The Royal Society,
Burlington House, London W.
Kew
March 12/ [18]76
Dear Gray,
Judge Hastings is here, but we have missed one another twice & he did not come to a Reception at [the] R[oyal] S[ociety] through some blunder. I have asked him to bring his family to lunch.
What a famous lot of work you are doing & I here find nothing at all but a few shots at the Gen[era] Plant[arum] & correcting proofs of latter & Fl[ora]. Brit[ish]. India of which the Sequences by Baker are passing through the press; -- this amiable & excellent fellow is in the matter of following the rules laid down for method of describing, terminology, synonymy[?], typography

Geography, priority & all else the most slovenly I ever col could possibly have believed & the labor[sic] I have in putting him straight is intolerable -- Some of his sheets cost me 2 hours hard work -- & are simply bak black with emendations & corrections. My only satisfaction is the whacking sum he will have to pay the printer. On the other hand he takes it all with inimitable sang froid -- & improves imperceptibly -- one instance suffices, he invariably confounds leaves with leaflets -- & now in the 10th sheet under my hand after his corrections I have to alter this throughout! -- I only hope his book is good.
I send you my little Primer *1 &

a copy to S[aint?] Mathew[sic?] (by Post) & hope you will criticise it sharply. Much of it was very strange work to me, but I had the benefit of 8 years revision of the Physiology.
I shall be glad indeed to see the synoptic table sample of Fl[ora] Bor[ealis] Am[ericana].
I cannot but think of a run over to you -- but am equally at a loss to see my way to leaving my family. I have no one to leave them to. No doubt; as you suggest; I must marry again. It is my clear duty. Harriet is not strong. I have had to send her to the West for a "stomach cough" that has pulled her down a good deal. She went first to the Munros near Taunton & last week I

took her to my sister[']s at Torq[ua]y -- I had not seen the latter for 1 year & found her so altered & "moody" -- that I doubt the house answering for Harriet. Except indeed her cheerfulness does her aunt good; as [it] is possible, but unlikely.
Tyndall[']s marriage went off well. Dean Stanley who performed the service was most impressive: he clearly loves T[yndall] & knows his wife. T[yndall] went through & repeated all save the invocation of the Trinity.
Lady Augusta who was sick unto death & had been for months died on the following day & the flowers which I sent for the wedding were made into wreaths for her coffin!

I hope that Mrs Tyndall she may ballast a little our friend[']s exuberances which sadly take away from his sterling sweats & labors[sic].
We have carried Lankaster[?] *2 into the Linnean by a triumphant majority & at the largest meeting probably ever held. At the last day Mr Carruthers finding his case hopeless & his position odious gave in & signed L[ankester]'s paper! I shall certainly retire from the L[innean] council & V[ice] P[resident]ship at the announcing if the P[resident] & C[ouncil]. will let me, but they vigorously object. [George] Allman is a most charming man but lacks health[,] vigour & adroitness as P[resident]: he wants steady & experienced support:
Yes, send acknowledgement of

R[oyal] S[ociety] Transactions to the Secretary once for all.
I will send you clavis *3 of Nyctago[?].
Munro promises to do the Grasses, but I doubt. Bentham is fairly well. After a deal of worry lasting over 9 months the Herbarium Building is in fair way of commencing. The Cambridge family who had an eye to the ground & House were bitterly opposed to it, & got over that false weak vain 1/2 idiot my present chief: who after the Queen had given the site[,] continued throwing every obstacle in the way. Where Lo! by a stroke of luck, it turned

out, when preparing for a legal transfer of the site -- that the present Herb[arium], House & grounds all belong to us! -- that old scamp G[eorge] IV, having sold it for £84,000 to pay his debts in 1824! -- there was no legal conveyance, but the receipt of the money is to the fore! Thus both W[illiam] IV & Victoria have for half century been giving to others (the K[ing] of Hanover & the Herbaria) a home not her own. Now I should retain the present building for the Library & working rooms, render them sufficiently fire--proof, and throw out a herb[arium] hall[?] at the back in the same style of architecture that suits the site & surroundings. I am all

the more glad of this, G[eorge] iii had given the building originally for a Library & Herbarium & Banks had begun to have it fitted up as such when his death stopped it all, & it reverted to the King’s use.
Now my dear Gray I must leave off & go to Bot[anical] Mag[azine] for April.
Ever aff[ectionatel]y] y[ours] | Jos[eph] D[alton] Hooker [signature].