es ~ 
xT. 57.] TO R. W. CHURCH. 563 
TO R. W. CHURCH. 
June 22, 1868. 
I have to send you—in a hasty line — my best 
thanks for remembering me so kindly: 1. In your 
letter of January 17, which I am so tardy in respond- 
ing to. 
2. The copy of Hooker edited by you, which I was 
pleased to have. 
3. Your sermon at St. Mary’s, which Mrs. Gray 
and I both read with much interest. I admired your 
handling of an important topic, and the solid strength 
which comes from moderation of statement. It re- 
minded me much of one of our best sermonizers here, 
who, though a good deal heterodox (I am sorry to 
say), treats such subjects more impressively than any 
one else and much in that way, his guarded under- 
statements or concessions telling heavily in the argu- 
I read and think of nothing but botany of late, 
having been too hard pressed for a long while. But 
last Sunday I read with interest the latter past of Mr. 
Gladstone’s essay on “ Ecce Homo.” 
There is something which seems to me very ad- 
mirable and attachable about Gladstone. I wonder 
if his church friends and supporters will mostly drop 
him at the coming struggle, for his action looking to 
the disestablishment of the Irish church. 
But the gist of my present note is to say, that I 
have got a year’s leave of absence, and Mrs. Gray 
and I expect to cross over to England in two months. 
I find I must break up a set of engagements and 
of work, mainly for others, which absorbs too much 
of my time, and Mrs. Gray’s health makes me anxious 
to avoid another winter here, at present. The change 
