| Description | He takes pleasure in seeing her handwriting on a pamphlet, Alex's [Alexander Stewart Herschel's] meteorological address to the [British] Association at Dundee. They saw no meteors to speak of on 13-14 November and he regrets missing last year's display. William thinks that Emma will be with them and misses her, describing the loneliness of the house. Nothing short of an officiating Commissionership will keep him in India beyond May. He has heard nothing from Johnny [John Herschel] since the wedding but hopes a letter will catch them at Galle. He recalls Bella's last letter from a year ago, and her indignation at the teaching that Paul wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews and William discusses his own reactions, thinking that the weight of evidence is that Paul did not write it. He consider authorship of the scriptures more generally and concludes that he does not read the Hebrews with the same confidence as the other Epistles. He is glad that Gordon is not going on the Abyssinian Expedition which he considers a squandering of money. |