on to submit such a
recommendation to the King.

I have the honour to be,
Madam, with the sincerest respect,
ROBERT PEEL.

* * * * *

I was highly pleased, but my pleasure was of short duration, for the
very next day a letter informed us that by the treachery of persons in
whom we trusted, the last remains of our capital were lost. By the
kindness of Lord John Russell, when he was Prime Minister, a hundred
a-year was added to my pension, for which I was very grateful.

* * * * *

After the "Mechanism of the Heavens" was published, I was thrown out of
work, and now that I had got into the habit of writing I did not know
what to make of my spare time. Fortunately the preface of my book
furnished me with the means of active occupation; for in it I saw such
mutual dependence and connection in many branches of science, that I
thought the subject might be carried to a greater extent.

There were many subjects with which I was only partially acquainted, and
others of which I had no previous knowledge, but which required to be
carefully investigated, so I had to consult a variety of authors,
British and foreign. Even the astronomical part was difficult, for I had
to translate analytical formulae into intelligible language, and to draw
diagrams illustrative thereof, and this occupied the first seven
sections of the book. I should have been saved much trouble had I seen a
work on the subject by Mr. Airy, Astronomer-Royal, published
subsequently to my book.

My son, Woronzow Greig, had been educated at Trinity College, Cambridge,
and was travelling on the Continent, when Somerville and I received an
invitation from the Principal, Dr. Whewell, to visit the University. Mr.
Airy, then astronomer at Cambridge, now Astronomer-Royal at Greenwich,
and Mrs. Airy kindly wished us to be their guests; but as the
Observatory was at some distance from Cambridge, it was decided that we
should have an apartment in Trinity College itself; an unusual favour
where a lady is concerned. Mr. Sedgwick, the geologist, made the
arrangements, received us, and we spent the first day at dinner with
him. He is still alive[10]--one of my few coevals--either in Cambridge
or England. The week we spent in Cambridge, receiving every honour from
the heads of the University, was a period of which I ha