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Darwin Correspondence Project

From J. M. Herbert   28 December 1880

Rocklands | Ross. | Kerne Bridge Station | Telegrams to Ross.

28 Decr. 1880

My dear Darwin,

Your very kind & affectionate letter has much cheered me—tho’ it was extracted from you by my wife sending you the Xmas Card, without my authority.1 A young friend of hers has produced a great many sketches of Pigs in various human attitudes, & playing childrens’ games, of which I send Mrs. Darwin 3 Specimens—and having exhausted her porcine vein, she sent some imaginary specimens of Antediluvians, which my wife thought might win a smile from you, even if you did not recognize any conformity to the prehistoric types—and I believe it was done in the hope of receiving your autograph to be inserted in her Book of Autographs of British & European Celebrities.2 It appears from your letter that you have not heard of my 2d. Marriage, tho’ it took place 314 years ago. It has been to me one continuous source of comfort & happiness— She was Mary Phillpotts, a great niece of the Bishop of Exeter—3

I have not heard from Whitley but once since his Wife’s death, which happened several months ago to the great destruction of his happiness; for never were man & Wife better suited for each other, or more devoted to each other, than they were—4 He has generally very fair health—but a delicate throat often obliges him to winter at Bournemouth, or some sheltered place on the South Coast.

I don’t think I have ever met but one of your Sons, & him I casually met on the Railway travelling with my friend Archdeacon Crawley; & I challenged him to be your Son from his likeness to you in voice & features.5 When will you be content with the fame, which the amazing amount of your good work has secured for you? It seems to me that in the estimation of Europe, you already stand on a higher pedestal than Cuvier6—And I feel it to be one of the real joys of my life to be acknowledged by you as a friend—

With kindest remembrances to Mrs. Darwin, & every kind wish for yourself & all your family; I am always— | Very truly yrs | J. M. Herbert

C. Darwin Esq

Footnotes

The friend has not been identified and the sketches have not been found.
Herbert and his second wife were married on 4 September 1877 (England, select marriages, 1538–1973 (Ancestry.com, accessed 27 June 2019)). The bishop of Exeter was Henry Phillpotts.
Charles Thomas Whitley, Herbert, and CD were contemporaries at Cambridge. Whitley’s wife, Frances Whitley, had died on 15 December 1879.
William Crawley was archdeacon of Monmouth; his son, Charles Crawley, was a friend of Francis Darwin, so Francis was probably the son the Herbert had met.

Summary

News of JMH’s second marriage.

Death of Charles Whitley’s wife.

Thinks CD’s fame in Europe is greater than that of Cuvier.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-12884
From
John Maurice Herbert
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Rocklands
Source of text
DAR 166: 187
Physical description
ALS 8pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12884,” accessed on 19 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12884.xml

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