aceful obscurity, for I have lived so secluded a life that I am more
and more disinclined to crowds of any kind. I had to submit to it in
America, but then I felt exceptionally well, whereas now I am altogether
weak and seedy and not at all up to fatigue or excitement.--Yours very
faithfully,

ALFRED R. WALLACE. Prof. Poulton pressed him to reconsider his decision,
and he reluctantly gave way.

* * * * *

_Godalming. June 2, 1889._

My dear Mr. Poulton,--I am exceedingly obliged by your kind letters, and
I will say at once that if the Council of the University should again
ask me to accept the degree, to be conferred in the autumn, as you
propose, I could not possibly refuse it. At the same time I hope you
will not in any way urge it upon them, as I really feel myself too much
of an amateur in Natural History and altogether too ignorant (I left
school--a bad one--finally, at fourteen) to receive honours from a great
University. But I will say no more about that.--Yours very faithfully,

A.R. WALLACE.

* * * * *

In due course he received the degree. "On that occasion," says Professor
Poulton, "Wallace stayed with us, and I was anxious to show him
something of Oxford; but, with all that there is to be seen, one subject
alone absorbed the whole of his interest--he was intensely anxious to
find the rooms where Grant Allen had lived. He had received from Grant
Allen's father a manuscript poem giving a picture of the ancient city
dimly seen by midnight from an undergraduate's rooms. With the help of
Grant Allen's college friends we were able to visit every house in which
he had lived, but were forced to conclude that the poem was written in
the rooms of a friend or from an imaginary point of view."

His friend Sir W.T. Thiselton-Dyer, with others, was promoting his
election to the Royal Society, and wrote to him:

SIR W.T. THISELTON-DYER TO A.R. WALLACE

_Kew. October 23, 1892._

Dear Mr. Wallace,-- ... When you were at Kew this summer I took the
liberty of saying that it would give great pleasure to the Fellows of
the Royal Society if you would be willing to join their body. I
understood you to say that it would be agreeable to you. I now propose
to comply with the necessary formalities. But before doing so it will be
proper to ask for your formal consent. You will then, as a matter of
course, be included in the next annual election.

Will you f