From J. D. Hooker [19 September 1864]1
Monday Night
Dear old Darwin
I have just returned from Bath,2 quite delighted with my stay there, I laid myself out to see all my friends & enjoyed it most thoroughly. Every-body was asking about you— I had my old friend Campbell of Darjeeling3 staying with me. I had a long walk with Mrs Lubbock4 on Saturday—Lubbock5 having gone to Wokey’s hole6 with Evans, where he picked up some flints-imps.7 The sections8 I eschewed, as usual, prowling about the doors, & chatting with heaps of friends— The Geographical section was the favored one, the Geological having gone down in popularity greatly, but poor Spekes death9 cast a gloom over Murchison,10 & Burtons conduct on the occasion disgusted every one.11 Crawfurd, Wallace, Bates, a young Lord Milton (a mere boy) & Livingstone were the great guns.12
The Lyells13 are fairly intoxicated with their popularity & success, & can talk of nothing else The scientificos criticize his speech sharply—the plebs applaud it throughout.14 Lyell can think & talk of nothing else—except the cordial welcome that Colenso has had—15 Some clergy actually shook hands with him, & the Dean of Hereford was seen escorting Miss Colenso about to day.—16 in the sections he was greeted with hearty applause on entering the rooms. One parson however preached yesterday against Lyell, Colenso & the British Association!17 The Bath people showed no attention or hospitality at all, so we had delightful little breakfasts & dinners at one anothers lodgings. So my days sped swiftly, & my nights were no worse than I expected.
I made several pleasant acquaintances in primis Mr Symonds (or Simmons?) of whom the Lyells talk so much & with whose daughter my wi⟨fe⟩ ⟨ ⟩ both fell desperately in ⟨love⟩18 John Evans, who I had just seen before—& who came up with me in the train—he seems a very sharp fellow, & spoke so well & discriminatingly of Lyell’s “Antiquity”,19 & the unworthyness of taking offence at its demerits—& of attributing sordid motives to its author.
The only drawback to my happiness is that I have got let into 2 visits, first on next Thursday to Lord Ducie, a friend of Henslows, who has asked me several times to his place, I went down with him & Lady D. on Friday20—& he made such a point of our going to visit him, that we could not get off— they were on their way home (near Bristol) from Italy & I left them at Bath.— today he came ⟨ ⟩ to Bath to clinch us—and ⟨ ⟩ accepted him we could ⟨ ⟩ Dean Dawes who has been asking us ever since I can remember, & who visits us at Kew every year. I suppose I shall have a week of it between them.
My wife is supremely well & as happy as the day is long. The Lubbocks the same.
I have this night heard from Anderson of Calcutta21 that he wants a good gardener at £150 a year & house to superintend a Botanic Garden at Darjeeling, & that he will appoint any one I recommend.— here is a splendid chance for Scott!22 about whom I am writing— the salary will soon be largely increased if the Curator gives satisfaction, for the garden is not established yet; I shall be very pleased if Scott gets it;— & proud too. The last gardener I sent out (Mann of Cameroons memory)23 only this time last year, is already advanced to £240 a year & this also in the cool climate of Sikkim.
What a poor affair Herschells answer to the declaration is;24 & after a weeks notice it seems a “mons parturiens”25 Bowrings is far better.26
Well there is mighty little in this letter, & I begin to fear that my hand-writing is falling off, & not so legible as usual. I could not get Beppo,27 but Mrs Lubbock lent me Romola,28 which is ponderous.
Ever yrs affec | J D Hooker
Huxley Owen & Tyndall29 are greatly desiderated.
Footnotes
Bibliography
British Association for the Advancement of Science. Bath 1864.: The British Association for the Advancement of Science. Bath 1864. Authorised reprint of the reports in the special daily editions of the ‘Bath Chronicle’. Bath: T. D. Taylor, ‘Chronicle’ Office. London: W. Kent & Co.
Burke’s peerage: A genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the peerage and baronetage of the United Kingdom. Burke’s peerage and baronetage. 1st– edition. London: Henry Colburn [and others]. 1826–.
Colenso, John William. 1862–79. The Pentateuch and Book of Joshua critically examined. 5 vols. London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Crawfurd, John. 1864. On the supposed Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages of society. Report of the thirty-fourth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science; held at Bath, Transactions of the sections, p. 143.
Desmond, Ray. 1999. Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, traveller and plant collector. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
DNB: Dictionary of national biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. 63 vols. and 2 supplements (6 vols.). London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1912. Dictionary of national biography 1912–90. Edited by H. W. C. Davis et al. 9 vols. London: Oxford University Press. 1927–96.
Eliot, George. 1863. Romola. 3 vols. London: Smith, Elder and Co.
Evans, Joan. 1943. Time and chance. The story of Arthur Evans and his forebears. London: Longmans, Green & Co.
Grayson, Donald K. 1983. The establishment of human antiquity. New York: Academic Press.
Guy, Jeff. 1983. The heretic. A study of the life of John William Colenso 1814–1883. Pietermaritzberg, South Africa: University of Natal Press. Johannesburg, South Africa: Ravan Press.
Hastings, Michael. 1978. Sir Richard Burton: a biography. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
Lovell, Mary S. 1999. A rage to live: a biography of Richard and Isabel Burton. London: Abacus.
Lyell, Charles. 1864. Presidential address. Report of the thirty-fourth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science; held at Bath, pp. lx–lxxv.
Lyell, Katharine Murray, ed. 1881. Life, letters and journals of Sir Charles Lyell, Bart. 2 vols. London: John Murray.
Turrill, William Bertram. 1963. Joseph Dalton Hooker. Botanist, explorer, and administrator. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons.
Van Riper, A. Bowdoin. 1993. Men among the mammoths: Victorian science and the discovery of human prehistory. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Summary
Reports on personalities at the Bath meeting of BAAS [Sept 1864].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4616
- From
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 101: 240–2
- Physical description
- ALS 6pp damaged
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4616,” accessed on 26 November 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4616.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 12