238 Caroline Lncretia Herschel. [1829. 



3 r ou are within a few hours' reach of all who are clear to you 

 (a blessing I never enjoyed throughout all the years of my 

 long life). But I must get in another strain; only when I 

 am writing to you (in particular) I cannot help comparing 

 the country in which I have lived so long, with this in 

 which I must end my days, and which is totally changed 

 since I left it, and not one alive that I knew formerly, 

 except my dear Mrs. Beckedorff ; through her means I have, 

 however, been introduced to many valuable ladies of rank 

 and amiable qualities, but to keep up their acquaintance I 

 urn obliged to. sacrifice my ease and required quiet, which I 

 have still vanity enough to do sometimes. 



A fortnight ago I paid my respects to the Landgrafin of 

 Hesse-Homburg (who looks younger and handsomer than 

 when we saw her as a bride at Slough the day before she 

 left Windsor); it was by her desire I made the visit, and I 

 was honoured with a salute at parting, by way of showing 

 we were friends (as she was pleased to say), and a desire to 

 repeat my visit soon. 



.... I wish also to know on what subject the late 

 Alex. Stewart may have wrote, for that he was an author I 

 know, but I never saw any of his works and might most 

 likely not have understood them, for you know I had no 

 time to read anything for my improvement, but was obliged 

 to be poring for ever over astronomical tables and cata- 

 logues, &c. 



Another thing I wish Miss B. to inform me of. The 

 30th November the Royal Society opens with choosing their 

 President and Council ; I wish for a list of their names, and 

 likewise of the next change of the Astronomical Society of 

 London. But do not wonder at my being so inquisitive 

 about these things. I cannot think of anything else which 

 could interest me more than to see the names of learned 

 men on paper, especially when I see any of those I have 



