' THE CAMP ' 257 



site of The Camp was again used as headquarters when the 

 volunteers were assembled in 1853. 



The house agent, in a happy mean between ' villa ' and 

 ' country house,' would probably describe this ' Tusculum ' a3 

 ' a charming country residence,' with ' every modern conveni- 

 ence.' The trees then planted have grown up high, so that 

 not even the chimneys, much less the red brick walls and Bath 

 stone mullions, are visible from the road, and the garden, rich 

 in rhododendrons, is a haven of peace. 



The house itself fulfilled every expectation, but the levelling 

 and laying out of the ground in particular ran into greater 

 expense than he first had in mind, so that he began by ' furnish- 

 ing very scrimpily.' ' It is, however,' he adds, ' a great amuse- 

 ment, and as the value of land here is rapidly rising I can look 

 upon it as a tolerable investment.' 



In the early eighties Time began to take a heavy toll of 

 Hooker's friends and contemporaries. Such loss made him 

 turn the more warmly to his best and closest intimates. To 

 Hodgson, now eighty, he writes on February 7, 1881 : 



MY DEAB BRIAN, I am haunted with the idea that 

 to-morrow is your birthday, and writing as I am from London 

 I have no means of verifying the supposition. Be this as 

 it may, you will, my dear old friend, accept my most affec- 

 tionate and most heartfelt greetings on the present occasion. 

 I am rejoiced to hear so good an account of you as your wife 

 sent to mine the other day. Now that dear old Colvile 

 is gone, I cling more than ever to my only remaining Indian 

 Chum ; and look more wistfully than ever to the hope of 

 a permanent reunion in the unknown land. God bless you, 

 my dear old friend, and Susie and all you love and hold 

 dear. 



Hodgson replied on the 9th : 



MY DEAR JOE, I hasten to express my heartfelt thanks 

 for your affectionate recollection of my "birthday. What 

 you say about the trio of friends Colvile, yourself and 

 myself has a significance you can hardly realise as regards 

 me, in whom peculiar circumstances acting on a very sensitive 

 nature have all my life gone to minimise the power and the 



