Shrewsbury
October 29th. 1834
My dear Charles
The last letter we received from you was dated April 6th of
this year, from the Falkland Islands. Caroline has written to you since last month. We
have been writing now a long time, directed to Valparaiso; I shall be so delighted when
we hear from you from that place.— I was much interested by your account of
Jemmy Button, & his young wife; I dare say it is happier for him to forget his
English Habits, as he is to remain there.— Caroline had a letter from William
Fox lately, who wished to know where to direct to you, as he is thinking of writing to
you again, and is very anxious to hear some news of you. He says that in July he heard
some very flattering things said of your exertions in Nat History, by Professor Henslow;
who was then regretting that a Bag of Seeds, which had long reached England, had not
arrived at Cambridge. William Fox says that you seem to have added much to our Gigantic
Fossil Remains.— William Fox & his Wife are now staying at Osmaston;
they were to have paid us a visit this Summer, but his Wife has been ill, which
prevented it. The only great piece of news I have to tell you, is that the Langtons are
intending to spend this Winter either in Madeira, or in the West Indies; on account of
Mr Langton's health being so delicate, there is such great fear of his
going into a Consumption, & it is thought a warm Climate may be of use to
him.— Who would have believed 4 years ago that you would have been in
South America, & Charlotte in the West Indies!— Nothing is quite fixed
yet, but they will certainly go somewhere, as they have parted with their Servants, and
obtained the Bishop's Leave for two years absence from his Living,—and it will
most probably end in the West Indies, as Mr Langton much prefers that to
Madeira. They did not think of it till so late in the Autumn, that they will have a
great hurry over their Preparations.— They will return next Summer of course,
as I suppose nobody spends the Summer in those hot Climates, no invalid, I should
say.— There is no other Wedgwood news; we have had Harry & Jessie
staying here sometime, with their nice little Baby, who is a great beauty, Miss Louisa
by name.— Uncle Jos is enjoying his holiday from Parliament, Aunt Bessy
continues much in the same state;—her intellects are very much gone, and she
is perfectly helpless, from her lameness, but otherwise she is very well, and very
cheerful.— I suppose you will see in the Papers the account of the Houses of
Parliament being so entirely burnt down; it was owing to carelessness entirely Westminster Hall had a narrow escape, but fortunately was
uninjured, and most of the valuable Papers also were saved.— Owing to the wood
work being so very old, it blazed away with immense rapidity.— Erasmus has
never sent us word whether he joined the crowd to see it; it must have been a splendid
sight.— The Owens are all in just the same state; no news about them; poor
William Owen hobbles about on crutches, and can now bend his knee seven inches, which is
thought a great feat. He has sold all his Hunters, and is going to set up a Poney
Carriage for the Winter; it is now 4 months since his accident; it is still
doubtful whether he will ever get the entire use of it again.— The Biddulphs
are returned from Switzerland; Fanny is ver<y> well now.— I gave
Mr Owen your message th<e> last time I saw him; he always
talks about you.— Do you remember Lloyd Kenyon, Mr Kenyon of
Pradoe's eldest Son? I suppose we told you he went violently frantic in the Spring, and
tried to kill a Man; he got quite well, after this attack, went out every where, and his
family denied his madness; but about a fortnight ago, he went quite mad again, and after
great difficulty, was taken up, and sent into confinement at Liverpool.— He
never can be considered safe, after this second attack.— Susan and I returned
yesterday from spending two days at your friend Mr Slaney's, in his new
grand house at Walford.— It is a very large house, but not handsome, as he
would be his own architect. Mr Slaney begged to be particularly
remembered to you, and enquired much about you. Tom Eyton was staying in the house of
course, with his love; they are to be married in February, and
to live with old Mr Eyton; the house at Eyton has been very much added
to, and altered to receive the Bride.— Tom Eyton seemed to be very devoted; I
think he will have a very nice Wife, and certainly a very handsome one; and
they will suit so well both so fond of quiet pursuits.— I think you will find
them a very nice couple to stay with, when you come back; Tom Eyton, I am sure, is very
fond of you; he has written to you already three times at Valparaiso, and is
going to write to you again.— He has got some Chinese Geese, which are very
curious birds, and a variety of other creatures & birds at Eyton, which I
daresay he has written you an account of.— You must write and congratulate him
upon his marriage to be; he is very proud of his choice, I am sure.—
Nancy has been begging me to tell you how much she longs to see you again, and how much
she thinks of you.
Goodbye dear old Charley. How I long to see your dear old Phiz again. Papa's &
all our best of loves. | Yrs ever | Catherine Darwin
Papa is very well.—
