Happy Birthday Mr. Babbage

This birthday tribute to Charles Babbage incorporates a few extracts from his, and his friends´, private letters in the hope of illuminating something of Babbage the man, rather than Babbage the scientist. The major portion of this tribute is a transcript of a 23 page letter (certainly one of the longest Babbage ever wrote) which, although it could be classified as a semi-formal document, is very illuminating as to the feelings and thought processes of Babbage in his later years.