WCP1316

[1]

39 Grosvenor Park[,]

Tunbridge Wells

Febr[uar]^y 26th 1904

Dear Mr Wallace,

I have just received your kind letter and your last book, for both of which I return my very best thanks[.]

I am very glad to learn that you are really going to write your autobiography[.] I have kept every [1 word illeg.] relatives[?] to your fam[ily?]. so carefully that in case you went to the [2] spirit land first I could[?] look around to see for some one with sufficient capacity and knowledge to put the material together, but on my word I do not know any one of sufficient [1 word illeg.] of mind to[?] undertake the task.

I have frequently had in mind your brother W.G.¹ a[?] conundrum one morning.

Thomas[:] "when is a man[?] most [1 word illeg.]?["] I gave [3] up the reddle [sic]. answer[:] ["]When he is confined in his own [1 word illeg.]. Taken in the general & metaphorical sense. This seems to me to be an almost universal malady. The [1 word illeg.] & the ignorant elite alike make their little vessels the measure for universal man[?] & truth.

I herewith send you some very interesting material. I shall come upon more later on. At present however it is evident that you must [4] have been living at Neath Abbey early in 1839.

As soon as I can I will send you all I have of Letters & Statutes[?].

I often wonder in my own mind whether the [1 word illeg.] of the Vale of health is as beautiful as I imagine them or if the destroying hand of improvement had made it [1 word illeg.]?

I remain | yours sincerely | Tho^s. Sims [signature]

D^r. A. R. Wallace