To John Lubbock 21 August [1862]1
1. Carlton Terrace | Southampton
Aug. 21.
My dear Lubbock
How long it is since we have had any communication. I want very much to hear some news of you & of Mrs Lubbock.—2 I heard indirectly that your tour was very successful.—3 Do write me a note about yourself.—
We have been a very unhappy family, since you went, with Leonard fearfully ill from the effect of Scarlet-fever; & now, here, (on our Journey to Bournemouth where our other children are) Mrs. Darwin has been struck with Scarlet-Fever.4 Her attack has been pretty severe, but she is now recovering. When we shall move I hardly know. We are lucky to be in William’s House. William seems a comfortable old Man of Business & has sole charge for a fortnight of the Bank!!! Mr Atherley being in London.—5 “Atherley & Darwin” in big letters on the Bank looks very grand.—
I have done hardly anything in science for an age; except beginning to make out a marvellous case of trimorphism like Primula, but far more complex, with two kinds in each flower of three kinds.—6
Farewell, my dear Lubbock, I suppose our troubles will some day end.
Yours affecty | C. Darwin
I enclose a prospectus.7 I formerly knew the man & a very clever fellow he was. It is a real case of distress & I have helped him occasionally during several years—8
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Hutchinson, Horace Gordon. 1914. Life of Sir John Lubbock, Lord Avebury. 2 vols. London: Macmillan.
Martin, William Charles Linnaeus. 1837. Observations on three specimens of the genus Felis presented to the Society by Charles Darwin, Esq. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 5: 3–4.
Summary
Leonard Darwin’s illness.
William Darwin and the bank.
Beginning to make out a marvellous case of trimorphism.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3693
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury
- Sent from
- Southampton
- Source of text
- DAR 261.7: 4 (EH 88205929)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3693,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3693.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 10