158 MEMOIR OF DR. HARVEY. 



To Wm. Thompson, Esq. 



Trinity College, Dublin, 



January 19, 1847. 



Heartless Thompson, 



Tis dangerous to joke on paper, for a thing looks so different 

 in writing from what it would sound if spoken — the manner 

 being all in all. I was half joking in my note, and so were you, 1 

 suppose, in yours ; but I confess I was only half, for I did feel a 

 little nettled. 



" Oh wad some Power the giftie gie us 

 To see ourselves as others sec us." 



I should then have written with more caution. I am really 

 obliged to you for telling me that my book has been said to 

 have the character you mention, for I by no means wish it to 

 be a mere glorification of the said person, or indeed of any person 

 else, myself not excepted. If I lean to glorify any one, it is 

 Mrs. Griffiths, to whom I owe much of the little acquaintance I 

 have with the variations to which these plants are subject, and 

 who has often saved me from making bad species, and who is 

 always ready to supply me with fruit of plants which every one 

 else finds barren. She is worth ten thousand other collectors ; 

 and I don't care a whit if you say (or if all the world join you) 

 that my book is merely a trumpet for her praises. For she is a 

 trump. 



Never mind "gilding your pills." It is wasting refined gold. 

 I like you all the better for telling me exactly what you think, 

 and where I am wrong, and when I am convinced of my error, 

 I hope I shall always try and mend it. I confess that the early 

 numbers w r ere very deficient in information, such as you say is 

 wished for. You and Forbes wrote to me about it, and I have 

 since done my best to mend. I always latterly give the habitats 

 when I know them, and what can I say more ? I am forced to 

 restrain myself within the two pages. These are enough for 

 most plants, but to-day I have had some February proofs 

 returned to me to be cut down, being much too long. The last 

 few numbers have been much more carefully written, and I 

 intend to keep it up. Whether you see any improvement or 

 not, I cannot say, but I know I take more pains to please. 



Ever yours, 



Haeveya — Cordata. 



