HerscheVs Death. 861 



Sir John Herschel, who, though ten years younger 

 than I am, has gone before me. In him I have lost 

 a dear and affectionate friend, whose advice was in- 

 valuable, and his society a charm. None but those 

 who have lived in his home can imagine the bright- 



o o 



ness and happiness of his domestic life. He never 

 presumed upon that superiority of intellect or the 

 great discoveries which made him one of the most 

 illustrious men of the age ; but conversed cheerfully 

 and even playfully on any subject, though ever 

 ready to give information on any of the various 

 branches of science to which he so largely contri- 

 buted, and which to him were a source of constant 

 happiness. Few of my early friends now remain I 

 am nearly left alone. 



***** 

 We went to pass the summer and autumn 

 at Sorrento, where we led a very quiet but 

 happy life. The villa we lived in was at a short 

 distance from and above the town, quite buried in 

 groves of oranges and lemons, beyond which lay the 

 sea, generally calm and blue, sometimes stormy ; to 

 our left the islands of Ischia and Procida, the Capo 

 Miseno, with Baia, Pozzuoli, and Posilipo ; exactly 

 opposite to us, Naples, then Vesuvius, and all the 

 little towns on that coast, and lastly, to our right, 

 this wonderful panorama was bounded by the fine 



