Letter from J [John] Herschel, Brompton Barracks, to 'Dear Mama' [Margaret Brodie Herschel] He returns all of the letters, including from India. He already knows of a dozen of so who were with him at Addiscombe, now killed. Many had barely reached their regiments and 'were the most harmless creatures under the sun'. Alick [Alexander Stewart Herschel] is in low spirits and wants John to come to Cambridge. He has just changed his room and he describes this. He has done three times as much work as a result. His fits of the blue devils were the result of a want of light. His letter was not so much asking money from his father, but only to have it regularly and he asks his father to write on the subject. 16 August 1857