i845.] 'COSMOS.' 311 



C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker. 



Shrewsbury [1845 ?]. 

 My dear Hooker, — I have just received your note, which 

 has astonished me, and has most truly grieved me. I never 

 for one minute doubted of your success, for I most errone- 

 ously imagined, that merit was sure to gain the day. I feel 

 most sure that the day will come soon, when those who have 

 voted against you, if they have any shame or conscience in 

 them, will be ashamed at having allowed politics to blind their 

 eyes to your qualifications, and those qualifications vouched 

 for by Humboldt and Brown ! Well, those testimonials must 

 be a consolation to you. Proh pudor ! I am vexed and indig- 

 nant by turns. I cannot even take comfort in thinking that 

 I shall see more of you, and extract more knowledge from 

 your well-arranged stock. I am pleased to think, that after 

 having read a few of your letters, I never once doubted the 

 position you will ultimately hold amongst European Botanists. 

 I can think about nothing else, otherwise I should like [to] 

 discuss ' Cosmos ' * with you. I trust you will pay me and 

 my wife a visit this autumn at Down. I shall be at Down on 

 the 24th, and till then moving about. 



My dear Hooker, allow me to call myself 



Your very true friend, 



C. Darwin. 



C. Darwi7t to C. Lyell. 



October 8th [1845], Shrewsbury. 



... I have lately been taking a little tour to see a farm I 

 have purchased in Lincolnshire,! and then to York, where I 



* A translation of Humboldt's ' Kosmos.' 



f He speaks of his Lincolnshire farm in a letter to Henslow (July 

 4th) : — " I have bought a farm in Lincolnshire, and when I go there this 

 autumn, I mean to see what I can do in providing any cottage on my small 

 estate with gardens. It is a hopeless thing to look to, but I believe few 

 things would do this country more good in future ages than the destruction 



