#7. 33.] TO J. D. HOOKER. 317 
for nothing; and I cannot, and must not, think of 
anything but my task. The two last of my lectures 
are not even arranged yet. 
TO J. D. HOOKER. 
CAMBRIDGE, Ist March, 1844. 
My pear Frrenp, —I was very much gratified at 
receiving your kind letter of January 16; and I was 
quite startled at the lapse of time, I assure you, when 
you reminded me that five years had elapsed since we 
were running about the streets of London together. 
Since that time you have seen the world, indeed; or 
some very out-of-the-way parts of it; and you now 
stand in a perfectly unrivaled position as a botanist, 
as to advantages, ete., with the finest collections and 
libraries of the world within your reach; and if you 
do not accomplish something worth the while, you 
ought not to bear the name of Hooker. 
I thank you most cordially for all the news you 
kindly give me respecting the family, and wish to 
return my best thanks for being remembered to one 
and all. Your good old grandfather holds out so 
well that really I sometimes think I may yet take him 
again by the hand; for I long to make another visit 
to England. Perhaps I may in two or three years. 
But I hope ere that to see you here, where you may 
depend upon a most hearty reception; and the 
Greenes (who send remembrances) join me strenu- 
ously in begging you will make us a visit. After Sir 
William and Lady Hooker (seniores priores), whom 
we cannot expect to see under present circumstances, 
there is nobody in England I could so much wish to 
see as yourself. : 
I time, I should fill this sheet with gossip 
