To C. T. Whitley 20 June [1863]1
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
June 20th
My dear Whitley
I was sincerely glad to receive your note & have news of you;2 for I often think of old days at Cambridge, when I took long walks with the expectant senior wrangler & when he instructed me in Engravings.—3
I thank you cordially for your kind invitation; but my health has been so bad for several years that I have been unable to attend the British Association, & have no hopes for this year.4 In fact for the last two years I have led the life of a hermit, seeing no one & going nowhere; & doing nothing but two or three hours work daily on my good days at natural History. I am become that most wretched & despicable object, a confirmed valetudinarian. I have much, very much, to be thankful for in life; but everyone has his heavy drawbacks & my own health & even more that of my children is our sore drawback. For years we have had one or other of our children invalids. But I have said enough & more than enough.—
Again I thank you sincerely for your kind remembrance of me, & with hearty good wishes, remain | My dear Whitley | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Alum. Cantab.: Alumni Cantabrigienses. A biographical list of all known students, graduates and holders of office at the University of Cambridge, from the earliest times to 1900. Compiled by John Venn and J. A. Venn. 10 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1922–54.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Summary
Recalls the long walks in Cambridge with the "expectant senior wrangler". Cannot accept invitation (related to meetings of the BAAS) because of continuing bad health, his own and that of his children.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4217A
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Charles Thomas Whitley
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Shrewsbury School, Taylor Library
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4217A,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4217A.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 11