Alfred Russel Wallace 



To Mr. W. G. Wallace 



Old Orchard, Broadstone, Wimborne. December 2, 1908. 



My dear Will, — . . . This morning the Copley Medals 

 came, gold and silver, smaller than any of the others, but 

 very beautifully designed; the face has the Eoyal Society's 

 arms, with Copley's name, and '* Dignissimo," and my name 

 below. The reverse is the Royal Arms. By the same post 

 came a letter from the Lord Chancellor's Office informing 

 me, to my great relief, that the King had been graciously 

 pleased to dispense with my personal attendance at the 

 investiture of the Order of Merit. ... 



To Mr. W. G. Wallace 



Old Orchard, Broadstone, Wimborne. December 17, 1908. 



My dear Will, — The ceremony is over, very comfortably. 

 I am duly " invested," and have got two engrossed docu- 

 ments, both signed by the King, one appointing me a mem- 

 ber of the " Order of Merit " with all sorts of official and 

 legal phrases, the other a dispensation from being personally 

 '^ invested " by the King — as Col. Legge explained, to safe- 

 guard me as having a right to the Order in case anybody 

 says I was not " invested." . . . Colonel Legge was a very 

 pleasant, jolly kind of man, and he told us he was in atten- 

 dance on the German Emperor when he was staying near 

 Christchurch last summer, and went for many drives with 

 the Emperor only, all about the country. . . . Col. Legge got 

 here at 2.40, and had to leave at 3.20 (at station), so we got 

 a carriage from Wimborne to meet the train and take him 

 back, and Ma gave him some tea, and he said he had got 

 a nice little place at Stoke Poges but with no view like 

 ours, and he showed me how to wear the Order and was 

 very pleasant : and we were all pleased. . . . 



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