Letter from George Combe, Edinburgh, to John Pringle Nichol, 1836 February 11 : autograph manuscript signed.

Saying that he, his wife Cecilia, and Miss Cox were finishing their dinner when Nichol's letter arrived announcing his appointment as Professor of Astronomy at the University of Glasgow, and "we drank your health with three times three, and many wishes of long life & prosperity to you;" adding that they sympathized with Mrs. Nichol's feelings on the occasion: "You & she must have felt the transition delightful from the uncertain to the certain ; and we thought of the children and rejoiced on their account also;" writing of how far Combe has come in the year he has known him, from being rejected as a teacher of mathematics at a high school to Professor of Astronomy, "& all by the fair display of talents and the honourable testimonials of admiring friends which your excellent qualities have called forth!"; congratulating him once again and wishing that he may "long sustain the reputation you have acquired, & enjoy a rich reward in domestic happiness, public usefulness, & increasing fame...".