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Darwin Correspondence Project

From Eliza Meteyard   17 November 1865

Wildwood | North End | Hampstead. NW.

Nov: 17. 1865

Dear Sir,

I send you nineteen of the letters you so kindly lent me: and hope amongst the number, one may be found suitable for the pages of the Autographic Mirror.1 If not, and Mrs Darwin2 will kindly inform me, I will send the rest, although dipping into them for the Wedgwood as I go on.3

I heartily apologize for retaining them so long, but I conscientiously feel that no one can reverence them more, or take greater care; and this perhaps makes me take unwarrantable liberties as to time.4 But your goodness I am sure pardons me. The circumstances under which my book has had to be written has much harrassed me—and with hundreds of pages to copy, and no helping hand—I necessarily take liberty where I can. But as soon as the last page of Wedgwood is off to the printers—and we begin to print though slowly on Dec. 1—I will set to, at once, and make what notes I shall further require for the Life of Thomas Wedgwood5—and then return them speedily—with very sincere thanks for your indulgence.

I sincerely hope your health is a little better than it was.

With compliments to Mrs Darwin, I am, | Dear Sir | With grateful respect | your’s faithfully | Eliza Meteyard.

C. Darwin Esq.

Footnotes

Meteyard refers either to the second volume of her life of Josiah Wedgwood I (Meteyard 1865–6), which was published in September 1866 (Publishers’ Circular 1866), or to Meteyard 1871 (see n. 5, below). See also letter from Eliza Meteyard, 25 April 1865.
CD had sent the letters in November 1863 (see Correspondence vol. 11, letter to J. D. Hooker, [22–3 November 1863] and n. 11, and this volume, Supplement, letter to Hurst and Blackett, 15 November [1863]).
Meteyard’s study of Josiah Wedgwood’s son Thomas Wedgwood, and his circle, was published under the title A group of Englishmen (Meteyard 1871).

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

Meteyard, Eliza. 1865–6. The life of Josiah Wedgwood from his private correspondence and family papers … with an introductory sketch of the art of pottery in England. 2 vols. London: Hurst & Blackett.

Meteyard, Eliza. 1871. A group of Englishmen (1795 to 1815), being records of the younger Wedgwoods and their friends, embracing the history of the discovery of photography. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.

Summary

Returns 19 of the letters CD lent her, so that he can choose one for the Autographic Mirror.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-4937
From
Eliza Meteyard
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Hampstead
Source of text
DAR 171: 161
Physical description
ALS 2pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4937,” accessed on 19 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4937.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 13

letter