to him that the flint-lens had been a little
shattered in Cauchaix's shop and required regrinding: finally on
Dec. 17th I announced its arrival at Cambridge.--In the Planetary
Reductions, I find that I employed one computer (Glaisher) for 34
weeks.--In November the Lalande Medal was awarded to me by the French
Institut, and Mr Pentland conveyed it to me in December.--On March
14th I gave the Cambridge Philosophical Society a Paper, 'Continuation
of researches into the value of Jupiter's Mass.' On Apr. 14th, 'On the
Latitude of Cambridge Observatory.' On June 13th, 'On the position of
the Ecliptic,' and 'On the Solar Eclipse of 1833,' to the Royal
Astronomical Society. On Nov. 24th, 'On Computing the Diffraction of
an Object Glass,' to the Cambridge Society. And on Dec. 3rd, 'On the
Calculation of Perturbations,' to the Nautical Almanac: this Paper was
written at Keswick between Aug. 22nd and 29th.--I also furnished Mr
Sheepshanks with investigations regarding the form of the pivots of
the Cape Circle."

1835

"On Jan. 9th 1835 I was elected correspondent of the French Academy;
and on Jan. 26th Mr Pentland sent me _L12. 6s._, the balance of the
proceeds of the Lalande Medal Fund.--I prepared my Paper for Smith's
Prizes, and joined in the Examination as usual.

"There had been a very sudden change of Administration, and Sir
R. Peel was now Prime Minister as First Lord of the Treasury, and Lord
Lyndhurst was Lord Chancellor. On Jan. 19th I wrote to Lord
Lyndhurst, asking him for a Suffolk living for my brother William,
which he declined to give, though he remembered my application some
years later. Whether my application led to the favour which I shortly
received from the Government, I do not know. But, in dining with the
Duke of Sussex in the last year, I had been introduced to Sir R. Peel,
and he had conversed with me a long time, and appeared to have heard
favourably of me. On Feb. 17th he wrote to me an autograph letter
offering a pension of _L300_ per annum, with no terms of any kind, and
allowing it to be settled if I should think fit on my wife. I wrote
on Feb. 18th accepting it for my wife. In a few days the matter went
through the formal steps, and Mr Whewell and Mr Sheepshanks were
nominated trustees for my wife. The subject came before Parliament, by
the Whig Party vindicating their own propriety in having offered me
the office of Astronomer Royal in the preceding year; and