... There is another circumstance on which account I feel not very easy, which is that by leaving Slough you are separated from all your usual friends, &c., doctors and all; but pray keep up your spirits, for the days are already a cock’s stride longer, and my windows have now been covered with ice for the last three weeks, which is long enough in conscience; therefore I hope to see a change every morning when I can get my eyes open, which is never the case till near eleven o’clock. There have been some English gentlemen with Mrs. Beckedorff on business, who, in conversation, among the rest, were saying that the keeping Christmas in the German fashion was coming to be very general in England; but I hope they will never go such lengths in foolery as they do here. The tradespeople have been for many weeks in full employ framing and mounting the embroideries of the ladies and girls of all classes, for there exists not a folly or extravagancy among the great but it is imitated by the little. The shops are beautifully lit up by gas, and the last three days before Christmas all that could be tempting was exhibited in the market places in booths lighted up in the evening, where all run to gaze and get a liking to all they see. Cooks and housemaids present one another with knitted bags and purses, the cobbler’s daughter embroidered neck-cushions for her friend the butcher’s daughter, which are made up by the upholsterer at great expense, lined with white satin, the upper part, on which the back is to rest, is worked with gold, silver, and pearls. But I find too much difficulty to write in these short days, else I could write a book about the nonsense which is going on in this city. I have for this last month been completely tired out with this Christmas bustle; but now the balls at the Bourse, given by the shopmen to the daughters of their masters, will be succeeded by the masquerades in Lent, an amusement which in the good old times was only for the nobility, but from which they are now excluded.... [Sidenote: 1841. _Concerning her Brother._] MISS HERSCHEL TO SIR J. F. W. HERSCHEL. _Feb. 24, 1841._ * * * * * I intended to have made some remarks to you about several things which are said in those pages which came enclosed in the letter of February 3rd. I suppose it is not expected to acknowledge the receipt thereof, but if there is anybody to whom my thanks are due, I beg you will do it for me, because I am not capable of writing to strangers. But to you I cannot help pointing out several things which displease me very much....