136 Edward Livingston Youmans. 



dispatches by telegraph to the 12th. We wait most anxious- 

 ly for later news. 



London, September jo, 1862. 



At the close of my last I mentioned that we had invited 

 Spencer, Morell, and Silsbee to dine with us on Sunday 

 evening at seven. Spencer invited us (Silsbee and our- 

 selves) to go to Kew Gardens in the afternoon, or rather 

 to go first to Richmond, which is three or four miles be- 

 yond Kew, and see the scenery, which is said to be very 

 fine, and then return by a small boat to the Garden. We did 

 so, taking rail at ten o'clock. It was muddy, foggy, and 

 semi-rainy, the nastiest sort of a morning. As we left the 

 city it cleared up, but upon our arrival at Richmond — eleven 

 or twelve miles — it had again clouded up densely ; a fog cov- 

 ered everythmg, and we could see nothing. Stopping at 

 an inn, we took a little lunch and proceeded to the Gardens. 

 Dr. Joseph Hooker, the most philosophical botanist of Eng- 

 land, is in charge of the Gardens. Spencer knows him, and 

 intimated that he should call upon him, and he would per- 

 haps accompany us. He called. We went on, but he over- 

 took us alone; the doctor did not accompany him. Spencer 

 said he did not offer to come out, " as showing the Gardens 

 is no doubt a great bore to him." We wandered round till 

 five o'clock, when there suddenly came a heavy rain. We 

 waited under a large horse-chestnut tree till it began to rain 

 through, and then started amid shower and mud for the de- 

 pot. We were getting drenched, so Spencer got a cab, and 

 we got into the place with an immense crowd, all driven in by 

 the shower, which made it doubtful whether we could all be 

 accommodated by the train. I had wished to take the half 

 past four train, but Spencer overruled it quite abruptly —  

 said there would not be time at the Gardens — that we could 

 get to the city station at five minutes past six, and be at 

 home at half past six, in abundant time for dinner at seven. 

 The great crowd caused delay of the train, and when we 



