To W. E. Darwin 29 [November 1855]1
Down
29th
My dear old Gulielmus
I have been so very sorry for your having been ill this half-year—again with the Measles: you have been most unlucky. Besides all the discomfort, all the loss of time must tell on your examination. Do not work to tire yourself; you are one of the very few Boys to whom I should dare to tell them not to overexert themselves, for most youngsters are inclined enough to spare themselves, but this has never been your case. I hope now that you will soon be quite comfortable. Thank goodness it is not now very long to the Holidays.—2
I am going up to London this evening & I shall start quite late, for I want to attend a meeting of the Columbarian Society,3 which meets at 7 oclock near London Bridge. I think I shall belong to this Soc.y. where, I fancy, I shall meet a strange set of odd men.— Mr. Brent was a very queer little fish;4 but I suppose Mamma told you about him; after dinner he handed me a clay pipe, saying “here is your pipe” as if it was a matter of course that I shd. smoke.— Another odd little man (N.B all Pigeons Fanciers are little men, I begin to think) & he showed me a wretched little Polish Hen, which he said he would not sell for £50 & hoped to make £200 by her, as she had a black top-knot.— I am going to bring a lot more pigeons back with me on Saturday, for it is a noble & majestic pursuit, & beats moths butterflies, whatever you may say to the contrary.—
Mrs. Mackintosh comes this evening & Mr. M.5 on Saturday. Poor Mamma is in bed with a bad cold this morning. Be sure do you be careful of yourself, when you first get out, for a cold after Measles is a serious affair.
Georgy likes his journeys to Hayes & has just started as independently as possible.6 I have been doing before the visitors came some optics with him, & I have got some optical toys, but they were a bad bargain: write twice a week, till you are perfectly well.
My dearest old fellow | C. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Brent, Bernard Peirce. 1856. Classification of pigeons. Cottage Gardener and Country Gentleman’s Companion 15: 417–18.
Moore, James Richard. 1977. On the education of Darwin’s sons: the correspondence between Charles Darwin and the Reverend G. V. Reed, 1857–1864. Notes and Records of the Royal Society 32 (1977–8): 51–70.
Secord, James Andrew. 1981. Nature’s fancy: Charles Darwin and the breeding of pigeons. Isis 72: 162–86.
Summary
Is sorry to hear that WED has been ill.
Discusses pigeons and his pigeon work.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1689
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Erasmus Darwin
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 210.6: 7
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1689,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1689.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 5