* * * * *
* * * * *
TO SIR J. F. W. HERSCHEL, BART.
April, 1843.
My dearest Nephew!—
Many thanks for your dear letter, which I found on my breakfast-table on the morning of the 16th March,[[63]] ... when the Crown Prince and Princess were announced. Mrs. Clarke, who just came in, assisted me to entertain the royal and interesting pair for nearly an hour. They came in arm in arm, carrying an immense bouquet before them, which I heard afterwards they were returning with from the hothouses at Herrnhausen. As soon as the Princess was placed on the sofa, and I beside the same, the Crown Prince drew a chair close to me, chatting and joining in our conversation. I could not help giving the Princess the lines of your letter to read, where you mention them so prettily, and presenting her with “The Walk,” which was lying among the flowers and the open letters before us on the table. It was a little rumpled in the coming, which she said made it the more welcome, as it would remind her of its having once been mine.
I intended to amuse you with the list of the names and titles of all the visitors I had to receive on that day, but you will find them one of these days in my Day-book; and I will only say that it was rather too much to expect me to be civil to upwards of thirty persons in one day, which lasted till evening, so that I had no time to eat a morsel, finding myself seriously ill.
* * * * *
1843. On the Zodiacal Light.
May 4, 1843.