Item 54 - Letter from John W. Hales to Nora Sidgwick

Regrets to hear she has been unwell, and hopes that she will soon be able to get about again. Is glad to hear that the life of Henry Sidgwick is soon to be published, and predicts that it will 'meet with a wide and cordial welcome'. Offers to send a longer note about him. Relates that when he was in residence as a Fellow of Christ's 'in the years '64 and '65' he and Henry 'had many walks and talks, and frequently inter-dined.' Claims that amongst 'the "dons" of that time', with whom he was acquainted, 'there was no one in any way comparable with [Henry] in intellectual vigour and acuteness, in open-mindedness, in variety of interests....' Thanks Nora for her sympathetic reference to the cause that prevented him [Hales] from lecturing at Newnham the previous term; explains that it was insomnia.