CHAP, vii.] Letter Baron Humboldt. 337 



express to you the gratification he felt that, by God's grace, 

 your noble life has been a long succession of years free of 

 pain, and that now in your solitude you continue to enjoy 

 the reflected glory of the all-embracing knowledge, the 

 great labours in both hemispheres, and the profoundly 

 penetrating genius of your illustrious nephew, Sir John 

 Herschel. To be had in remembrance by an intellectual 

 and kind-hearted Prince cannot be a matter of indifference 

 to you. He had wished you to receive this little gratifi- 

 cation on your ninety-sixth birthday, and by an unfortunate 

 mistake the date of Caroline Lucre tia Herschel' s birth has 

 been changed from the 16th of March to the 16th of October, 

 and I am the culprit, misled by a misprint in a French 

 history of astronomy. I know I may count upon your in- 

 dulgence and that of your distinguished family in England. 

 I specially deserve such leniency to-day the day on which 

 my young friend, Dr. Galle, assistant astronomer in our 

 Observatory (to the triumph of theoretical astronomy be it 

 said), has discovered the transuranian planet indicated by 

 Leverrier as the cause of the perturbations of Uranus. 



With the deepest respect, 

 I am your most obedient, although illegible, 



ALEXANDER HUMBOLDT. 



Do not trouble yourself to write to the King; I will 

 convey your thanks to him. 



Once more a few lines, begun November 1st, and 

 finished December 3rd, were traced, betraying, now 

 only for the first time, the apprehension that they 

 might be the last, in the words 



Miss Beckedorff shall write for me if I do not get 

 better. Loves to all. 



CAROLINE HERSCHEL. 



