WCP6777

Private

1 St Mary's Terrace

Paddington W.

Dec 16./[18]79

Dear M^r Darwin,

I want very much to consult you upon a matter in which I have perhaps no real concern, but with which I believe I am better acquainted than others—

You will no doubt have known that M^r Wallace was a candidate for the ^{post of} Superintendent [2] of Epping Forest & has been making great efforts to get it during the whole past year. He is now rejected & they have chosen a landscape-gardener instead¹.

Now he is so modest & sensitive about himself that I am sure he would never tell anyone that which however I know, that "pecuniarily it was² of importance to him to get a regular salary".

He is not strong & literary [3] work tries him very much & the uncertainty of it is a great anxiety to him—

In a letter to me the other day he writes "I want some regular work either partially outdoor, or if indoor then not more than 5 or 6 hours a day & capable of being partially done at home— This I see no probability — hardly a possibility of getting at my age & with my irregular antecedents".³

Now I cannot help thinking [4] that if men like Sir J[ohn]. Lubbock⁴, Sir J[oseph]. Hooker⁵ & others knew that M^r Wallace wanted work of a modest kind & not some important post, some good use might be made of his great Natural History power, his future made more secure— Only, of course, my moving in the matter should not appear, I merely suggest that, which if it could come, must do so from men of his own standing & I shall not mention to any one that I have written to you— Years ago he was to have had the East London Museum⁶ but it passed into the hands of S. Kensington⁷ & he lost it— I feel he ought to have something & I could think of no one <as> good as yourself to whom I could say so—

I remain | Yours very sincerely Arabella B Buckley [signature]