St Johns Coll. Cambridge
Dec. 11. 1841.
Dear Henslow,
I have just heard of poor Don being dead & write to you for your advice about becoming a candidate for his Chair, Do you recommend me to do so or not? You may have heard something in London relative to the subject of Candidate &c. &c.
If it is your opinion that I had better come forwards, I should be much obliged by your telling me your views of the best mode of proceeding & also letting me have a testimonial of my qualification from you.
I wish that our poor friend had lived a few months longer, as now it is probable that the successful candidate will have to lecture in the spring, & a 3 months course is no easy thing to prepare.
Poor Don, I scarcely know of any person who will be so universally regretted & missed by the Botanists. His remarkable botanical knowledge & the kind manner in which he was always ready to communicate it to all who wanted information made him a universal favourite.
With Compts to Mrs Henslow
believe me
yours truly
Charles C. Babington
If I got the chair I should of course not [illeg. into margin]
Please cite as “HENSLOW-1437,” in Ɛpsilon: The Correspondence of John Stevens Henslow accessed on