JET. 76.] TO SIR EDWARD FRY. 789 



William, their father, has been painted by Holl. He 

 is a good subject. Saw your sister B. (and kind 

 Lombe) ; she writes a charming letter to my wife ; 

 seems to hold her own wonderfully. 



CAMBRIDGE, November 22, 1886. 



Well, I have got safely through my seventy-sixth 

 birthday, which gives a sort of assurance. I have 

 always observed that if I live to November 18, I 

 live the year round ! 



You are working at Euphorbs, etc. ; I at Malva- 

 ceae, in which I find a good deal to do for the species, 

 and something for the betterment of genera. . . . 



TO SIR EDWARD FRY. 



CAMBRIDGE, November 13, 1886. 



MY GOOD FRIEND, Let me turn for a moment to 

 our quarter-millennial celebration of the foundation of 

 our university, though you in Europe may count our 

 antiquity as very modern. It was an affair of three 

 days, culminating on Monday last, and was altogether 

 very pleasant. You will like to know that among the 

 honorary degrees given, was one to Professor Allen, 

 of the Episcopal Theological School here, in recogni- 

 tion of the merits of his " Continuity of Religious 

 Thought," which work, I am glad to remember, you 

 much liked. The Mother Cambridge sent to us the 

 master of St. John's, Dr. Taylor, and Professor 

 Creighton, of Immanuel College, to which the found- 

 ers and first professors of Harvard belonged. Mrs. 

 Creighton came with him, and we found them pleasant 

 people. I suppose Lowell's oration, Holmes's poem, 

 and the doings in general will be in print before very 

 long, and I shall not forget to send you a copy. 



