Annual Address to tJie Members. ' Ixix 



long time that I have trespassed on your patience. If I have done 

 so it is through my desire to do homage to the hves and v^ork of the 

 great men who have laboured before me. The difficulties, the hard- 

 ships and disappointments they have experienced have not been 

 encountered in vain. The v^ork that despite all obstacles they 

 accomplished stands now, and ever will stand, a memorial of their 

 ability and devotion, and a precious bequest to science. They have 

 paved the way to lighten these difficulties for their successors, whose 

 lives now lie in pleasant places. Official coldness or neglect I have 

 never known ; on the contrary, my proposals have, at the hands of 

 the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, always met with com- 

 plete consideration and efficient support during the twenty-three 

 years I have had the honour to serve them. The Observatory itself 

 now forms one of the most beautiful of the many lovely homes on 

 the Cape Peninsula, and when health fails for the efficient discharge 

 of my duty there, I will take my departure from it with loving 

 memory of the many happy days spent under its roof, of the faithful 

 and cordial support of my subordinates, and of the good and true 

 friends who have visited me within its walls. 



