From Grant Allen 19 February [1881]
12 Cambridge Road. | Hastings.
Feb. 19.
Dear Mr. Darwin,
I was greatly gratified and not a little flattered by your very kind letter, received last night, with reference to my little book, “The Evolutionist at Large.”1 It is extremely good of you to think of me, and to have taken the trouble of writing to me, in the midst of so many subjects which occupy your attention. I was quite aware that the papers were a little bold; but of course in writing for a daily paper one is obliged to adapt oneself to a very different audience from that which one addresses in a scientific book.2 However, I am amply satisfied if you can speak so well of my little volume and overlook its short-comings for the sake of the good it may contain.
Thank you very much, too, for your kind enquiries about my health. I am happy to say it is so far better that we have been able to winter in England this year without bad effects; and I can write my ordinary amount of work in comfort. I think the winter in the south has set me in a ⟨fair⟩ way of recovery: and as I believe you are one of the kind friends whom I have to thank for the opportunity ⟨of⟩ ⟨re⟩cruiting, I may add that I am now both well enough and ⟨in⟩ receipt of sufficient work to keep me well employed, and to enable me to go abroad if again necessary ⟨on⟩ my own resources.3 But I bel⟨iev⟩e another summer will quite restore me, and that I shall look back upon the winter I spent abroad as the turning point of a life which I shall try to make not quite useless.
With renewed thanks for your very kind interest, which I appreciate at its true value, | Believe me, Yours most sincerely, | Grant Allen.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Allen, Grant. 1881a. The evolutionist at large. London: Chatto & Windus.
Summary
Thanks for compliments on Evolutionist at large.
Reports on his improving health.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13057
- From
- Charles Grant Blairfindie (Grant) Allen
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Hastings
- Source of text
- DAR 159: 47
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp damaged
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13057,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13057.xml