My dearest Niece,—
... Nothing runs in my head but what concerns my family and connections, and I am at present living over again the last eighty-nine years of my existence.... But I will leave off teazing you with these old stories with which I am obliged to amuse myself, for I cannot see to work or read, and must therefore either sleep or scribble, for my visitors come mostly in the forenoon, their evenings being taken up with public amusements or private parties, of which I have not been able to be a partaker these three years, for I see by my account-books it is so many since I left off subscribing to the play. But to please Mrs. Clarke I made the experiment on the 3rd of February, whether I should come home alive after seeing King Charles II. in Wapping, acted at the English Ambassador’s. Mrs. Clarke came about twelve with an invitation from the Honourable Mrs. Edgecombe—their house not containing a room large enough for giving great balls, they contrived this way of entertaining the company. The enclosed playbill will show the rest.
There was no time for consulting milliners, and Mrs. Clarke assisted me in looking out something from what I had worn some years back, cap and all. (N.B.—The latter of my own making.) I must give you here a German saying, if you do not know it, which is, “Einen jeden Narren gefällt seine eigene Cappe!”[[59]] but I cannot say that I was much pleased with mine, I have so very few grey hairs left, which, however, I was told were much admired!
Mrs. C. left me with a promise of sending her chair and servant at three-quarters past seven, and was waiting in an ante-room for me to assist me in getting further, and, indeed, the whole evening she did not withdraw her arm from me till she had put me in my chair again, and the next morning she was with me almost before I was out of bed. The King, Princess of Rüdolstadt, and one of the Princes of Solms were among the company, and I did not come home without receiving their notice. But I shall not venture on such pranks again, I promise you!
* * * * *
As I am writing this I see it will be my birthday, when I shall be ninety-two years, if I live. My nephew’s is the 7th, and he will be fifty, but for all that do not think him to be an old man. His father was fifty-four when he first saw the light....
The King of Prussia left magnificent presents among the courtiers, and Generalin Halkett was here on Sunday, and promised to bring me a snuff-box to look at, which the general has received. I begged she would not, for the ladies wear no pockets, and lose their purses, &c., as I daily hear by the town crier. Their pocketkerchiefs they carry open in their hands, which I think very indelicate; I daresay it is not the fashion in England....
... I would not wish on any account to see either my nephew or you, my dear niece, again in this world, for I could not bear the pain of parting once more; but I trust I shall find and know you in the next. And as long as I can hold a pen, let us, I beg, commune with one another by letter!
MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL.
Hanover, June 2, 1842.