From W. Worsley   28 August 1831

My dear Henslow,

I am very much obliged to you for listing to me the particulars of poor Ramsay’s death. The report reached me at Birmingham on my way home, through Thackeray, \where I met him/, & though it was too circumstantial to admit of much doubt I could not help clinging to the hope that it might be false till the newspaper & then your letter \which was sent after me/ put an end to all doubt of the melancholy truth – I believe none of us will feel this great loss so deeply as you will, I hope we may any of us bear it as well & as much like Christian men as I know you will To me the blank his departure leaves is so very painful a one that I have hardly yet trusted myself to dwell on the thought of it. We were united by so many common pursuits & … & I owe to him so much of what was good & agreeable at Cambridge that I cannot hope my personal loss will now be repaired to say nothing of so abrupt & unlooked for a close to long habits of intercourse & friendship which was continually becoming more intimate– But we may not confine our regret for a man like Ramsay to the loss we ourselves feel of his society - & of his many admirable qualities or to our own private grief at being parted for a time at least from a dear & valued friend: The university; & indeed society at large can ill spare such men: in very few shall we find such a body of real worth, such an unpretending fulfillment of duty, so kindly & social a spirit, so much of the strength which is in quietness & confidence[.] I have long looked on his character with admiration, & with increasing admiration, because I could perceive continual improvement by patient self discipline & by the faithful use of associated means - Others may not have been so clearly aware of this but I have no doubt that you who have known him longer & more intimately than I have are still more convinced of its truth.

And it must lighten our grief – for though we see with sorrow & at first with a sort of painful surprise a source of much substantial good & of much innocent enjoyment to very many, so suddenly cut off yet then a light breaks through the cloud & we may perhaps in this case see though darkly what we do in all most undoubtedly believe, that so it is best \both/ for him & for us. That it is so for him requires no effort of faith to feel assured of. God grant that we may fulfil his fatherly intentions to his word &\make it so for ourselves/ by submitting in a childlike spirit to Him & to all his other dispensations even though they should be still more painful to our human feelings – so I would pray to feel – but I am conscious of infinite weakness & I positively dread returning to Cambridge where the forceful associations will renew the sense of loss at every turn. Indeed I must confess though will firstly say this argues anything but patience that my first strong impulse was not to return at all.

I hope M. ^rs Henslow is now well again & that you have been led to think too depressingly of your brother. Pray remember me very kindly to her & give a kiss to little Fanny & Louisa

Ever My Dear Henslow | your affectionate Friend | W. Worsley

[P.S.] Since leaving Bowood where we spent two months agreeably & I hope not altogether unprofitably I made a little tour on my way into Yorksh. Whither your letter followed me-