Dear M^r. Darwin,

I want very much to consult you upon a matter in which I have perhaps no real concern, but with which I believe I am better acquainted than others—

You will no doubt have known that M^r. Wallace was a candidate for the post of Superintendent of Epping Forest & has been making great efforts to get it during the whole past year. He is now rejected & they have chosen a landscape-gardener instead—¹

Now he is so modest & sensitive about himself that I am sure he would never tell anyone that which however I know, that “pecuniarily it was of importance to him to get a regular salary”:

He is not strong & literary work tries him very much & the uncertainty of it is a great anxiety to him—

In a letter to me the other day he writes “I want some regular work either partially outdoor, or if indoor then not more than 5 or 6 hours a day & capable of being partially done at home— This I see no probability—hardly a possibility of getting at my age & with my irregular antecedents”—

Now I cannot help thinking that if men like Sir J. Lubbock, Sir J. Hooker & others knew that M^r. Wallace wanted work of a modest kind & not some important post, some good use might be made of his great Natural History power & his future made more secure— Only, of course, my moving in the matter should not appear, I merely suggest that, which if it could come, must do so from men of his own standing & I shall not mention to any one that I have written to you— Years ago he was to have had the East London Museum but it passed into the hands of S. Kensington & he lost it—² I feel he ought to have something & I could think of no one as good as yourself to whom I could say so—

I remain | Yours very sincerely Arabella B Buckley