Dear Darwin,—­Yours just received.  Pray act exactly as if nothing had been said to me on the subject.  I do not particularly wish for the work,[98] as, besides being as you say, tedious work, it involves a considerable amount of responsibility.  Still, I am prepared to do any literary work of the kind, as I told Bates some time ago, and that is the reason he wrote to me about it.  I certainly think, however, that it would be in many ways more satisfactory to you if your son did it, and I therefore hope he may undertake it.

Should he, however, for any reasons, be unable, I am at your service as a dernier ressort.

In case my meaning is not quite clear, I will not do it unless your son has the offer and declines it.—­Believe me, dear Darwin, yours very faithfully,

ALFRED B. WALLACE.

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The Dell, Grays, Essex.  November 18, 1873.

Dear Darwin,—­I quite understand what you require, and would undertake to do it to the best of my ability.  Of course in such work I should not think of offering criticisms of matter.

I do not think I could form any idea of how long it would take by seeing the MSS., as it would all depend upon the amount of revision and working-in required.  I have helped Sir C. Lyell with his last three or four editions in a somewhat similar though different way, and for him I have kept an account simply of the hours I was employed in any way for him, and he paid me 5/- an hour; but (of course this is confidential) I do not think this quite enough for the class of work.  I should propose for your work 7/- an hour as a fair remuneration, and I would put down each day the hours I worked at it.

No doubt you will get it done for very much less by any literary man accustomed to regular literary work and nothing else, and perhaps better done, so do not in the least scruple in saying you decide on employing the gentleman you had in view if you prefer it.

If you send it to me could you let me have all your MSS. copied out, as it adds considerably to the time required if there is any difficulty in deciphering the writing, which in yours (as you are no doubt aware) there often is.

My hasty note to Bates was not intended to be shown you or anyone.  I thought he had heard of it from Murray, and that the arrangement was to be made by Murray.—­Believe me yours very faithfully,

ALFRED R. WALLACE.

P.S.—­I have been delighted with H. Spencer’s “Study of Sociology.”  Some of the passages in the latter part are grand.  You have perhaps seen that I am dipping into politics myself occasionally.—­A.R.W.

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Down, Beckenkam, Kent.  November 19, 1873.