MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL.
Hanover, July 10, 1827.
My dear Lady Herschel,—
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It makes my heart overflow with gratitude when I see so many worthy people remember me with kindness, and I particularly rejoice that Mrs. Morsom has borne her misfortunes with such resignation so as to be still able to participate in the society of her friends; of which I am, alas! through the great distance, entirely cast out, and am obliged to trust alone to myself for keeping up my spirits, and to bear pain and sickness, or feel pleasure without having anybody to participate in my feelings. Out of my family connections, however, I can boast to possess the esteem and love of all who are great and good in Hanover, but to a lonely old woman, who is seldom able to go into or receive company, this does not compensate for the want of sympathising relations.
But I have now, by change of apartments, made myself quite independent of anybody. As long as I can do something for myself this will do very well; but I must not meet troubles at a distance. I may, perhaps, be spared a long confinement before I leave this world, else such a thing as a trusty servant is, I believe, hardly to be met with in this city, which, along with the people in it, are so altered since the French occupation and the return of the military with their extravagant and dissipated notions, imbibed when in Spain and England, with their great pensions, which they draw from the latter country, that it is quite a new world, peopled with new beings, to what I left it in 1772. Added to this comes the fear of having my new little English bed (which on my removal I made with my own hands) burnt before I am aware; for, figure to yourself what danger one continually must be exposed to, when, in the house where I live, seven families (besides the floor my sister-in-law and I occupy) with their servants and children, are living, and their firing wood and turf is all carried over our heads. About a month before Easter a great brewery, very near us, burnt down, with many surrounding houses, to the ground. I looked out of the window, and the burning flakes fell on my forehead; besides this, I have had four times the fright of fires at some greater distance.
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Your most affectionate Sister,
C. Herschel.
MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.