[[1]]
ROYAL GARDENS KEW
Oct[ober] 28/[18]80
Dear [Asa] Gray,
Thanks for your letter just received & for the contained notes & reference to
Compass-- plant [Silphium laciniatum].
As to payment for books -- "Suon[?] contento" as we shall say (right or wrong, in fact
or grammar) when we get to Italy -- but really there is no hurry about payment, & you
might have had them for 0. if you would have accepted them -- you asked for "one of
two copies" of Leighton[']s Lichen Flora. -- I find that those 2 copies are of an old
edition which I subscribed for to gratify the old man, who is to leave all his Lichens to
Kew. I also subscribed for
[[2]] new edition, & I have added that to the lot -- it is of no use whatever to me.
Mrs Bentham has broken her femur high up -- she slipped & fell in her dressing
room, she don't[sic] know how. Bentham was in great alarm, but she is going on well
-- this was on Sunday.
Charlie at Coltishall has been burnt out of his house i.e lodgings & had a narrow escape
from suffocation. He has saved his things with some damage & all stinking of the
Pyroligneous -- he lodged with a stable keeper & the fire broke out in the stables which
are part of the house & was only discovered at 5 am when the dwelling house was burning.
Two horses & a cow not his own were burnt to death, also his
[[3]] dog & cat.
The weather here is utterly horrid; cold & wind & rain in torrents.
Smith’s Sciatica is very bad & the garden work practically falls on Dyer & myself.
The R[oyal]. S[ociety]. Councils begin to day[sic] happily this is my last year of them
(for the present) after 10 continuous & 16 in all! Quite half my period of membership -- I
suppose I must have been useful! or else have been an egregious imposter -- a little
of both we may conclude logically. As it is I feel a loathing to all that sort of work; &
all the more after the Linnean affairs having gone so utterly wrong. This council had
elected Marié into Kippist's place -- a shameless job -- & upon which Bentham resigned
the council before leaving the rooms. I feel very low about it -- they have now a
secretary who is neither a scientific man nor a Botanist, & for
[[4]] Librarian a man who is no botanist, is very much disliked by us all, & is a
thorough schemer -- However[?] it is time that I did not trouble myself with such
matters.
We are all well, Jos[eph] as bright as ever.
How I wish that we could join you in Spain, but it is impossible. We cannot leave
home now, even if my duties allowed of it -- & I must get 3 months Bot[anical] magazine
off my hands before I go any--where[sic]! Bentham too is lamenting my slow
progress at the Palms
With united love to you both | Ever y[ou]r affec[tionate] | JD Hooker [signature]
I will see to the plants going with the books --
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