To W. E. Darwin 20 November [1876]1
Nov 20th
My dear W.
The Horse will do very well, & the only fault John finds is that he is too young, which is a fault on the right side.2 So I enclose a cheque, & a real good service you have done us.— I have no news to tell. F. goes on working very hard, & I only fear too hard—3 Your mother is in bed with a cold.
I hope the world is prosperous with you my dear old Willy.
Hooker & Mrs. come here on Decr. 2d4
C. D.
Footnotes
The year is established by the reference to buying a new horse, and by the reference to the Hookers’ visit (see nn. 2 and 4, below).
In his Classed account books (Down House MS), CD recorded the purchase of a new horse for £75 on 20 November 1876. The Darwins had had the horse on trial from Southampton for a month (letter from Emma Darwin to H. E. Litchfield, [24–5 October 1876] (DAR 219.2: 142); letter from Emma Darwin to Leonard Darwin, [29 October 1876] (DAR 239.23: 1.53)). John, a groom at Down House, has not been further identified.
Francis Darwin was working as his father’s secretary; his wife, Amy, had died on 11 September 1876 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).
Joseph Dalton and Hyacinth Hooker visited on 2 December 1876 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).
Summary
Writes about the purchase of a horse.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10680
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Erasmus Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 210.6: 147
- Physical description
- ALS 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10680,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10680.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24
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