near Keswick, to be present at the marriage of his
second son Hubert to Miss S. C. Langton, daughter of Z. Langton Esq.,
of Barrow House.--After the wedding he made a trip through the
Trossachs district of Scotland with his daughter Annot, and returned
to Greenwich on June 17th.

On the 26th June 1872 Airy was appointed a Knight Commander of the
Most Honourable Order of the Bath: he was knighted by the Queen at
Osborne on the 30th of July. In the course of his official career he
had three times been offered Knighthood, and had each time declined
it: but it seemed now as if his scruples on the subject were removed,
and it is probable that he felt gratified by the public recognition of
his services. Of course the occasion produced many letters of
congratulation from his friends: to one of these he replied as
follows: "The real charm of these public compliments seems to be, that
they excite the sympathies and elicit the kind expressions of private
friends or of official superiors as well as subordinates. In every way
I have derived pleasure from these." From the Assistants of the Royal
Observatory he received a hearty letter of congratulation containing
the following paragraph. "Our position has naturally given us peculiar
opportunities for perceiving the high and broad purposes which have
characterized your many and great undertakings, and of witnessing the
untiring zeal and self-denial with which they have been pursued."

* * * * *

On the 18th of March 1872 Airy was nominated a Foreign Associate of
the Institut de France, to fill the place vacant by the death of Sir
John Herschel. The following letter of acknowledgment shews how much
he was gratified by this high scientific honour:

ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH,
_1872, March 23_.

_A_ Messieurs
Messieurs ELIE DE BEAUMONT,
_et_ J.B. DUMAS,
_Secretaires perpetuels de l'Academie
des Sciences, Institut de France._

GENTLEMEN,

I am honoured with your letter of March 18, communicating to me my
nomination by the Academy of Sciences to the place rendered vacant in
the class of Foreign Associates of the Academy by the decease of Sir
John Herschel, and enclosing Copy of the Decree of the President of
the French Republic approving the Election.

It is almost unnecessary for me to attempt to express to you the pride
and gratification with