TO SIR JOHN FREDERICK WILLIAM HERSCHEL, 



K.G.H. 



My dear Heuschel, 



It is with no common pleasure that I take up my pen to ded- 

 icate these volumes to you. They are the result of trains of thought 

 which have often been the subject of our conversation, and of which 

 the origin goes back to the period of our early companionship at the 

 Tniversity. And if I had ever wavered in my purpose of combining 

 such reflections and researches into a whole, I should have derived a 

 renewed impulse and increased animation from your delightful Dis- 

 course on a kindred subject. For I could not have read it without 

 finding this portion of philosophy invested with a fresh charm; and 

 though I might be well aware that I could not aspire to that large 

 share of popularity which your work so justly gained, I should still 

 have reflected, that something was due to the subject itself, and should 

 have hoped that my own aim was so far similar to yours, that the 

 present work might have a chance of exciting an interest in some of 

 vour readers. That it will interest you, I do not at all hesitate to be- 

 lie VI'. 



If you were now in England I should stop here : but when a friend 

 is removed for years to a far distant land, we seem to acquire a right 

 to speak openly of his good qualities. I cannot, therefore, prevail 

 upon myself to lay down my pen without alluding to the affectionate 

 admiration of your moral and social, as well as intellectual excellencies, 

 which springs up in the hearts of your friends, whenever you are 

 thought of. They are much delighted to look upon the halo of de- 

 served fame which plays round your head ; but still more, to recollect, 



