Mr Dawson Turner avails himself with much pleasure of the permission that he has received thro’ Mr Hooker <1> to offer to Mr Talbot a copy of the Muscologia Hibernica. <2> He rejoices very sincerely in Mr Talbot’s attachment to botanical pursuits, & particularly to the study of the mosses, a family which, tho’ from their minuteness generally overlooked, deserves to be reckoned among the most wonderful & beautiful of the production of the Divine hand in vegetable Life. If in this, or any other Branch of botany, Mr Turner can ever be of assistance to Mr Talbot, he assures him it will always be a pleasure to him to be so employed. –
Yarmouth
21st June 1816.
Notes:
1. Possibly this refers to the botanist Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785–1865), son-in-law of Dawson Turner, but it is difficult to imagine why he would grant permission to Turner to give away his own book. It more likely refers to Rev. Thomas Redman Hooker (1762-1838), WHFT's tutor at Rottingdean and a most interesting character. His career prospects were seemingly cut short when his father lost his fortune to an industrial accident. Hooker became the private secretary to the Duke of Dorset, learned French, took Holy Orders and through the Duke's influence established an influential school. His pupils included the nephews of the Duke of Wellington and of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was also active in the local smuggling ring. See Arthur R. Ankers, revised by Michael Smith, Sussex Cavalcade (Sevenoaks: Hawthorns Publications, Ltd., 1992), pp. 97-100.
.2. Dawson Turner, Muscologiae Hibernicae spicilegium (London: J. Black, 1804). [See Doc. No: 00706].