In short, I find that all along I have been taken for an idiot, or that at least I am now reckoned to be in my dotage, and therefore ought not to be mistress of my own actions. But, thank God, I have yet sense enough left to caution you against being imposed upon by a stupid being who would make you believe I died under obligations to any of the family. I know he has already, without asking my leave, passed himself off for my guardian, and is vexed at my being able to do without him. But I could not live without that little business of keeping my accounts; and by my last book of expenses and receipts may be seen, that I owe nothing to anybody, but to my dear nephew many many thanks for fulfilling his father’s wishes, by paying for so many years the _ample_ annuity he left me. SIR J. F. W. HERSCHEL TO MISS HERSCHEL. _August 10, 1840._ ... The telescopes are now, I trust, properly disposed of. Mr. Hausmann (who will value it) has the sweeper. The five-foot Newtonian reflector is in the hands of the Royal Astronomical Society, and will be preserved by it as the little telescope of Newton is by the Royal Society, long after I and all the little ones are dead and gone. SIR J. F. W. HERSCHEL TO MISS HERSCHEL. _August 10, 1840._ ... Did I ever tell you that I had lately brought together the observations of four or five years, proving beyond all doubt α Orionis to be both a variable and a periodical star, and one of the most remarkable among them? Its period is about a year, and it changes in that time from a lustre superior on some occasions even to Rigel, to a degree of brightness nearly on a par with Aldebaran. MISS HERSCHEL TO SIR JOHN HERSCHEL. _Sept. 1, 1840._ ... I owe you many thanks for relieving me two whole days sooner from the anxiety of having been misunderstood by you, and now I am happy, and _all is well_! But there are times when I should like to have some talk with you or my dear niece, to put you in mind of many past events, but if you will excuse the style and the spelling, &c., &c., on account of my eyesight being so uncertain, I will at times try to amuse you with what passed in old times, for my memory is as good as ever [this is in her ninety-first year]. (N.B.—Year of the past.) Writing this, puts me in mind that I never could remember the multiplication table, but was obliged to carry always a copy of it about me. [Sidenote: 1840. _Christmas in Hanover._] MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL. _Dec. 27, 1840._