Melbourne bot. Garden,
25./11./65.
The announcement, dear Dr Hooker, of the death of your venerable and beloved father has thrown me into deep sadness;1 and when I reflect, how solicitously kind he acted towards even those, who merely were connected with the great departed by the bonds of science, I can understand your grief as a son who lost such a father.2
To him it must have been a joyful consciousness to know, that you would continue his great labours & uphold the celebrity of his name; - to yourself it must be a consolation to know, that your fathers name will be held in veneration as long as plants exist in this world, and that he parted at a silvery age in placid contentedness and with a prideful retrospect on his achievements, with a hopeful look on his descend[e]nts.
To me his memory will ever remain very dear! Indeed I cannot yet fully recognize, that I shall receive no more friendly words of encouragement & of consolation from him.
I trust that you are recovered from the severe illness, which prostrated you3 & that in the continuance of your glorious labours, — ever connected with your fathers —, you will find a mournful pleasure.
Ever regardfully
your Ferd. Mueller.
Please cite as “FVM-65-11-25a,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on