As my object is a public one, to encourage others to follow the bright example which you have set, and to prove that great scientific attainments are recognised among public claims, I prefer making a direct communication to you, to any private inquiries into your pecuniary circumstances, or to any proposal through a third party. I am enabled to advise His Majesty to grant to you a pension on the civil list of two hundred pounds per annum; and if that provision will enable you to pursue your labours with less of anxiety, either as to the present or the future, I shall only be fulfilling a public duty, and not imposing upon you the slightest obligation, by availing myself of your permission 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.