472 THE LAST YEAES 



friends took him by motor the sixteen miles into Exeter to 

 see the statue of his ' Uncle by ancestry,' Eichard Hooker, 

 presented to the city by a very distant relative, 1 and set up 

 on the grass of the cathedral enclosure, which struck him as 

 ' really a very fine thing.' 



Fortified by the good effects of Sidmouth, Hooker was 

 able to continue working at the Balsams, though he did not 

 feel equal to the more intense fatigue of journeying to London 

 to join in the ' send off ' to Scott's last expedition. Instead 

 Scott paid a farewell visit to The Camp. Moreover, in Sep- 

 tember he repeated the round of family visits to Cirencester, 

 for his son's silver wedding, to Lady Thiselton-Dyer, and to 

 Pendock. The following December he renewed his successful 

 experiment, and wintered at Sidmouth, his last absence from 

 home. 



One of the greatest pleasures of this stay was seeing his 

 friend Colonel Cunningham, 2 who with his brother paid them 

 a visit of which he gives some impressions in the following 

 letter : 



Col. Cunningham to Lady Hooker 



Tor Mount, Torquay : January 26, 1911. '; 



I must write a line to say how greatly we enjoyed our 

 visit of yesterday, and how grateful we feel to you and Sir 

 Joseph for having allowed us to make it ! My brother, in a 

 note which I had from him to-day, says * Seeing Sir Joseph 

 made me feel quite youthful again ' ; and, though I don't 

 know that it produced exactly that psychic effect on me, I 

 came away from Sidmouth with very much the feeling that 

 I suppose many of my Indian friends experienced when they 

 returned from a successful * Tirath ' or pilgrimage to a shrine 

 containing one of their special objects of adoration ! 



The following to Professor Oliver, who had barely escaped 

 from an accident at a railway station, may be quoted as reveal- 

 ing his warm affection for his old friend and fellow worker. 



1 Robert H. Hooker, of Amalfi, Weston-super-Mare. 



1 Colonel David Douglas Cunningham, C.I.E., F.R.S., I.M.S. ; sometime 

 Professor of Physiology in Calcutta Medical College, and Hon. Surgeon to 

 the Viceroy of India and Hon. Physician to the King ; retired 1898. 



