Ɛpsilon

WCP3990

Transcription (WCP3990.3933)

[1]1

A. Russell [sic] Wallace Ap 5 1902

to Mr Bennett2

Broadstone, Wimborne

Excuse P. Card as I am very busy.

I am glad to see you have written an Ightham and hope it will sell fairly well.

I am not interested in the new theology or in any theology.

I passed all that long ago.

Inasmuch as it proposes a knowledge of God it is all vanity and vexation of the spirit.

I agree with H. S.3 that the first cause is necessarily unknowable, even unthinkable.

Yours | AR Wallace

1
Letter was copied by Benjamin Harrison into one of his personal notebooks which is now volume 25 in the Benjamin Harrison archive held by Maidstone Museum.
2
Bennett, Francis James (1845-1926). British geologist. Co-authored Ightham, the Story of a Kentish Village and its Surroundings with W. J. Lewis Abbott.
3
Spencer, Herbert (1820-1903). British philosopher, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Transcription (WCP3990.3933)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Catchpole, Caroline [2012-02-28] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2026-04-18]

Please cite as “WCP3990,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3990