To W. D. Fox [27 March 1851]
Malvern1
Thursday
My dear Fox
In passing through London two days ago2 I heard from Erasmus3 with sorrow of your Father’s death.4 A few weeks since I had been much interested in hearing from Susan5 an account of your Fathers equable & apparently happy state, & of the surprising manner in which he retained his faculties & interests. In a note from Susan she expresses how very glad she now is at her last visit.— I grieve to hear that your health prevents you attending the Funeral: this was my case,6 & though it is only a ceremony I felt deeply grieved at this deprivation & you no doubt will feel this more.7 You have my sincere sympathy & very sorry indeed I am to hear that your health is not so good, even as formerly.
Hereafter, when at leisure, do let me have a line from you, my dear old Friend. I often think of our happy days at Cambridge; almost if not quite, the happiest part of my life & much associated in my memory with you.—8 Long continued ill-health has much changed me, & I very often think with pain how cold & different I must appear to my few old friends to what I was formerly; but I internally know that the inner part of my mind remains the same with my old affections.
Believe me, my dear Fox, I am & shall ever be your affectionate friend | Charles Darwin
I have brought my eldest girl here & intend to leave her for a month under Dr. Gully;9 she inherits I fear with grief, my wretched digestion. I return in a day or two home.—
When next you write to any of your Family pray express my sincere sympathy for Mrs. Fox10 & all your sisters.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Darwin pedigree: Pedigree of the family of Darwin. Compiled by H. Farnham Burke. N.p.: privately printed. 1888. [Reprinted in facsimile in Darwin pedigrees, by Richard Broke Freeman. London: printed for the author. 1984.]
Emma Darwin (1915): Emma Darwin: a century of family letters, 1792–1896. Edited by Henrietta Litchfield. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1915.
Summary
Sends condolences to WDF on the death of his father. Has brought his daughter [Anne] to J. M. Gully for the water-cure.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1396
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Darwin Fox
- Sent from
- Malvern
- Source of text
- Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 78a)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1396,” accessed on 6 October 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1396.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 5