WCP5744

Published letter (WCP5744.6610)

[1] [p. 203]

TO MRS. FISHER (née BUCKLEY)1

Parkstone, Dorset.2 January 4, 1896.

My dear Mrs. Fisher, — I am glad to hear that you are going on with your book.3 I am sure it will be a comfort to you. I have read one book of Hudson's4 — "A Scientific Demonstration of a Future Life,"5 and that is so pretentious, so unscientific, and so one-sided that I do not feel inclined to read more of the same author's work. I do not think I mentioned to you (as I thought you did not read much now) a really fine original work, called "Psychic Philosophy, a Religion of Natural Law," by Desertis (Redway).6,7 I should like to know if, after reading that, you still think Hudson's books worth reading.8 [2] [p. 204]

I have been much pleased and interested lately in reading Mark Twain's,9 Mrs. Oliphant's10 and Andrew Lang's11 books12,13,14 about Joan of Arc.15 The last two are far the best, Mrs. Oliphant's as a genuine sympathetic history, Lang's as a fine realistic story ("A Monk of Fife"). Jeanne was really perhaps the most beautiful character in authentic history, and the one that most conclusively demonstrates spirit-guidance, and both Mrs. Oliphant and A. Lang bring this out admirably… — Yours very faithfully, | ALFRED R. WALLACE.

1
Fisher (née Buckley), Arabella Burton (1840-1929). British writer, science educator and spiritualist.
2
ARW lived at Corfe View, Parkstone, Dorset from 1889-1902, renting at first, then buying the house. Beccaloni, G. W. 2018. Wallace Timeline. Timeline of places and houses where Wallace lived. The Alfred Russel Wallace Website. <http://wallacefund.info/wallace-timeline#> [accessed 9 April 2019].
3

Buckley's last book was Moral Teachings of Science, published in 1891.

Gates, B. 2004. Buckley [married name Fisher], Arabella Burton (1840-1929). Popularizer of science and writer. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. <https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/54371> [accessed 9 April 2019]

4
Hudson, Thomson Jay (1834-1903). American psychic researcher.
5
Hudson, T. J. 1895. A scientific demonstration of the future life. Chicago: A. C. McClurg and company.
6

Desertis, V. C. 1896. Psychic philosophy as the foundation of a religion of natural law. London, UK: George Redway. ARW wrote the introductory note to this book. Desertis was the pseudonym used by Stanley De Brath. Smith, C. H. 2018. Introductory Note to Desertis' "Psychic Philosophy as the Foundation of a Religion of Natural Law" (S519: 1896). The Alfred Russel Wallace Page.

<https://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/S519.htm> [accessed 9 April 2019]

7
De Brath, Stanley (1854-1937). British civil engineer, educator, translator, author and psychical researcher. He used the pseudonym Desertis.
8
The text has a footnote at this point, "1 Psychical Research Society Report." relating to the previous letter (WCP5743.6609).
9
Twain, Mark, pseudonym of Clemens, Samuel Langhorne (1835-1910). American writer.
10
Oliphant, Margaret Oliphant Wilson (1828-1897). British novelist and biographer.
11
Lang, Andrew (1844-1912). British anthropologist, classicist and historian.
12
Twain, M. (Ed.) 1896. Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc by the Sieur Louis de Conte. New York: Harper & Brothers
13
Oliphant, Margaret 1896. Jeanne D'Arc: Her Life and Death. New York, London: G. P. Putnam's Sons
14
Lang, Andrew 1896. A Monk of Fife. London: Longmans Green
15
Saint Joan of Arc (c. 1412-1431). Lanhers, Yvonne and Vale, Malcolm G. A. 2019. Saint Joan of Arc. Encyclopaedia Britannica. <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Joan-of-Arc> [accessed 9 April 2019]

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP5744.6610)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Ghosh, Susan [2019-12-17]

Please cite as “WCP5744,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP5744