Item 55 - Letter from John W. Hales to Nora Sidgwick

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Thanks Nora for her 'most kindly and valuable support of the petition made to the First Lord of the Treasury [her brother Arthur Balfour, the Prime Minister]' by certain friends of Hales' on his behalf some weeks previously. Remarks on what a consolation it must be to her to see how Henry Sidgwick's name and influence live on 'as his work is more and more fully realized'. Recalls how Professor Seeley once remarked to him of Henry what a king he was amongst his contemporaries in Cambridge. Declares what a different place Cambridge seems without Henry; meeting him was 'like breathing a purer and keener air'. Refers to his eagerness to show an interest in anything that merited interest, and his abiltity to clear up 'any perplexity of any worthy kind.' States that Professor Gardiner, Professor Seeley and Henry 'are the three men who stood out in mind and character above all others....'

Sends their love to Miss Clough, and states that they were sadly grieved to hear of her bereavement [the death of her mother]. Recalls that he owed his first introduction to Miss Clough's mother and aunt to Henry in 1867, when a committee was choosing two lecturers - one from Oxford and one from Cambridge - to undertake courses of English history and literature in the province, and he [Hales] was proposed by Henry 'as the Cambridge man'. Sends his and his wife's kindest regards to Nora.