A.R.  WALLACE.

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In due course he received the degree.  “On that occasion,” says Professor Poulton, “Wallace stayed with us, and I was anxious to show him something of Oxford; but, with all that there is to be seen, one subject alone absorbed the whole of his interest—­he was intensely anxious to find the rooms where Grant Allen had lived.  He had received from Grant Allen’s father a manuscript poem giving a picture of the ancient city dimly seen by midnight from an undergraduate’s rooms.  With the help of Grant Allen’s college friends we were able to visit every house in which he had lived, but were forced to conclude that the poem was written in the rooms of a friend or from an imaginary point of view.”

His friend Sir W.T.  Thiselton-Dyer, with others, was promoting his election to the Royal Society, and wrote to him: 

SIR W.T.  THISELTON-DYER TO A.R.  WALLACE

Kew.  October 23, 1892.

Dear Mr. Wallace,—­ ...  When you were at Kew this summer I took the liberty of saying that it would give great pleasure to the Fellows of the Royal Society if you would be willing to join their body.  I understood you to say that it would be agreeable to you.  I now propose to comply with the necessary formalities.  But before doing so it will be proper to ask for your formal consent.  You will then, as a matter of course, be included in the next annual election.

Will you forgive me if I am committing any indiscretion in saying that I have good authority for adding (though I suppose it can hardly be stated officially at this stage) that no demand will ever be made upon you for a subscription?—­Believe me yours sincerely,

W.T.  THISELTON-DYER.

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SIR W.T.  THISELTON-DYER TO A.R.  WALLACE

Kew.  January 12, 1893.

Dear Mr. Wallace,—­ ...  I was very vexed to hear that I had misunderstood your wishes about the Royal Society.  Of course, the matter must often have presented itself to your mind, and I confess that it argued a little presumption on the part of a person like myself, so far inferior to you in age and standing, to think that you would yield to my solicitation.

I was obliged for my health to go to Eastbourne, and there I had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Huxley, who, you will be glad to hear, is wonderfully well, and an ardent gardener!  His present ambition is to grow every possible saxifrage.