To T. H. Huxley 18 September [1860]
Down Bromley Kent
Sept 18th.
My dear Huxley
I was indeed grieved to receive your news this morning.— 1 I cannot resist writing, though there is nothing to be said.
I know well how intolerable is the bitterness of such grief.2 Yet believe me, that time, & time alone, acts wonderfully. To this day, though so many years have passed away, I cannot think of one child without tears rising in my eyes; but the grief is become tenderer & I can even call up the smile of our lost darling, with something like pleasure. My wife & self deeply sympathise with Mrs. Huxley & yourself. Reflect that your poor little fellow cannot have had much suffering.
God Bless you. | Charles Darwin
I have written to John Lubbock
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Summary
Expresses his grief upon hearing of the death of THH’s young son. Recalls his own bitter loss of a child.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2920B
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Henry Huxley
- Sent from
- Down
- Postmark
- SP 19 60
- Source of text
- Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley papers)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2920B,” accessed on 9 November 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2920B.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 8