Darwin Correspondence Project

Thursday

Dear Darwin

Many thanks for your friendly letter of yesterday w^h. I am, thank God able to answer favorably, with my own hand. I have no trace of my disorder but extreme weakness from depletion, w^h. is also rapidly going—no one could be more speedy & I am satisfied the attack has cleared my constitution & made a new man of me. I have not felt for a day since Xmas, so well & clear as I do at this moment—farewell blue devils & indigestion & aching shoulders. I shall now take extreme care of my health. I wish you would tell your Father that I forgot to mention that I drank a pint of ale a day during those 3 months, when my health was so particularly good, & w^h. he told me ought therefore to be a pattern for my manner of living: at the same time I do not in the least wish to rebel if he thinks malt liquor bad for me, but I have a prejudice in favor of cwrw^f2 w^h. I have seen made over & over again whereas wine may be the devil’s dam’s milk, for ought I know: I am going to commence the dinner pills, having disbanded all other physic. Please to call at Bisco’s^f3 for the prescription, & ask the cuckoldy knave what business he had to keep it, & send it me soon, or I shall be run out. I left my bed on Saturday, having suffered after you left far worse than ever, Stranguary^f4 being added to my other ailments from excessive blistering, & a very fair imitation of the clap it is, to tell the truth. I hope you hear good acc^ts. of your sister & Stroll to whom give my best regards when you write. I hope you will be in Shrewsbury when I return— I never thought to see you again, being not far from death, as my poor Mother also thought, who tended me like a guardian angel night and day to the injury of her own health w^h. is however recovering fast with my own. We go to the sea side as soon as I can move. Buxton is too far. I am glad you derived some pleasure from your tour w^h. I much wish I could have joined & should have been glad to assist you by speaking the British language: “chattering” I do not understand— I am in your debt for the transplanter w^h. pleases my Mother in theory vastly. She begs to be kindly remembered & is sorry you had such a comfortless visit, but you knew the cause & I hope will not be deterred from a second trial under better auspices. Present my best comp^ts. to your Father & the s<is>ters & tell the former that I have disinherited my undutiful child & never mean to countenance him again— And do not forget to ask about John Barleycorn. I have shaved my skull & started a devilish smart crop wig, w^h. makes my upper works very imposing, but my legs, my dear fellow, are deplorably reduced, & would qualify me to enact Trinculo^f5 to a shaving. I talk of planting them in a box & watering them, but perchance roast beef, butter milk &c will make ‘em grow quite as fast: not forgetting a modicum of cwrw if allowed— We expect my Father from his living tonight. I walk out every day & the view of these glorious mountains & smell of their air is life to me. I am tired & have in deed filled my sheet—

Believe me dear D. Yours v truly J. Price

Footnotes

f1

The references to CD’s tour and Price’s expected return to Shrewsbury make the summer of 1826 a probable date. According to his `Journal’ CD toured North Wales with Nathan Hubbersty in mid-June of 1826 (see Correspondence vol. 1, Appendix I). Price was then an Assistant Master at Shrewsbury School.

f2

Welsh for `beer’.

f3

Richard Briscoe, Chemist, Castle Street, Shrewsbury (Pigot’s Salop directory 1825).

f4

Strangury: a disease of the urinary organs (OED).

f5

`I’ll pull thee by the lesser legs: if any be Trinculo’s legs, these are they.’ Shakespeare, The Tempest, 2. 2. 104–6 (Arden edition).