From Revd James Dalton   28 July 1829

Croft near Darlington

28 July 1829

Sir,

encouraged by our mutual Friend Macfarlen, I venture to introduce myself to you under the character of a mendicant. My brief history is this― I gave my collection of British Plants to the Philosoph. Society of York, my native City, & have commenced a new one. The pages accompanying this, will discover to you the nakedness of the Land, & the impossibility, at my age, of gathering myself, as formerly the products of distant Counties. I shall be proud to make the best return in my power, for any duplicates you may be able to spare. The Duplicates of my mosses alone were retained; as I am tolerably conversant in that beautiful & intricate family, it is possible I may be able to serve you. Need I add that I will have much pleasure in doing so?

I, formerly, corresponded with Relhan, who kindly sold me specimens gathered from the Botanic Garden in Cambridge. Those, of course, were discarded, so soon as I could replace them with specimens from their native station. Poor Relhan was an excellent Botanist. I wish I c d.― say more for him. The Eriophorum polystachion, as I was told by the late M r. Home, grows upon Hinton Moor, along with Er: pubescens. For twenty years I had mistaken the latter for the former, which has not yet come under my observation. I made a vain application to Home for specimens; But he, poor fellow, was as dry as a Concio ad Clerum, & I am still in doubt with respect to the species.

Should business or pleasure bring you so far North as Croft, it will give me sincere pleasure to receive you at the old Rectory, where you will meet a cordial welcome & no form.

Feeling confident that you will pardon the liberty now taken by (in every respect) an old F. L. S. I am, Sir, yours very truly | James Dalton.

Written on 2 pp. list of Henslow's desiderata. Pencil marks added by James Dalton In margin opposite long string of Saxifraga spp., JSH wrote: 'I suspect that this genus will contract very materially under the pruning of my Friend Hooker.'

Please cite as “HENSLOW-92,” in Ɛpsilon: The Correspondence of John Stevens Henslow accessed on 29 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/henslow/letters/letters_92