From Reginald Darwin 29 March 1879
Fern, | Buxton.
March 29 | 1879
My dear Cousin
The receipt of your letter has given me very sincere pleasure— It has been delayed a day in consequence of the address “Matlock” instead of “Buxton”— I am much interested in what you say as to the sketch of our grandfather’s life & shall look anxiously for the appearance of the translation— I do not know that I can help you in your praiseworthy desire to vindicate his character.1 I will however send you his “Common Place Book” in which I have placed such letters &c as I had in my possession— The lines on “Atheism” you probably possess, probably also the lines on “Prosperity” &c respecting which you will find a letter from Emma Galton—2
There are various lines by other Authors, lines which were favourites with my Father, & which are mostly in my mother’s & sister’s hands—3
You will see that I have desecrated the old Book with newspaper cuttings, & regret that I ever did so. You must however kindly disregard this— I cannot tell you whether our Grandfather reached Edinburgh before the death of his son Charles, but in those days of tardy mails I should think the probability is that he did not—4 I saw his Tomb in 1840, the old Book contains a copy of the inscription. Breadsall Church is, like many others at this day, undergoing the process of restoration, & the graves of some of those who have gone before us have been disturbed; I name this as you will see a letter (recent) to me from one of my sisters on the subject—5 It is indeed long since we met— never but once since your return from your five years voyage,6 about 1839, your name however is so completely before the world that I seem to hear of you constantly, & always with pride— My son is more fortunate than myself, for he already has made the acquaintance of your son George, & has had a kind invitation from your son at Southampton—7 I trust they may meet some day, when my son may be at Portsmouth— He is now Commander of the “Lord Warden” in the Firth of Forth—8 tho’ several years your junior, I also am getting old, but am thankful for good health & vigour—
Pray offer my best regards & those of Mrs Darwin9 & my son (who is home on a few days leave) to your family & believe me| always affectly yours | Reginald Darwin
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
King-Hele, Desmond. 1999. Erasmus Darwin. A life of unequalled achievement. London: Giles de la Mare Publishers.
Krause, Ernst. 1879a. Erasmus Darwin, der Großvater und Vorkämpfer Charles Darwin’s: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Descendenz-Theorie. Kosmos 4 (1878–9): 397–424.
Seward, Anna. 1804. Memoirs of the life of Dr. Darwin. London: J. Johnson.
Summary
Sends Dr Erasmus Darwin’s commonplace book, some letters, and poems.
Family news.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11960
- From
- Reginald Darwin
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Buxton
- Source of text
- DAR 99: 146–9
- Physical description
- ALS 8pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11960,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11960.xml