How fondly Galileo treasured the letters written him by this daughter of predilection is made known to us by Sister Celeste herself, when she tells him in one of her letters "Resto confusa sentendo ch'ella conservi le mie lettere, e dubito che il grande affeto que mi porta gliele dimonstri piu compita di quello che sono." Op. cit., p. 317.
[245] Op. cit., p. 404.
[246] In the dedication of his Principles of Philosophy he addresses his young friend and pupil in the following words: "Je puis dire avec verité que je ne jamais rencontré que le seul esprit de votre altesse auquel l'un et l'autre"—metaphysics and mathematics—"fût également facile; ce qui fait quo j'ai une très juste raison de l'estimer incomparable."
[247] Geology and Mineralogy Considered with Reference to Natural Theology, by William Buckland, p. xxxvi, London, 1858.
[248] Pasteur, by Mr. and Mrs. Percy Frankland, p. 26 et seq., London, 1898. A French writer referring to this happy discovery expresses himself as follows: "Quand Pasteur trouva le vaccin de charbon, il remonta triomphant de son laboratoire et les larmes lui vinrent aux yeux en embrassant sa femme et sa fille auxquelles annoncait sa victoire." Revue Encyclopédique, p. 20, Jan. 15, 1895.
[249] Memoir and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel, London, 1879, pp. vi and vii, by Mrs. John Herschel. Cf. Chap. IV of this Vol.
[250] The Subjection of Women, pp. 98, 99, London, 1909.
The idea herein expressed is beautifully accentuated in the touching dedication to the author's work On Liberty, which reads as follows:
"To the beloved and deplored memory of her who was the inspirer, and in part the author, of all that is best in my writings—the friend and wife whose exalted sense of truth and right was my strongest incitement, and whose approbation was my chief reward—I dedicate this volume. Like all that I have written for many years, it belongs as much to her as to me; but the work as it stands has had, in a very insufficient degree, the inestimable advantage of her revision, some of the most important portions having been reserved for a more careful re-examination, which they are now never destined to receive. Were I but capable of interpreting to the world one-half the great thoughts and noble feelings which are buried in her grave, I should be the medium of a greater benefit to it than is ever likely to arise from anything I can write, unprompted and unassisted by her all but unrivalled wisdom."
The chivalrous sentiments expressed in this generous tribute by one of the deepest thinkers of his time, to the memory of his noble and gifted life-companion, extravagant as they may seem, are but echoes of similar sentiments often voiced before by the world's greatest leaders of thought and science.