J. F. W. HERSCHEL TO MISS HERSCHEL.
26, Lower Phillimore Place,
Jan. 14, 1829.
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.
Your affectionate nephew,
J. F. W. Herschel.
1829. On her Nephew’s marriage.
MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL.