Hitcham Hadleigh Suffolk
15 Nov. 1851
My dear Bree,
I have undertaken to re-write my vol. of Botany in Lardner's Cyclopedia against time, & really have not a moment to spare to get up any thing for a lecture. If I had not promised them one Museum Lecture at Ipswich this week I should not have given one & I have been obliged to refuse both Colchester & Bury. This whole week has been lost to my book, by preparing diagrams, lecturing, & attending as Income tax Commissioner! Next week I have to go to town on Wednesday & do not return till Friday night - another dead loss to me - & how I am to get over the ground in time I begin to be frightened to think - & have determined to decline every thing that can possibly interfere with morning's work. The only chance I have of attending to your wishes is in case you can get the necessary illustrations collected, & I could come over in the evening at the risk of a sore throat & resay what little I have to say on the subject. If you like I could ask my Sister to lay out 2 or 3 pounds for those who are advocating these plans in procuring the tools, & such samples as might serve as models - just as they did for me. They could be sent to Stowmarket & when all was ready I would do my best to attend. I would willingly assist you to the best of my power - but I am in a fix with respect to time - & cannot devote any to making arrangements & procuring the necessary materials for an exposé. My sisters live in the midst of straw plattings & trimmings & could give you any information in reply to queries of much more value than any thing I could detail. I suppose your idea is to have a gathering of the working Classes & lay before them illustrations of the work to be done, & as far as possible explain to them how it is done. Without knowing a little more precisely what your views are, I am too much at a loss to see how I can be of any real service to the cause. If you can come over some day & have a talk about it I shall be more awake to your wishes. If you & Mrs Bree could come over to a merely family dinner on Tuesday, before I go to London, perhaps we could come to some conclusion. I am glad to hear you are returning to the ranks of the Diffusers, tho' I cannot see that you ever really deserted them. I am sure we have good reason at Hitcham for saying you have not. I found the working classes at Ipswich on Wednesday & Thursday particularly attentive & apparently interested.
Kind regards to Mrs Bree & believe me
Ever truly Yours
J. S. Henslow
Please cite as “HENSLOW-1267,” in Ɛpsilon: The Correspondence of John Stevens Henslow accessed on