Yarmouth 14th April 1809
At length, my dear Madam, my friends have gone, I am enabled to write to you with something more like quiet, tho’ quiet is a word that has, or ought to have, no place in my vocabulary, for when it creeps in it is only as a synonym of indolence. I have had, since last I wrote, the pleasure of receiving from you another letter, the contents of which I probably shall not mention in this, for I think that those of your former parcel will amply fill my paper; & besides, I have not got Mr Hooker’s opinion upon the Jungermanniae, about which I shall never venture to speak myself till his book on the subject is published. I think I mentioned to you that his present plan is to give merely descriptions of the species, with a leaf of each engraved on wood at the side, & four or five plates of new species. Upon this plan my booksellers have agreed to publish it, but there is now a question how far woodcuts can be made sufficiently delicate to express the beautiful reticulations of the leaves, &, if this is impractical, he must once more change his design, all which creates fresh delay. Before Mr Dillwyn left me he altered one or two of the names given to your Conferva, but I forget which, & I only mention it that you may not be surprised when you see in his work it is so. I feel myself much obliged to you for so readily meeting my wishes of gathering shells for me. Two or three specimens at most of each kind will be quite sufficient; for, as I think I told you, it is not so much for myself as for my little girls that I wish for them. How much do I desire one day to see you here, & to introduce them and Mrs Turner to you! – With regard to your list of Bantry plants, I certainly should like to see it include the Lichens, as a tribe of which I am particularly fond, but I fear there is no chance of your having for many years to come an opportunity of getting a book on the subject such as may render them intelligible, & this being the case it would be a pity to wait for them. The Linnean Society adjourn next month till October, & if it be agreeable to you, I should wish to have your catalogue about this latter month, which will allow all the summer for your searches, & perhaps in the course of this time I maybe able to send you a parcel of Lichens, which; unfortunately, are not conveyable in a letter. If Mr Borrer would but trust to his own abilities, & publish a Lichenographia Britannica without me, I should be very glad. My eternal Fuci make me despair of ever doing it. You mention in your letter Ulva verticillata. ? Do you know it? It is a plant of which I never saw more than one specimen which the late Col. Velley gave me, nor did I ever hear of any other botanist having found it. If you would like to see any specimens of this or of any thing else that I have which is inclosable in a letter I will send it gladly. As for Orthotrichum aristatum & nodum I fear they are nonentities. The latter I never knew, but always supposed Mr Dickson took it up from some accidental variety of O. striatum & the former (confound it) has fled from me ever since I published it. You shall have what I meant for it, but now I find it runs into O. diaphanum, so as not to be distinguishable even as a variety. You must oblige me by sending me a complete list of all the mosses described in the Muscologiae Hibernicae which you have not, & you will see that I can give you the greater part of them without the slightest inconvenience to myself. Indeed, there is nobody whatever who has so much right to anything from me, & I promise you, nobody to whom I have so much pleasure in giving. I only regret that speaking in mercantile language, you always keep me so much your debtor, & that I have nothing to pay you with, but that which you already fully possess, the unfeigned esteem & regard of your very much obliged Dawson Turner
Polypodium lobatum ? Certainly right
————— cristatum variety — this variety is not uncommon with us, but ours has xxxx. I never remarked the fragrant smell before.
Fucus amphibius & Norwegicus — both rather different from the plants as they grow with us, & F amphibius much finer. I shall be obliged to you for more of it.
Little plant on F digitatus — I know nothing of it.
*Polypodium nigro viride ? — I rather suppose it to be Pterogonium filiforme, but cannot be sure without fruit.
Dicranum pellicidum — a variety approaching D virens.
———— osmundioides & Hypnum flagellare — I will trouble you for more of them, particularly the latter.
Bryum nutans — a small variety.
——— ventricosum ? & turbinatum ? — like ours.
Sertularia? — a variety of S volubilis with the margins of the cups entire; - I have found such here.
Hypnum [paper missing] ium — not what I have called so, but a small variety of H filicinum.
*H abietinum — This also is not mine, but is quite new to me: — can you send more of it? —
H serpens ? — the same as ours – one of the most common mosses here.
Orthitrichum No 1 — O pusillum — `No 2 O pulchellum of English Botany.
No 3 & 5 O striatum — No 4 O anomalum
Hypnum No 1 H cordifolium. No 2 H serpens — No 3 * H umbratum.
*Hypnum No 4 — quite new to me.
No 1 Dicranum viridissimum — (it is a Gymnostomum)
*No 2 I know nothing like this, except it is possible that it should be a most extraordinary variety of Anictangium ciliatum.
3. A curious variety of Bryum argenteum.
4. Barren shoots of Bryum julaceum.
5. Bryum carneum, mixed with some Dicranum.
6. Gymnostomum luteolum.
7. Variety of Grimmia recurvirostra, I think. No 9 Tortula tortuosa
8. Barren shoots of Bryum carneum ?
[Written sideways in the margin of the plant list sheet]
You see I have again marked with Astericks the plants I wish for more of, still a beggar!
[On piece either side of address panel]
I have lately received a very valuable parcel of foreign Fuci from Dr Swartz, but unfortunately, no duplicates, nor am I allowed to keep any for myself. These, with the New Holland ones from Mr Brown, will extend my work to at least 4 volumes, if I follow my original plan of giving a figure of every one. What an immense tome to look forward to! During the whole of it I must also look forward to the doing of nothing else, not even of the making of a summer excursion, as I wished to do this year to North Wales, but find I shall be too much occupied.
Mr Campbell, author of the Pleasures of Hope, has within the last fortnight, published a new poem, called Gertrude of Wyoming, a Pennsylvanian tale, too simple, in my opinion, to bear the superstructure of 3 or 4 cantos. Nor do I think that the poetry, which is very strained, & in many places scarcely construable, will add to his form, or justify the opinion of those who mark him above Walter Scott & Southey. He has chosen, too, Spencer’s stanza, the hardest in our language to manage well. With it he has reprised His Battle of the Baltic & Lochiel’s Warning, the latter of them terribly mutilated and quite tamed. Do you know these two beautiful poems? If not I will send them to you.
Please cite as “EHT026,” in Ɛpsilon: Ellen Hutchins Collection accessed on