FROM J. F. W. HERSCHEL TO MISS HERSCHEL.
London, December, 1824.
Dear Aunt,—
My mother and self received your welcome letter, and so far from finding, as you seem to fear, the details you enter into tedious, I assure you we found them highly interesting. The sacrifices you have individually made for your family are above all praise. It would ill become me, who am a rich man (I mean in that sense only in which any man can truly be called rich,—having enough to satisfy all my moderate and rational wants), to deprive you of any, the smallest part of your income. On the contrary, it would rather be my duty, were it insufficient, to add to it, but the account you give of your situation, corroborated as it is by what I have myself seen of it, sets at rest all apprehensions on that score.
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I hope the Catalogue of Nebulæ goes on as you wish. I shall have little time now for astronomical observations, being become a resident in London in consequence of taking on myself the duties of Secretary to the Royal Society.
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I have sent the lenses you wished for, and also two prints of the king and queen of the Sandwich Islands, which I would be much obliged to you if you would transmit to Prof. Blumenbach, with my compliments. They are the best that have appeared, and are considered striking likenesses.
1825. Life in Hanover.
MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.