SIR,
I have the honor to acknowledge your letter of the 17th acquainting me with your intention of advising the King to grant a pension of £300 per annum from the Civil List to me or Mrs Airy.
I trust you will believe that I am sensible of the flattering terms in which this offer is made, and deeply grateful for the considerate manner in which the principal arrangement is left to my choice, as well as for the freedom from engagement in which your offer leaves me. I beg to state that I most willingly accept the offer. I should prefer that the pension be settled on Mrs Airy (by which I understand that in case of her surviving me the pension would be continued to her during her life, or in the contrary event would cease with her life).
I wish that I may have the good fortune to prove to the world that I do not accept this offer without an implied engagement on my part. I beg leave again to thank you for your attention, and to assure you that the form in which it is conveyed makes it doubly acceptable.
With sincere respect I have the honor to be, Sir,
Your very faithful Servant,
G.B. AIRY.
The Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, Bart.,
First Lord of the Treasury, &c., &c.
WHITEHALL,
Feb. 19th 1835.
SIR,
I will give immediate directions for the preparation of the Warrant settling the Pension on Mrs Airy—the effect of which will be, as you suppose, to grant the Pension to her for her life. I assure you I never gave an official order, which was accompanied with more satisfaction to myself than this.
I have the honor to be, Sir.
Your faithful Servant,
ROBERT PEEL.