348 MISCELLANEOUS LETTEKS, 1886-1897 



To the Same 



April 15, 1892. 



I shall get the * Uncrowned King.' l You say he does 

 not seem to be anything worse than a gambler but did 

 you read my letter ? My father had scores of letters from 

 him from the condemned cell in Newgate, and I found him 

 a convict in Tasmania. I have often heard my father tell 

 the tale of his iniquities. He was the most plausible rascal 

 he ever knew, and narrowly escaped the gallows. B. Brown 

 was much interested in him from his having been with him 

 in Flinders' voyage. 



In the very letter I sent you he tells a lie that he gave 

 my father the Iceland dress. My father bought it. I suppose 

 he thought himself safe in telling this to Sir J. Franklin at 

 the Antipodes. 



Ever, dear Mrs. Lyell, affectionately yours, 



Jos. D. HOOKER. 



To T. fi. Huxley 



The Camp, Sunningdale : April 16, 1893. 



MY DEAR HUXLEY, I am all alone and in the place of 

 Hope but hoping for what, beyond the completion of the 

 Flora Indica, is hard to say. Well I am down to Grasses, 

 which you may remember is at the bottom of all in the 

 accepted classification of Phaenogs., but there are 800 of 

 them, from the top of the Himal. to Malacca and Ceylon, 

 and no one has hitherto digested them. I hope to, for 

 " it is dogged that does it " words in which you rightly 

 summed up my qualities. 



I am very concerned to hear of your influenza and 

 enfeeblement. Do take care of yourself. 



I had a note from Spencer the other day asking infor- 

 mation about Garden plants he is still floundering on at 

 acquired habits, &c. He makes no progress. In my appre- 

 hension, if it were a truth Nature would not be so d d 

 sensitive about it. 



I am bothered with bronchitis, and eschew night hours, 

 but go to Kew thrice a week despite Madam's objurgations 

 fair weather or foul. 



1 Presumably The Convict King, by J. T. Hogan, published in 1891. 



