“Mr. Lassell looks in at the side of his reflecting telescopes by means of a diagonal eye-piece; when the instrument is pointed at objects of high altitude he hangs a ladder upon the dome and mounts; the ladder moves around with the dome.  Mr. Lassell works only for his own amusement, and has been to Malta,—­carrying his larger telescope with him,—­for the sake of clearer skies.  Neither Mr. Lassell nor Mr. Hartnup [Footnote:  Of the Liverpool Observatory.] makes regular observations.

“The Misses Lassell, four in number, seem to be very accomplished.  They take photographs of each other which are beautiful, make their own picture-frames, and work in the same workshop with their father.  One of them told me that she made observations on my comet, supposing it to belong to Mr. Dawes, who was a friend of hers.

“They keep an album of the autographs of their scientific visitors, and among them I saw those of Professor Young, of Dartmouth, and of Professor Loomis.

“August 4.  I have just returned from a visit to the Liverpool Observatory, under the direction of Mr. Hartnup.  It is situated on Waterloo dock, and the pier of the observatory rests upon the sandstone of that region, The telescope is an equatorial; like many good instruments in our country, it is almost unused.

“Mr. Hartnup’s observatory is for nautical purposes.  I found him a very gentlemanly person, and very willing to show me anything of interest about the observatory; but they make no regular series of astronomical observations, other than those required for the commerce of Liverpool.

“Mr. Hartnup has a clock which by the application of an electric current controls the action of other clocks, especially the town clock of Liverpool—­distant some miles.  The current of electricity is not the motive power, but a corrector.

“Much attention is paid to meteorology.  The pressure of the wind, the horizontal motion, and the course are recorded upon sheets of paper running upon cylinders and connected with the clock; the instrument which obeys the voice of the wind being outside.

“Aug. 5, 1857.  I did not send my letter to Mr. Hawthorne until yesterday, supposing that he was not in the city; but yesterday when Rev. James Martineau called on me, he said that he had not yet left.  Mr. Martineau said that it would be a great loss to Liverpool when Mr. Hawthorne went away.

“I sent my letter at once; from all that I had heard of Mr. Hawthorne’s shyness, I thought it doubtful if he would call, and I was therefore very much pleased when his card was sent in this morning.  Mr. Hawthorne was more chatty than I had expected, but not any more diffident.  He remained about five minutes, during which time he took his hat from the table and put it back once a minute, brushing it each time.  The engravings in the books are much like him.  He is not handsome, but looks as the author of his books should look; a little strange and odd, as if not of this earth.  He has large, bluish-gray eyes; his hair stands out on each side, so much so that one’s thoughts naturally turn to combs and hair-brushes and toilet ceremonies as one looks at him.”