CHAP, viz.] Misfortunes of Friends. 311 



MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL. 



April 5, 1840. 



MY DEAREST NIECE ! 



Your delightful letter of March 8th, which I received 

 about a week after that of iny dea'r nephew, could never 

 have come at a more needful time for chasing away the 

 melancholy impressions my friends' losses and misfortunes 

 have had on my spirits. On the 7th of March Dr. Muhry 

 came to wish me joy on my nephew's birthday. Nine days 

 after, when they all used to come and bring me flowers, 

 &c., the whole family were thrown into despair by the death 

 of Dr. C. M., who died by his own hands (thirty-four 

 years old). About a week before I had spent an evening 

 with him at his grandmother's, when he begged me to thank 

 my nephew once more for giving him a letter of introduction 



to Dr. , at Oxford. This poor man was spoiled by 



being made too much of from his infancy. As a boy of 

 seven or eight, he was brought to England to visit his 

 grandmother and aunt, and was loaded with costly presents 

 by the Princesses, and fed with nothing but dainties, till, 

 when grown up, nothing but what was most extravagant 



would satisfy him. The 30th of March our friend P 



was buried, eighty-three years old. On my birthday a cir- 

 cular letter came by post, announcing Dr. Olbers's death. 

 So, I must say once more, my nephew's and your dear letter 

 came very seasonably to turn my thoughts to something 

 more cheering 



Now I am in two minds whether I shall turn to my dear 

 niece or have done with you first. But out with it ! I would, 

 if you have no objection, draw on Mr. Drummond for '52, 



Slough, by the present tenant, Mr. Montressor, who has spared no pains 

 to do honour to the relics as well as to keep up the character of the old 

 fashioned "habitation," which owes much to the taste and judgment he has 

 ),estowed on it. 



