From J. D. Hooker 19 [June 1862]1
Royal Gardens Kew | Kew
19th.
Dr Drn.
Your Rhododendron is R. glaucum— it has a very peculiar scent.—2 this was sent me by you a month ago under some other name.
I saw Lubbock yesterday who tells me that you were in bed last Sunday & that one of your boys has come home ill from school with Scarlet fever3 I am truly sorry to hear of all this.
We are in statu quo—no Cook yet, though we hope we have heard of one who will suit— We have also I hope found the right sort of person for Nursery Governess—4 Meanwhile we are carrying on the war as best we can & have a party of 12 persons chiefly Italian Botanists coming to a Tea dinner tomorrow. How glad we shall be to have Willy tomorrow to meet them—5 one is Mr. Watson Taylor of Monte Cristo notoriety & his wife.6 Leonard Henslow my eldest brother in law is engaged to a very nice girl who has been here today, a Miss Wall, niece of Dean Pellew.7 apparently a very nice girl indeed with a little money— she is only 19. very large, quite plain, but most amiable & pleasing-looking. we are rejoicing at it. Leonard Jenyns is to be married next week8
My Jury work is nearly over & a pretty time I have had of it!9
My wife is a trifle better I think, but very pale and bloodless & cannot sleep at night—10 I wish I could take her to Switzerland
On Monday I go down to Ross’ place to look over some of his things previous to the sale—11 Sabine goes after some Meteorological &c books of observation—12 I for a whole lot of things chiefly glacial & Kerguelens Land that I never could find in the British Museum.
This is a weary life, I am daily expecting to hear of the death of a dear little niece, 8 years old, at school at Bury, of inflammation of lungs,—a daughter of my eldest sister Mrs McGilvray.13
Ever yours affec | J D Hooker
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Allan, Mea. 1967. The Hookers of Kew, 1785–1911. London: Michael Joseph.
[Berkeley, Miles Joseph.] 1862. Fertilization of orchids. London Review and Weekly Journal of Politics, Arts and Sciences 4: 553–4.
Cawood, John. 1979. The magnetic crusade: science and politics in early Victorian Britain. Isis 70: 493–518.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
DNB: Dictionary of national biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. 63 vols. and 2 supplements (6 vols.). London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1912. Dictionary of national biography 1912–90. Edited by H. W. C. Davis et al. 9 vols. London: Oxford University Press. 1927–96.
EB: The Encyclopædia Britannica. A dictionary of arts, sciences, literature and general information. 11th edition. 29 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1910–11.
Orchids: On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862.
Summary
Household problems: wife’s health, visitors to Kew.
Will go to sale of J. C. Ross’s effects looking for glacial and Kerguelen Land works not at British Museum.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3611
- From
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Kew
- Source of text
- DAR 101: 38–9
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3611,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3611.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 10