ry few genera balance all the
others.

I have written you a tremendous long prose.

LETTER 64. TO J.D. HOOKER. Down, June 8th [1858].

I am confined to the sofa with boils, so you must let me write in
pencil. You would laugh if you could know how much your note pleased me.
I had the firmest conviction that you would say all my MS. was bosh, and
thank God, you are one of the few men who dare speak the truth. Though I
should not have much cared about throwing away what you have seen, yet
I have been forced to confess to myself that all was much alike, and
if you condemned that you would condemn all my life's work, and that I
confess made me a little low; but I could have borne it, for I have the
conviction that I have honestly done my best. The discussion comes in at
the end of the long chapter on variation in a state of nature, so that I
have discussed, as far as I am able, what to call varieties. I will try
to leave out all allusion to genera coming in and out in this part,
till when I discuss the "Principle of Divergence," which, with "Natural
Selection," is the keystone of my book; and I have very great confidence
it is sound. I would have this discussion copied out, if I could really
think it would not bore you to read,--for, believe me, I value to the
full every word of criticism from you, and the advantage which I have
derived from you cannot be told...

I am glad to hear that poor old Brown is dying so easily...

You will think it paltry, but as I was asked to pay for printing the
Diploma [from a Society of which he had been made an honorary member],
I did not like to refuse, so I send 1 pound. But I think it a shabby
proceeding. If a gentleman did me some service, though unasked to do it,
and then demanded payment, I should pay him, and think him a shabby dog;
and on this principle I send my 1 pound.

(65/1. The following four letters refer to an inquiry instituted in 1858
by the Trustees of the British Museum as to the disposal of the Natural
History Collections. The inquiry was one of the first steps towards the
establishment of the Cromwell Road Museum, which was effected in 1875.)

LETTER 65. TO R.I. MURCHISON. Down, June 19th [1858].

I have just received your note. Unfortunately I cannot attend at the
British Museum on Monday. I do not suppose my opinion on the subject
of your note can be of any value, as I have not much considered the
subject, or had the advantage of discussing it with other