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From W. E. Gladstone   24 July 1879

Dear Mr Darwin

As my collection of the facts of colour from the Homeric Poems fell within the wide circle of your observation, I am desirous to place in your hands another like collection, made at any rate without prepossession of any kind, on the Homeric epithets of motion—1

The conclusion to which I am led in this case is the precise opposite of the former one— The epithets indicate ideas of motion more precisely and if I may so speak scientifically adjusted than so far as I know they can be shown to be in the works of any other author—2

Pray do not take the trouble to acknowledge this note and believe me | with much respect | Faithfully yours | W E Gladstone

73 Harley St | July 24. 79

Footnotes

1
CD had written to Gladstone after reading Gladstone’s article on colour vocabulary and its usage in Homeric texts, a supplement to Gladstone’s earlier book on the topic (Gladstone 1877 and Gladstone 1858; see Correspondence vol. 25, letter to W. E. Gladstone, 2 October 1877). Gladstone sent a copy of his recent article ‘On epithets of movement in Homer’ (Gladstone 1879); the offprint has not been found in the Darwin Archive–CUL.
2
In Gladstone 1877, Gladstone had concluded that the sense of colour was not very well developed in the ancient world, based on the paucity of colour vocabulary and its imprecise usage in the texts he analysed. He had further argued that many words associated with colour referred, in fact, to lightness or darkness.

Bibliography

Gladstone, William Ewart. 1858. Studies on Homer and the Homeric age. 3 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gladstone, William Ewart. 1877. The colour-sense. Nineteenth Century 2: 366–88.

Gladstone, William Ewart. 1879. On epithets of movement in Homer. Nineteenth Century 5: 463–87.

Summary

Sends CD his collection of Homeric epithets on motion, which "indicate ideas of motion more precise and scientifically adjusted than … any other author".

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-12170
From
William Ewart Gladstone
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
London, Harley St, 73
Source of text
DAR 165: 51
Physical description
ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12170,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12170.xml

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