Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton
JHC999
Cirencester, United Kingdom
JDH/2/7 f.3-3a
Hooker, Joseph Symonds
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
© Descendants of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
Letters to his son 'Little Lion'
The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
English
Typescript copy
2 page letter over 2 folios
 
Transcript

Little George does not talk much, but is a funny little fellow, very like the picture of Charlie that hangs in my dressing room. He seems very well & happy. Grace is gone out for a drive in Charlie's gig, with him. All send their love to you, & hoping to see you tomorrow. I am your loving father (signed) Jos: D. Hooker.
Please note that work on this transcript is ongoing. Users are advised to study electronic image(s) of this document where possible. If users identify any errors in the transcript, please contact archives@kew.org.

Page 1

Charlie's Cirencester Monday [1887] My dear Little Lion, I thank you very much for your letter, which arrived this morning. I hope that you will one day be able to come here & see the Museum. to which I went with Mama & Grace this morning. Cirencester was a very famous Roman Station situated on the Chuse (feeder of the Thames) which the Romans called Corinium & Castrum meaning a camp, you can easily imagine how the word Cirencester was derived from Corin castrum. In the Museum there are whole floors of tessalated pavement taken from old Roman houses like that of which there is a picture in the hall. These pavements were supported on bricks having between them a large space, into which hot air was led from a furnace, & the house was thus heated-the underneath space for hot air was called the hypocaust, a word I will explain when we meet. There were also in the Museum knives, locks, keys, scales, buckles, & all sorts of articles in iron & bronze, very like in pattern what we use now, but much more heavily made. These are very interesting, as showing how much we owed to the Romans, who introduced these articles & their uses into Britain. There were also coins of Agricola, Constantine, & Severus, all dug up at, or near Cirencester. There is a splendid Church here, close by Charlie's house, quite like a Cathedral, with beautiful glass in some of the windows.

Page 2

Little George does not talk much, but is a funny little fellow, very like the picture of Charlie that hangs in my dressing room. He seems very well & happy. Grace is gone out for a drive in Charlie's gig, with him. All send their love to you, & hoping to see you tomorrow. I am your loving father (signed) Jos: D. Hooker.
Please note that work on this transcript is ongoing. Users are advised to study electronic image(s) of this document where possible. If users identify any errors in the transcript, please contact archives@kew.org.

ENDNOTES

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