44 MEMOIR OF DR. HARVEY. 



Thus were his ardent desires fulfilled and a new era opened in 

 his life. The following confidential letter to Dr. Hooker relates 

 the event and his feelings with regard to it. 



To Dr. Hooker. 



Morley's Hotel, London, 11/25, 1834. 



My dear Friend, 



Thou wilt be surprised to get a letter from me from 

 London ; but this world is such a whirligig, that I have deter- 

 mined henceforward to be surprised at nothing. After my last 

 letter was written I had much consultation with my friends in 

 Limerick, and seriously weighed the pros and cons of Australia. 

 Their final opinion, which agrees with thine, was, that I should 

 go out there merely on a botanical tour for two or three years. 

 As to a permanent residence there, I never contemplated such 

 a thing. I certainly should be strangely hard-hearted to cut 

 my numerous friends and relatives in that outlandish manner. 

 But circumstances have since occurred which have put my 

 Australian trip out of my head for the present, and put another 

 in its stead. Just before the Whigs left office, a high official 

 situation at the Cape of Good Hope came into the gift of Rice/ 

 who at once nominated my brother Joseph to the appointment. 

 I need hardly add that I go with him. To be sure, the Cape is 

 old ground. Its botany, though beautiful and interesting, has not 

 such charm of novelty as that of New Holland ; but we cannot 

 have all our wishes. Is there a "Flora Capensis?" I had long 

 indulged the hope of writing a Flora of New Holland or New 

 Zealand, but now I must rest satisfied with one of the Cape. 



I shall probably be detained a fortnight in London. Pray 

 enclose me an introduction to Brown. If Bicheno be in town, 

 I can get letters from him to the other botanists. 



To a Cousin. 



London, Morley's Hotel, December 1st, 1834. 

 Having just returned from my first visit to " the greatest 

 botanist in this or in any other age," a visit of three hours, and 

 not being disappointed in my expectations, I must give you the 

 benefit of my lucubrations. What weak creatures we are ! 

 Nay, I was not grievously abashed, but actually felt more free 



1 Mr. Spring Rice, afterwards Lord Monteagle. 



