To J. J. Aubertin 3 March [1871]1
Down. | Beckenham Kent. S.E.
March 3rd.
Dear Mr Aubertin
I congratulate you on your safe return after all your long wanderings in various parts of the world.— Should you ever be inclined to call here, I should be most happy to see you & so would Mrs. Darwin.— The best route is Orpington Station on the S.E. Ry. & the Station is 4 full miles from my house. I am sorry you had before your journey for nothing.2
Poor Miss Butler3 is dead— She fell down stairs & injured the vertebræ in her neck & died a most dreadful & prolonged death. Her sufferings were awful.
She once paid us a visit & the more we saw of her the more we liked her.4 You say nothing about your own health, which I hope is at last good— I cannot say much for myself as I am always ailing & with advancing old age cannot stand any excitement or fatigue. I can rarely talk for more than half an hour with anyone, but as long as I keep quiet I can do 2 or 3 or 4 hours of Scientific work almost every day—so I must not complain.— All my large family is fairly well—
Pray believe me | Yours very faithfully. | Ch. Darwin.
Footnotes
Summary
Invites him to visit.
Miss Butler is dead.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7539
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- John James Aubertin
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 143: 25
- Physical description
- C 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7539,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7539.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19