The following letter, perhaps one of the most important, turned up in, of all places, California. After reading an article I wrote, a Silicon Valley executive contacted me and kindly allowed me to include this letter. It is a gem.
I include two letters to Lady Byron and Robert Noel from the Lovelace collection to highlight the difficulty that Ada was having with Babbage.
To Charles Babbage
Sunday, 6 August [1843]
Ockham
My Dear Babbage. I did not make you any communication on Friday, because I did not feel I could do so satisfactorily to myself or to you, without another day of leisure to reflect. On the one point of not withdrawing the translation & Notes from the Memoir, or consenting to its’ separate publication, I was entirely & finally decided; as I think neither for your advantage nor my own, to do so; added to my opinion that it would under the circumstances be dishonorable & unjustifiable.
But in other respects, I have felt very anxious to obtain your co-operation & cordial assent & concurrence.
It was my intention therefore to write to you very strongly on some points in which I consider you mistake your own interests. I will not however, now do so; at any rate until I hear what the present plan is; for my representations may be unnecessary & irrelevant. –
Having decided as an axiom that the Memoirs are to contain the paper, I intended to leave it to you (only subject to Lord L’s approbation) whether it should come out in this number, or be delayed until the next to give you more time for thinking over matters. – This I still do.
Be assured that I am your best friend; but that I never can or will support you in acting on principles which I conceive to be not only wrong in themselves, but suicidal.
This sentence will excite your deprecation, I am well aware; & you will inwardly exclaim: “how she misunderstands me!” –
No more of this just at this moment, for I have perhaps already said too much. –
But, before I undertake any further labors in conjunction with you, I must have an explicit understanding on one or two points; & do not anticipate that you will hesitate much to agree to my conditions.
Yours
A.L.
To Lady Byron
Tuesday, 8 August [1843]
St James’ Square
Dear Mama. . ..I must tell you that another reason why I have not been writing to you (as I did not perceive an immediate call for it), is that I have been harassed & pressed in a most perplexing manner by the conduct of Mr Babbage. We are at fact at issue: I am sorry to have to come to the conclusion that he is one of the most impracticable, selfish, & intemperate persons one can have to do with. I do not anticipate an absolute alienation between us; but there must ever be a degree of coolness & reserve I fancy in the future. I have had in W [William]’s absence, to act quite unadvised in the matter; but I am happy to find that W – & Wheatstone entirely approve my conduct & views. I declared at once to Babbage, that no power should induce me to lend myself to any of his quarrels, or to become in any way his organ; & that I should myself communicate in a direct manner with the editors on the subject, as I did not choose to commit a dishonorable breach of engagement, even to promote his advantage (if it were to his advantage which I doubted).
He was furious: I imperturbable & unmoved. He will never forgive me. I had tried to conciliate & quietly to advise and suggest, until I found that it was necessary to be very determined & explicit. Pray forgive my forcing on you at this moment, these painful circumstances in another matter.
I only want you to understand that all my time & my energy have been miserably absorbed the last few days; for what between Babbage & the editors, both pressing hard in different directions, I have been torn to pieces; & as I heard nothing more from any one, of the E.L. affair I really endeavoured to forget for a few days all its tortuous & villainous implications. . .
I must hope that I may develop God’s truth more fully for the use of mortals. With this single object, if I have but the determination to adhere to it in purity & steadfastness, I shall be able to weather all the storms; & to leave a name for the race & the family which may screen & cloak over even its’ manifold iniquities & tortuousities, when all these (if they ever do) come fully to light. –. . .
To Robert Noel
Wednesday Afternoon, 9 August 1843
Ockham Park
My Dear Robert. . .
I shall have the pleasure of sending you, (if you will tell me how), a copy of my translation of Monr Menabrea’s description of Babbage’s Calculating Engines, to which I have appended very copious Notes of my own, that are in fact longer & more abstruse than the original Memoir itself. This engagement has been in some respects arduous & troublesome; and it will probably bring me in but little return of reputation or fame, (which were indeed no part of my motive when I undertook it): for there is more of a quiet patient labour & industry in it, than of brilliancy or attractiveness. I intentionally keep myself way back. I had better feel my way gradually. I have plenty of imagination and eloquence, when the right time shall come. Meanwhile I wish to build upon strong foundations of logic, industry, & real study & training. But I am glad to have got launched, in however humble, & dry a form....
To Charles Babbage
Monday, 14 August 1843
Ockham Park
My Dear Babbage. You would have heard from me several days ago, but for the hot work that has been going on between me & the printers. This is now all happily concluded. I have endeavoured to work up everything to the utmost perfection, as far as it goes; & I am now well satisfied on the whole, since I think that within the sphere of views I set out with, & in accordance with which the whole contents & arrangement of the Notes are shaped, they are very complete, & even admirable. I could now do the thing far better; but this would be from setting out upon a wholly different basis. –
I say you would have heard from me before. Your note (enclosed on Monday with my papers &c), is such as demands a very full reply from me, the writer being so old & so esteemed a friend, & one whose genius I not only so highly appreciate myself, but wish to see fairly appreciated by others.
Were it not for this desire (which both Lord L – & myself have more warmly at heart than you are as yet at all aware of), coupled with our long-established regard & intercourse, I should say that the less notice taken by me of that note – the better; & it was only worthy to be thrown aside with a smile of contempt. The tone of it, it is impossible to misunderstand; & as I am myself always a very “explicit function of x,” I shall not pretend to do so; & shall leave to you (if you please it) to continue the “implicit” style which is exceedingly marked in the said note.
As I know you will not be explicit enough to state the real state of your feelings respecting me at this time, I shall do so for you. You feel, my dear Babbage, that I have (tho’ in a negative manner) added to the list of injuries & of disappointments & mis-comprehensions that you have already experienced in a life by no means smooth or fortunate. You know this is your feeling; & that you are deeply hurt about it; & you endeavour to derive a poor & sorry consolation from such sentiments as “Well, she don’t know or intend the injury & mischief if she has done” & c.
You say you did not wish me to “break my engagement, but merely to ask to be released from it.” My dear friend, if the engagement was such that I had no right to break it without leave, I had still less right to appeal to the courtesy of parties, in order to obtain an apparent sanction & excuse for doing that which their justice & sense of their own rights could not have conceded. There is no greater sin, or deeper double-dealing in this world, than that of endeavouring thro’ the influence of secondary motives to get the apparent support & consent of others towards that which on a higher & more general motive would be inadmissable. Your reply to this will be, that my principle is just, good, & great; but that it did not apply to the particular case; in as much as the editors would themselves have been glad of an excuse to be released, under the circumstances. Yo
u must allow me to state that I took measures for ascertaining that point beyond all possibility of doubt, & that I found it to be very much otherwise.
You will deny & dispute this; or more probably you will immediately perceive grounds why, (from various unworthy arrière-pensées) the persons concerned might still wish to retain the article. Remember however, that when you do this, you have shifted your original ground; & that your question then becomes not whether Lady L – ought to oblige two parties, you & the editors, who both tho’ on different grounds wish to dispose of my publication thro’ another channel than that originally proposed, but whether Lady L – ought tacitly to lend herself to certain possible or probable unworthy motives entertained by the editors. Now to this the reply is perfectly plain in the opinion of all parties accustomed to fair & honorable dealings, uninfluenced by secondary motives. My engagement was unconditional, & had no reference to the motives of the parties with whom I contracted it. I have therefore no right to withdraw it on grounds subsequently thought of. If I had undertaken to do the thing specially for you, in addition to its being for them, the case would have been wholly different. But with the circumstance of your happening to be a private friend of my own, & of my therefore being too happy & delighted to make prior engagement especially pleasing & useful to you, they had nothing to do. Consequently, because my private friend wished it, (however justly), this could form no real & equitable ground for withdrawing the article.
I have now touched on all the grounds which can be taken on the supposition of its really being pernicious to your interests that I have thus allowed the article to appear. This however I cannot agree to or believe; & were you not influenced by a set of feelings which are very different from those that I myself, & the minds whom I most esteem, can consider wise, justifiable, or in harmonious accordance with man’s moral nature, you would not think so. Mind, I do not say that your views may not be in reality higher, juster, & wiser, than my own. But my moral standard, such as it is, I must stick to; as long as it is my moral standard. It would not be of any use for me to endeavour making you see thro’ my glasses; for, (besides the fact that they may be as far or farther than yours, from refracting & reflecting quite truly), no one can instanter alter the views & modes of feeling of a life. But I do wish you to understand the fact, that I believe myself (however erroneous that belief may be), to have forwarded your interests far more by allowing the article to appear than I should have done by any of the courses you suggested. I have a right to expect from you the belief that I do sincerely & honestly take this view. For if your knowledge of me does not furnish sufficient grounds for doing so, then I can only say that no mutual knowledge of any two human beings in this life, can give stable & fixed grounds for faith & confidence. Then Adieu to all trust, & to everything most generous, in this world! –
I must now come to a practical question respecting the future. Your affairs have been, & are, deeply occupying both myself & Lord Lovelace. Our thoughts as well as our conversation have been earnest upon them. And the result is that I have plans for you, which I do not think fit at present to communicate to you; but which I shall either develop, or else throw my energies, my time & pen into the service of some other department of truth & science, according to the reply I receive from you to what I am now going to state. I do beseech you therefore deeply & seriously to ponder over the question how far you can subscribe to my conditions or not. I give to you the first choice & offer of my services & my intellect. Do not lightly reject them. I say this entirely for your own sake, believe me.
My channels for developping [sic] & training my scientific & literary powers, are various, & some of them very attractive. But I wish my old friend to have the refusal.
Firstly: I want to know whether if I continue to work on & about your own great subject, you will undertake to abide wholly by the judgment of myself (or of any persons whom you may now please to name as referees, whenever we may differ), on all practical matters relating to whatever can involve relations with any fellow-creature or fellow-creatures.
Secondly: can you undertake to give your mind wholly & undividedly, as a primary object that no engagement is to interfere with, to the consideration of all those matters in which I shall at times require your intellectual assistance & supervision; & can you promise not to slur & hurry things over; or to mislay, & allow confusion & mistakes to enter into documents, &c?
Thirdly: If I am able to lay before you in the course of a year or two, explicit & honorable propositions for executing your engine, (such as are approved by persons whom you may now name to be referred to for their approbation), would there be any chance of your allowing myself & such parties to conduct the business for you; your own undivided energies being devoted to the execution of the work; & all other matters being arranged for you on terms which your own friends should approve?
You will wonder over this last query. But, I strongly advise you not to reject it as chimerical. You do not know the grounds I have for believing that such a contingency may come within my power, & I wish to know before I allow my mind to employ its energies any further on the subject, that I shall not be wasting thought & power for no purpose or result.
At the same time, I must place the whole of your relations with me, in a fair & just light. Our motives, & ways of viewing things, are very widely apart; & it may be an anxious question for you to decide how for the advantages & expediency of enlisting a mind of my particular class, in your service, can over-balance the annoyance to you of that divergency on perhaps many occasions. My own uncompromising principle is to endeavour to love truth & God before fame & glory or even just appreciation; & to believe generously & unwaveringly in the good of human nature, (however dormant & latent it may often seem).
Yours is to love truth & God (yes, deeply & constantly); but to love fame, glory, honours, yet more. You will deny this; but in all your intercourse with every human being (as far as I know & see of it), it is a practically paramount sentiment. Mind, I am not blaming it. I simply state my belief in the fact. The fact may be a very noble & beautiful fact. That is another question.
Far be it from me, to disclaim the influence of ambition & fame. No living soul ever was more imbued with it than myself. And my own view of duty is, that it behooves me to place this great & useful quality in its proper relations & subordination; but I certainly would not deceive myself or others by pretending that it is other than a very important motive & ingredient in my character & nature.
I wish to add my mite towards expounding & interpreting the Almighty, & his laws & works, for the most effective use of mankind; and certainly, I should feel it no small glory if I were enabled to be one of his most noted prophets (using this word in my own peculiar sense) in this world. And I should undoubtedly prefer being known as a benefactor of this description, to being equally great in fact, but promulgating truths from obscurity & oblivion.
At the same time, I am not sure that 30 years hence, I may put even so much value as this, upon human fame. Every year adds to the unlimited nature of my trust & hope in the Creator, & decreases my value for my relations with mankind excepting as His minister; & in this point of view those relations become yearly more interesting to me. Thro’ my present relations with man, I am doubtless to become fit for relations of another order hereafter; perhaps directly with the great Power Himself. Of course my view respecting every even casual social contact & intercourse, takes a corresponding colour; & will do so increasingly, if that view should become more confirmed.
My dear friend, if you knew what sad & direful experience I have had, in ways of which you cannot be aware, you would feel that some weight is due to my feelings about God & man. As it is, you will only smile & say, “poor little thing; she knows nothing of life or wickedness!” –
Such as my principles are, & the conditions (founded on them), on which alone you may command my services, I have now stated them; to just such extent as I think is absolutely necessary for any comfortable understanding & cooperatio
n between us, in a course of a systematized & continued intellectual labour. It is now for you to decide. Do not attempt to make out to yourself or me that our principles entirely accord. They do not, nor cannot at present, (for people’s views as I said are not to be altered in a moment).
Will you come here for some days on Monday. I hope so. Lord L – is very anxious to see & converse with you; & was vexed that the Rail called him away on Tuesdy before he had heard from yourself your own views about the recent affair.
I sadly want your Calculus of Functions. So Pray get it for me. I cannot understand the Examples.
I have ventured inserting to one passage of Note G a small Foot-Note, which I am not sure is quite tenable. I say in it that the engine is remarkedly well adapted to include the whole Calculus of Finite Differences, & I allude to the computation of the Bernoullian Numbers by means of the Difference of Nothing, as a beautiful example for its’ processes. I hope it is correctly the case.
This letter is sadly blotted & corrected. Never mind that however.
I wonder if you will choose to retain the lady-fairy in your service or not.
Yours ever most sincerely.
A.A.L.
Ada wrote to her mother about the difficulties with Babbage, but those difficulties began to be resolved. The preface was not included in the Memoir; Babbage’s views were printed anonymously the following month. Babbage did not agree to Ada’s proposal for their future working relationship; however, her honesty did not destroy their friendship, but changed it. She hardly had time to dwell on all these issues for she went off with her family to Ashley Combe and invited Babbage to join her there.
Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers:Poetical Science Page 12
