From Dawson Turner to Ellen Hutchins   13 Nov 1808

Yarmouth 13^th Nov 1808

Dear Madam

I am sincerely sorry to hear that you have been indisposed, & sincerely vexed with myself that, knowing such to be the case, I could all this time have delayed writing to you at a time when my letter might possibly have afforded you some amusement, &, by diverting your thoughts, proved a momentary relief. To be assured that the health of yourself & your friends is restored will indeed give me great pleasure, & it is a matter in which I feel myself not a little interested as, till this is the case, I cannot hope to enjoy that frequent intercourse with you from which I have derived so much gratification. I cannot afford the loss or any more correspondents whom I esteem & value, for I have no inclination to seek for new ones, & this year has deprived me of two of those who were the most dear to me; First Dr Scott, & then Dr Mohr of Kiel, whose death I last night received an account of, & in whom cryptogamic Botany has lost her most zealous, most profound, & most useful student, & I one of my best friends, though we were known to each other only by our letters. You will excuse, my dear Madam, my dwelling upon this subject at a time when my heart is full of it, & when, feeling the vacuum occasioned by those who are lost, I am naturally more inclined to cling to such as remain. Mr Hooker & I have just been gratified in the highest degree by looking over & dividing the rich parcel that you sent to me in the spring.The Jungermanniae he takes with him to Norwich, & as soon as he has had time to examine them I will not fail to acquaint you with his opinion respecting them. For the present, however he will necessarily be engaged with the treasures he has brought home from the Orkneys, where two so active young men as himself & Mr Borrer could not fail to get a rich harvest, though upon the whole they are disappointed that they could not get more. They have been so kind as to share their collection with me, so that I am now no less able than willing to make great additions to yours, & I therefore beg of you to tell me by what means I can get anything to you. I occasionally, though but seldom, hear of ships sailing from Yarmouth to Dublin or Cork; &, suppose a parcel could be got safely to either of those cities, what direction should it bear to be tolerably secure of reaching Ballylickey? It is not a little hard that the communication with Stockholm is less difficult than with a portion of our own country. Mr Hooker has brought home with him a single morsel of F. Mackaii with fruit exactly similar to that of F canaliculatus, & another single morsel of F cristatus var. B with such capsules as I have figured. Of this latter I will either send you a drawing or the specimen itself for your inspection. Fruit of yours, which is certainly very different, is at this moment under my microscope, & I can scarcely doubt of the two parts being distinct species, but I am willing to proceed with the greatest caution, & as you know that most Fuci like cristatus bear a two fold fructification I would fain not decide till you have had an opportunity of thoroughly investigating the matter. I shall be obliged to you for a single specimen of your F dasphyllis to compare with ours; but I beg again & again that, neither in sending me this or anything else, nor even in writing to me, you will put yourself to a moment's uneasiness. I would willingly deal fairly with my friends, &, as I claim the privilege of being an irregular correspondent upon the score of business, I will in my turn concede the same, & most gladly continue writing to you, if my letters can be productive of any amusement, without looking [text missing]. Mr Dillwyn has just sent me the materials for another fasciculus of his Confervae, but he proceeds so slowly & reluctantly that I have little hopes of ever seeing this work brought to a conclusion such as may be honourable to him or useful to science. Mr Hooker found Conferva Arbuscula abundantly in the Orkneys, & with it F laceratus & F punctuatus, which he regards as mere varieties. His specimens, however, of all his marine plants were nearly destroyed, so he has none now to confirm this opinion. What do you think of it? Serapias grandiflora & Vicia sylvatica are indeed two beautiful plants to add to the Flora of your neighbourhood. I have seen them both growing with as much delight as you can have done. I can send you almost any of the Serapias that you may want, though one only, S longifolia, is a native of this neighbourhood. You are so good to ask after the health of myself & my children. We are all, thank God, quite well. –

Accept, my dear Madam, the assurance of the esteem of

Your very much obliged

Dawson Turner

I had almost closed this letter without thanking you for your obliging invitation to Ballylickey, & assuring you how happy I should be to avail myself of it. I see, however, I am sorry to say, but little prospect of such a gratification, & I still hope that, improbable as your coming to England may appear, it is more likely than that I shall again see Ireland. Had poor Scott but lived!