“There was in this spring a furious discussion about the admission of Dissenters into the University:  I took the Liberal side.  On Apr. 30th there was a letter of mine in the Cambridge newspaper.—­On Apr. 14th I began lectures, and finished on May 20th:  there were 87 names.—­My ‘Gravitation’ was either finished or so nearly finished that on Jan. 24th I had some conversation with Knight the publisher about printing it.  It was printed in the spring, and on Apr. 27th Sheepshanks sent a copy of it to Lord Brougham.  I received from Knight L83. 17s. 1d. for this Paper.—­On May 10th I went to London, I believe to attend one of the Soirees which the Duke of Sussex gave as President of the Royal Society.  The Duke invited me to breakfast privately with him the next morning.  He then spoke to me, on the part of the Government, about my taking the office of Astronomer Royal.  On May 19th I wrote him a semi-official letter, to which reference was made in subsequent correspondence on that subject.

“On May 12th my son Arthur was born.—­In June the Observatory Syndicate made a satisfied Report.—­On June 7th I went to the Greenwich Visitation, and again on June 14th I went to London, I believe for the purpose of trying the mounting of South’s telescope, as it had been strengthened by Mr Simms by Sheepshanks’s suggestions.  I was subsequently in correspondence with Sheepshanks on the subject of the Arbitration on South’s telescope, and my giving evidence on it.  On July 29th, as I was shortly going away, I wrote him a Report on the Telescope, to be used in case of my absence.  The award, which was given in December, was entirely in favour of Simms.—­On July 23rd I went out, I think to my brother’s marriage at Ixworth in Suffolk.—­On Aug. 1st I started for Edensor and Cumberland, with my wife, sister, and three children:  Georgiana Smith joined us at Edensor.  We went by Otley, Harrogate, Ripon, and Stanmoor to Keswick, from whence we made many excursions.  On Aug. 11th I went with Whewell to the clouds on Skiddaw, to try hygrometers.  Mr Baily called on his way to the British Association at Edinburgh.  On Sept. 10th we transferred our quarters to Ambleside, and after various excursions we returned to Edensor by Skipton and Bolton.  On Sept. 19th I went to Doncaster and Finningley Park to see Mr Beaumont’s Observatory.  On Sept. 25th we posted in one day from Edensor to Cambridge.

“On Aug. 25th Mr Spring Rice (Lord Monteagle) wrote to me to enquire whether I would accept the office of Astronomer Royal if it were vacant.  I replied (from Keswick) on Aug. 30th, expressing my general willingness, stipulating for my freedom of vote, &c., and referring to my letter to the Duke of Sussex.  On Oct. 8th Lord Auckland, First Lord of the Admiralty, wrote:  and on Oct. 10th I provisionally accepted the office.  On Oct. 30th I wrote to ask for leave to give a course of lectures at Cambridge in case that my successor at Cambridge should find difficulty in doing it in the first year:  and to this Lord Auckland assented on Oct. 31st.  All this arrangement was for a time upset by the change of Ministry which shortly followed.