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Darwin Correspondence Project

From W. E. Darwin   16 September 1880

Bank, Southampton,

Sept 16 1880

My dear Father,

I send you 4 wrist bands, one of a smaller size which if too small I can change.1

They say at the shop that if they are put on by putting the finger through the whole width, you avoid the nail splitting them up; but the advice does not seem worth much, as I fancy one cannot put them without taking hold of the edge.

1s/4 is the dim total.

I am glad to say George2 is uncommonly well, I have not seen him so brisk for years; he went a 12 mile ride yesterday on the pink mare. If you do want any Beaulieu worm castings I can easily get them.3 Please tell Mother that Lilly came all right last night & looks very well & happy, & was perfectly well all the passage; and poor Mlle. Wild the french Lady arrived this morning from Havre in an equinoctial gale.4 George is giving us a long visit, I am villain enough to think it is partly to air his French with Mademoiselle.

Sara is pretty well, but a little tired by the two arrivals.

Goodbye, dear Father, I hope Mother is well | Your affect son | W. E. Darwin

I have just been much amused at reading old Sedgwick’s ferocious letter about the “Vestiges” and the female author in M. Napier’s correspondence5

Footnotes

In his letter to William of [before 16 September 1880], CD said that Indian-rubber bands had done his wrist good and requested more.
Beaulieu Abbey, Hampshire; see letter to W. E. Darwin, 10 September [1880] and n. 2.
Sara Darwin’s niece, Lily Norton, was visiting from America; Henriette Wild was probably employed as her governess. Le Havre is on the French coast, across the English Channel from Southampton.
Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873) had published a scathing attack on Vestiges of the natural history of creation ([Chambers] 1844) in the Edinburgh Review, which was edited by Macvey Napier ([Sedgwick] 1845). For Sedgwick’s letters about his article in Macvey Napier’s correspondence, see Napier 1879, pp. 489–95. In a letter on p. 493, Sedgwick says he believes the author of [Chambers] 1844 to be a woman.

Bibliography

[Chambers, Robert.] 1844. Vestiges of the natural history of creation. London: John Churchill.

Napier, Macvey. 1879. Selections from the correspondence of the late Macvey Napier, Esq. edited by his son Macvey Napier. London: Macmillan and Co.

[Sedgwick, Adam.] 1845. Vestiges of the natural history of creation. Edinburgh Review 82: 1–85.

Summary

Sends four wrist bands, and advice on putting them on. George is well. Can easily get worm castings. Lilly and Mlle Wild arrived in a storm to stay the night. Is much amused by Sedgwick’s ferocious letter about Vestiges.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-12714F
From
William Erasmus Darwin
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Bank, Southampton
Source of text
Cornford Family Papers (DAR 275: 78)
Physical description
ALS 4pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12714F,” accessed on 11 October 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12714F.xml

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