190 Life and Letters of Francis Galton 



The following dateless letter is wi-itten soon aftei- Galton had 

 settled in London a^ain : 



Monday. 



Mv DEAR Father, 



I am afraid that I have two inianKwerctl hitters on tlie score against nie, and 

 thank you mucli for the letter of introduction to Mr Walker contained in the last. 

 I will tell you the result after I have taken it. I meet with numbers of my Cambridge 

 friends so that I am prettj' sure of a call every day and this with working till about 4 at 

 medicine, and again before going to bed makes my existence about us jolly and as cozj' 

 as I ever expect to aspire to. Mr Hallam gave me a ticket for the private view of the 

 fresco-paintings now in Westminster Hall (on Saturday). They are said to be decidedly 

 inferior to what was expected, and nearly half of them were rejected as unworthy of 

 exhibition. The two best (and I had come to the same conclusion without hearing it 

 before) .are considered to be "Rachel and Jacob" b}' Cope and a .study by Armitage, a 

 female figure looking something like; Britannia'. Armitage and Cope were two of the 

 three that got £300 prizes for their cartoons last year. 



Dr Todd is very good natured to me. He has invited me to spend next Sunday 

 with him at a country cottage of his near Streatham Common. 



I enclose you two scrawls on one piece of paper intended respectively to represent 

 different views of my room. Tell Bessy that since she was in it, my landlord has allowed 

 me a glorious damask green little bit of a sofa which fits as snugly as possible into the 

 room. [Picture of a most uncomfortable-looking, philistine piece of furniture.] 



Sir Arthur Brooke said he would take me to see Alexis the mesmeriser about whom 

 so much has been written in the l^imes. Chronicle and Herald by and in reply to Colonel 

 Gurwood. I thought I had better go as he is said to be Ijy far the most successful 

 clairvoyant; he won't exhibit publicly and this time Mr Ramsay Clarke had him in his 

 room. It was entirely a failure, he certainly played at cards with his eyes blindfolded 

 but that is not conclusive ; but in not one instance could he read words written aside, 

 and put into boxes, which he professed to be able to do. 



Will you be so kind as to let me know on what days Warwick Castle is visible as 

 Mr Hallam spends a day next week over Warwick, Coventry and Kenilworth, not 

 Leamington. If you have any thin guide book to those places which might be sent 

 easily by post I should be much obliged if you would send it to me, as I want to do 

 everything obliging for the " Antik Vogel." Emma will explain. 



Your affectionate son, F. G. 



[P.S.] Dear Emma, She is sweeter than ever. F. G. 



We know that Francis was in Cambridge on May 13, probably 

 June, July and August were the extent of his stay in London and the 

 limit of his medical studies at St George's. His address seems to have 



' It may comfort some of my readers to know that Francis Galton thrice wrote this 

 name and crossed it out, before he reached the above spelling. 



