My dear Will,-- ... I have a rather surprising bit of news for you. When I was almost at my worst, feeling very bad, I had a letter inviting me to give an evening lecture at the Royal Institution, for their Jubilee of the "Origin of Species"! Of course I decided at once to decline as impossible, etc., having nothing new to say, etc. But a few hours afterwards an idea suddenly came to me for a very fine lecture, if I can work it out as I hope--and the more I thought over it the better it seemed. So, two days back, I wrote to Sir W. Crookes--the Honorary Secretary, who had written to me--accepting provisionally!... Here is another "crowning honour"--the most unexpected of all!... * * * * * TO MR. W.G. WALLACE _Old Orchard, Broadstone, Wimborne. December 2, 1908._ My dear Will,-- ... This morning the Copley Medals came, gold and silver, smaller than any of the others, but very beautifully designed; the face has the Royal Society's arms, with Copley's name, and "Dignissimo," and my name below. The reverse is the Royal Arms. By the same post came a letter from the Lord Chancellor's Office informing me, to my great relief, that the King had been graciously pleased to dispense with my personal attendance at the investiture of the Order of Merit, ... * * * * * TO MR. W.G. WALLACE _Old Orchard, Broadstone, Wimborne. December 17, 1908._ My dear Will,--The ceremony is over, very comfortably. I am duly "invested," and have got two engrossed documents, both signed by the King, one appointing me a member of the "Order of Merit" with all sorts of official and legal phrases, the other a dispensation from being personally "invested" by the King--as Col. Legge explained, to safeguard me as having a right to the Order in case anybody says I was not "invested." ... Colonel Legge was a very pleasant, jolly kind of man, and he told us he was in attendance on the German Emperor when he was staying near Christchurch last summer, and went for many drives with the Emperor only, all about the country.... Col. Legge got here at 2.40, and had to leave at 3.20 (at station), so we got a carriage from Wimborne to meet the train and take him back, and Ma gave him some tea, and he said he had got a nice little place at Stoke Poges but with no view like ours, and he showed me how to wear the Order and was very pleasant: and we were all pleased.... The next letter refers to the discovery of a rare moth and some beetles in the root of an orchid. It was certainly a strange yet pleasant coincidence that these creatures should find themselves in Dr. Wallace's greenhouse, where alone they would be noticed and appreciated as something uncommon. * * * * * TO MR. W.G. WALLACE _Old Orchard, Broadstone, Wimborne. February 23, 1909._