To Adam Sedgwick 13 October 1868
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
Oct 13 1868
My dear Professor Sedgwick
I have been deeply gratified by your kindness in remembering me & sending your congratulations on my son’s election as a Fellow of Trinity.1 This certainly is a very great honour to him & a source of much pleasure to me. I often think of the Geological tour in N. Wales, when you allowed me to accompany you, & which was so great a pleasure & advantage to me.2 You, also, during my expedition in the Beagle sent me several encouraging messages, the actual words of some of which I still remember.3 With these recollections & feelings you will believe how deeply I have been gratified by receiving your letter.
I am very sorry to hear that you suffer from so many serious complaints; but considering how often you were formerly unwell you seem to me a wonderful instance of prolonged vigour of mind & body. As for myself I am always an invalid, & fear that I shall never see Cambridge again, though from the many happy days spent there I shd much like to do so.
With the most sincere respect pray believe me | your obliged friend | Charles Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Herbert, Sandra. 2005. Charles Darwin, geologist. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
Summary
Thanks AS for congratulations on George Darwin’s Trinity fellowship.
Reminiscence of his geological tour of North Wales with AS and the encouraging messages received during the Beagle voyage.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6418
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Adam Sedgwick
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Mrs Romney Sedgwick (private collection)
- Physical description
- LS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6418,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6418.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16