
          to set a high value upon him; as my students well know.


 You did grieve and distress me,
 by seeming to countenance Mr. [Asa] Gray 
 in his unprecedented impudence. 
 But you cannot weaken my
 most [added: affectionate] regard, and my deep-rooted
 interest in your well-earned
 fame; even though you scourge me with thorns. I
 will never forget your kindness when the world forsook me.


 I ask no reply to this-- it
 is the vehicle of effusion for
 wounded feelings. I simply asked
 for direction and aid in producing
 the printed works, containing 
 discoveries in Botany, since my
 6th Ed. went to press-- several
 times I repeated that I desired
 merely to keep pace with published 
 discoveries. Mr. Gray (unmasked) interfered,
 as if he-- though he said
 we-- held the destinies of the science
 in his hands, and that the
 ground whereon he stood was Holy.
 "Take thy shoes from off thy feet, 
 and put on the sandals of the
 Natural Method, and we will
 begin to hear you."


 This may be the effusion of
 dotage; lest some home, I am
        