JKT. 33.] TO J. D. HOOKER. 317 



for nothing ; and I cannot, and must not, think of 

 anything but my task. The two last of my lectures 

 are not even arranged yet. 



TO J. D. HOOKER. 



CAMBRIDGE, 1st March, 1844. 



MY DEAR FRIEND, I was very much gratified at 

 receiving your kind letter of January 16 ; and I was 

 quite startled at the lapse of time, I assure you, when 

 you reminded me that five years had elapsed since we 

 were running about the streets of London together. 

 Since that time you have seen the world, indeed, or 

 some very out-of-the-way parts of it ; and you now 

 stand in a perfectly unrivaled position as a botanist, 

 as to advantages, etc., with the finest collections and 

 libraries of the world within your reach ; and if you 

 do not accomplish something worth the while, you 

 ought not to bear the name of Hooker. 



I thank you most cordially for all the news you 

 kindly give me respecting the family, and wish to 

 return my best thanks for being remembered to one 

 and all. Your good old grandfather holds out so 

 well that really I sometimes think I may yet take him 

 again by the hand ; for I long to make another visit 

 to England. Perhaps I may in two or three years. 

 But I hope ere that to see you here, where you may 

 depend upon a most hearty reception ; and the 

 Greenes (who send remembrances) join me strenu- 

 ously in begging you will make us a visit. After Sir 

 William and Lady Hooker (seniores priores), whom 

 we cannot expect to see under present circumstances, 

 there is nobody in England I could so much wish to 

 see as yourself. 



Had I time, I should fill this sheet with gossip 



