage. He is grown very old and nasty, and good for nothing but to injure his children and grand-children.

My dearest Nephew,—

I am sorry it was not in my power to send a letter by way of announcing the Journals, &c., which you will, I hope, receive soon by the messenger who left Hanover the 27th of December. I have been very ill and confined to my room now three weeks, but it seems der Würg Engel^[42] ist noch einmal vorüber gegangen, at which I am very glad, because I wish to be a little better prepared for making my exit than I am at present.

I intend to amuse myself between this and Easter with collecting and packing up those books which were to be sent to you after my death, and perhaps if I have withstood this terrible winter I may have the pleasure of hearing that you have received them safe, and live in the enjoyment of a few months more, in which I hope to hear of the happy increase to your family, and prosperity in general.

So I am to be godmother! with all my heart! I am now so enured to receiving honours in my old age, that I take them all upon me without blushing....

Jan. 12th.—No letter for me yet! and no news, except that the Landgräfin of Hesse-Homburg sent me yesterday a very handsome fur mantle to wear when I go to the play, with a message that if I did not put it on, by way of saving it, the next thing she sent me would be a rod. I am accused of having been clothed too thin, for which I have been suffering these last three weeks.... I will give my opinion, and in style of a critic, and you will find yourself not to come off quite free from blame. You have represented me as a goddess, whereas I have done nothing but what I believe to be right; and wherever I did wrong, it was because I knew no better!