Dear Darwin,—Many thanks for your signature and good wishes. I have some hopes of success, but am rather doubtful of the Committee of the Corporation who will have the management, for they have just decided after a great struggle in the Court of Common Council that it is to be a rotatory Committee, every member of the Council (of whom there are 200) coming on it in succession if they please. They evidently look upon it as a Committee which will have great opportunities of excursions, picnics, and dinners, at the expense of the Corporation, while the improvement of the Forest will be quite a secondary matter. [pg 304] I am very glad to hear you are tolerably well. It is all I can say of myself.—Believe me yours very faithfully,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
Down, Beckenham, Kent. January 5, 1880.
My dear Wallace,—As this note requires no sort of answer, you must allow me to express my lively admiration of your paper in the Nineteenth Century.[113] You certainly are a master in the difficult art of clear exposition. It is impossible to urge too often that the selection from a single varying individual or of a single varying organ will not suffice. You have worked in capitally Allen's admirable researches. As usual, you delight to honour me more than I deserve. When I have written about the extreme slowness of Natural Selection (in which I hope I may be wrong), I have chiefly had in my mind the effects of intercrossing. I subscribe to almost everything you say excepting the last short sentence.
And now let me add how grieved I was to hear that the City of London did not elect you for the Epping office, but I suppose it was too much to hope that such a body of men should make a good selection. I wish you could obtain some quiet post and thus have leisure for moderate scientific work. I have nothing to tell you about myself; I see few persons, for conversation fatigues me much; but I daily do some work in experiments on plants, and hope thus to continue to the end of my days.
With all good wishes, believe me yours very sincerely,
CHARLES DARWIN.
P.S.—Have you seen Mr. Farrer's article in the last Fortnightly? It reminded me of an article on bequests by you some years ago which interested and almost converted me.