. 70.] TO J. D. HOOKER. 709 



better. Then in March or early April, when England 

 is apt to be raw and rough, but Italy is smiling, we 

 will rush to meet the spring, and return to England 

 when that, too, is delightful and its days long and 

 sunny. Note also, that even an Italian winter may 

 be chilly and damp, and when it is so, there is no see- 

 ing galleries and churches without teeth-chattering 

 and cold-taking, and it is not easy to get warm lodg- 

 ings and decent fires. This course 3 would suit 

 me best of all ; for then we, lingering longer than 

 you might be able to take time for, should return to 

 England via Vienna and Berlin, which Mrs. Gray has 

 never seen, and in the latter I have Willdenow's her- 

 barium to potter over. 



Now, my dear old friend, perpend my words (if you 

 can read them ; I write on an awkward bit of table), 

 and then have your say. 



HOTEL ST. ROMAIN, November 21, 1880. 



The correspondence of late has naturally been con- 

 ducted by our respective better halves. I have at 

 length (after giving Cosson two or three days to name 

 up his American and Mexican plants) got fairly at 

 work at the Jardin des Plantes, and have found 

 (mainly in the herbarium Jussieu) the originals of 

 several of Lamarck's asters, which gives me happi- 

 ness. They take every pains to accommodate and 

 assist one at the herbarium. I see old Decaisne at 

 his house ; he is not strong. 



I think we shall need two weeks more here, and we 

 hope for better weather than we have yet had. Colds 

 one always takes at Paris, and Mrs. Gray now has 

 her share. It took a long while to be clear of the 



