We were most glad to receive your kind favor of January 29, which, however, lay over a fortnight in England, and in the mean time we heard not only of Dr. Hooker’s capture, but also, with much gratification, of his release. What an indefatigable man he is! Finding myself greatly behindhand, on account of various hindrances and miscalculation of time, and utterly unable to accomplish half the work I had intended to do this spring, I have decided to break off; and to sail, in a packet-ship from Boston, on the 5th of June, with Mrs. Gray, for Liverpool, which we may hope to reach by the close of that month. This will give us an opportunity of seeing England in its summer dress, and to make, almost immediately following the sea voyage, a trip up the Rhine to Switzerland. On our return I must set to work diligently, and for a little while with Mr. Bentham, who has kindly offered to look over the tropical collections, which I know little of, and love as little. The rewriting of all the structural parts of my 3d edition of the “Botanical Text-Book,” which I was inadvertently drawn into, has proved a most time-consuming business. It is not yet through the press. Wright’s collection of seeds I had divided into two parts, and I send you one by the hands of Mr. Lowell, who with his whole family goes out by this steamer. You will receive them in good time to raise them.... Mr. Lowell is of great use to us, in helping on these explorations, and I look to his visit to Europe, the sight of the great collections, and the society of naturalists to strengthen his tastes and fire his zeal in these respects. I long to have him and Mrs. Lowell, a very good. friend of ours, make your acquaintance. FOOTNOTES: [1] This colony was composed of rigid Presbyterians, who desired to leave Ireland to escape various persecutions. They sent out the Rev. Mr. Boyd, early in 1718, with an address to the Governor of Massachusetts. The address, now in the Archives of the New Hampshire Historical Society, was signed by three hundred and nineteen persons, nine of whom were clergymen. The report brought back by Mr. Boyd of his reception by the governor and of the prospects of the country was so favorable that the addressors converted their property into money, and embarked in five ships for Boston, which they reached August 4, 1718. In Boston they separated for different places, but the larger part were sent to Worcester, then a frontier settlement of fifty-eight dwellings and two hundred inhabitants, but needing a larger population as protection from the Indians. John Gray--there were two of his name in the original party--went to Worcester, where he owned considerable land, and was evidently a man of influence in the colony, to judge from the various public offices held by him.