My dear Romanes

I was very glad to read your last note with much news interesting to me.¹ But I write now to say how I, & indeed all of us in this house, have admired your letter in the Times. It was so simple & direct.— I was particularly glad about Burdon Sanderson, of whom I have been for several years a great admirer.—² I was, also, especially glad to read the last sentences.³ I have been bothered with several letters, but none abusive.— Under a selfish point of view I am very glad of the publication of your letter, as I was at first inclined to think that I had done mischief by stirring up the mud. Now I feel sure that I have done good.⁴ M^r Jesse has written to me very politely: he says his Soc. has had nothing to do with the placards & diagrams against physiology & I suppose, therefore, that these all originate with the sweet Miss Cobbe.— Good Heavens what a liar she is: did you notice how in her second letter she altered what she quoted from her first letter, trusting to no one comparing the two?—⁵ M^r Jesse complains bitterly that the Times will “burk” all his letters to this newspaper; nor am I surprised judging from the laughable tirades advertised in Nature.—⁶

Ever yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin