[[1]]
The Camp
Sunningdale
Oct[ober].6 / [18]83
My Dear Brian [Hodgson] *1
We had a short but very successful stay in Paris, bad weather notwithstanding. We went
over [to] the Lycée to which Reggie *2 is to go, an enormous place, with some 800 pupils,
of whom 400 are, like Reggie, "externee" or what we should call day--boarders. The
appointment & arrangement of the place were beautifully clean & ample: every boy of the
internes, even the youngest, had a little bed room to himself. The Principal appeared to be
a
[[2]] very superior man. Probably Reggie [word crossed out, illeg.] will take the degree there
of "Bachelier Es Sciences" if all goes well; it is a good degree but requires 2 years of study
at the Lycee.
Grace's *3 ladies school was of a different character from the run of such institutions here.
The Lady herself is a certificated teacher, & the pupils have more choice of subject than
with us, including hygiene, Chemistry, Botany & various subjects in Physics, as well as the
ordinary studies. We left them both very happy.
Brian *4 returned two days ago & is ready for any thing! -- I have some hopes of getting
[[3]] him a post as Assayer to Silver & gold mines in Montana, belonging to a company of
which my friend N[evil]. Maskelyne *5 M.P. is Chairman. -- He has gone again to the
Laboratories at S[outh]. Kensington to keep up his practice.
We heard a good deal in Paris of the row about [King] Alphonso[sic] *6 which has so
discredited the Republican Government. I do not think that allowance enough is made in
the English comments, for the fact that the Regiment was one of Uhlans, the most
damaging harassing of all during the French German wars, & that it was stationed at Strassberg
[Strasbourg], the very "funny--bone" of French sensitiveness. Utterly inexcusable as the
French nation has been
[[4]] I cannot but believe that the German action in giving Alphonso[sic] such a regiment,
stationed at such a spot, was a very spiteful one & sure to lead to a manifestation of the worst
feelings of the worst population on the Globe.
I suppose you have hardly cared to wade through Col[onel]. Godwin Austen's *7 address to
the Geological section of the B[ritish]. A[ssociation]. at Southport on the Himalaya -- it
appears to me to be a splendid piece of work -- but requires maps & sections to make it all
clear. The comparison with the Alps of Tuscany &c is exceedingly happy.
We are extremely busy here with our new house, from which I date this letter though we
[[5]] are not actually in it. We have the usual difficulties on starting amongst which the
greatest is water. The wells in these "Bagshot sands" are all disposed to choke up with
"running sand" -- which gets into the pumping gear. The house itself is most comfortable, a
first rate building, warm dry & extremely well managed -- We are furnishing very scrimpily,
as I am at the end of my possible means, & have an immense deal still to do in getting the
ground into order, draining[,] trenching[,] levelling, quite irrespective of paths[,] borders &
planting. I hoped to have managed it out of savings, but have to sell out £2000 to meet
[[6]] liabilities. It is however a great amusement & as the value of land here is rapidly rising
I can look upon it as a tolerable investment.
I have not thanked you for your last kind letter. I do think that the vigor[sic] you show in
your hand--writing is marvellous -- my hand gets more cramped every year, & I am almost
ashamed to send such scrawl even to "the like of you" -- but your writing is as fresh as
your affections & I can't say more.
Yes Budhist [sic] Literature is making enormous strides &
[[7]] this must be an immense gratification to you who are the grand Lama of the lore -- but
what a curious discovery is this now hinted at, that the early Chinese history is borrowed
from the Chaldean!
You will laugh to hear that I am about to be made a freeman of the City; the "Salters
Company", which boasts of Royal Prince, an archbishop & a few swells of that stamp[,]
have asked me to accept the honor[sic] of membership & freedom along with Huxley *8. It
entails a dinner & a speech, both of which I detest. -- There is something rather funny in
Huxley & I both "old salts" being picked
[[8]] out by the Salters Company -- though of this "fittingness" of the compliment -- -- I
suppose they never thought. I have turned up the Company in the Almanack & find that it which is
one of the oldest in the City. Hitherto the very few scientific men ever so honored[sic] have
been elected by the worshipful "Spectacle Makers" -With united love to you both | Ev[er] y[ou]r affectionate | J.D. Hooker [signature]
ENDNOTES
1. Hodgson, Brian Houghton (1801--1894). Naturalist & ethnologist. Hodgson was a civil
servant working in Indian and Nepal. Joseph Hooker stayed at his house in Darjeeling
periodically during his expedition to India and the Himalayas, 1847--1851, and named one
of his sons after him.
2. Hooker, Reginald Hawthorn (1867--1944). Civil servant, statistician & meteorologist.
He was the fourth son of Joseph Dalton Hooker and Frances Henslow.
3. Hooker, Grace Ellen (1868--1955). Youngest daughter of Joseph Dalton Hooker and
Frances Henslow.
4. Hooker, Brian Harvey Hodgson (1860--1932). Second son of Joseph Dalton Hooker and
Frances Henslow.
5. Maskelyne, Mervyn Herbert Nevil Story (1823--1911). Geologist & politician.
Maskelyne was Keeper of Minerals at the British Museum of Natural History (now the
Natural History Museum), based in South Kensington, from 1857--1880.
6. Alfonso XII, King of Spain (1857--1885). In 1883, King Alfonso was invited by the
German Emperor to Homburg, where he accepted the colonelcy of an Uhlan Regiment
based in Strasbourg. As some in France feared a political alliance between Spain and
Germany, Alfonso faced a hostile demonstration in Paris on his return from Germany.
7. Godwin--Austen, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Haversham (1834--1923). Topographer,
geologist, naturalist & surveyor.
8. Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825--1895). Biologist
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