WCP5749

[1] [p. 208]

To Prof. BARRETT¹

Parkstone, Dorset. February 17, 1901.

My dear Barrett, — I am rather sorry you wrote to any one of the Society for Psychical Research people about my being asked to be President, because I should certainly feel compelled to decline it. I never go, willingly, to London now, and should never attend meetings, so pray say no more about it. Besides, I am so widely known as a "crank" and a "faddist" that my being President would injure the Society, as much as Lord Rayleigh would benefit it, so pray do not put any obstacle in his way, though of course there [2] is no necessity to beg him as a favour to be the successor of Sidgwick, Crookes and Myers…