JET. 57.] TO R. W. CHURCH. 563 



TO R. W. CHURCH. 



June 22, 1868. 



I have to send you in a hasty line my best 

 thanks for remembering me so kindly : 1. In your 

 letter of January 17, which I am so tardy in respond- 

 ing to. 



2. The copy of Hooker edited by you, which I was 

 pleased to have. 



3. Your sermon at St. Mary's, which Mrs. Gray 

 and I both read with much interest. I admired your 

 handling of an important topic, and the solid strength 

 which comes from moderation of statement. It re- 

 minded me much of one of our best sermonizers here, 

 who, though a good deal heterodox (I am sorry to 

 say), treats such subjects more impressively than any 

 one else and much in that way, his guarded under- 

 statements or concessions telling heavily in the argu- 

 ment. 



I read and think of nothing but botany of late, 

 having been too hard pressed for a long while. But 

 last Sunday I read with interest the latter part of Mr. 

 Gladstone's essay on " Ecce Homo." 



There is something which seems to me very ad- 

 mirable and attachable about Gladstone. I wonder 

 if his church friends and supporters will mostly drop 

 him at the coming struggle, for his action looking to 

 the disestablishment of the Irish church. 



But the gist of my present note is to say, that I 

 have got a year's leave of absence, and Mrs. Gray 

 and I expect to cross over to England in two months. 



I find I must break up a set of engagements and 

 of work, mainly for others, which absorbs too much 

 of my time, and Mrs. Gray's health makes me anxious 

 to avoid another winter here, at present. The change 



