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_. _À_ Messieurs Messieurs ELIE DE BEAUMONT, _et_ J.B. DUMAS, _Secrétaires perpetuels de l'Académie 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 which I receive this announcement. By universal consent, the title of _Associé Etranger de l'Académie des Sciences_ is recognised as the highest distinction to which any man of science can aspire; and I can scarcely imagine that, unless by the flattering interpretation of my friends in the Academy, I am entitled to bear it. But in any case, I am delighted to feel that the bands of friendship are drawn closer between myself and the distinguished body whom, partly by personal intercourse, partly by correspondence, and in every instance by reputation, I have known so long. I beg that you will convey to the Academy my long-felt esteem for that body in its scientific capacity, and my deep recognition of its friendship to me and of the honor which it has conferred on me in the late election.