To J. M. Herbert 7 May [1867]1
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
May 7th
My dear Herbert
It has given me great pleasure to receive a letter from you after the interval of so many years.2 I saw a good deal of poor Dawes when I was an undergraduate & was charmed with him, but I have never seen him excepting once since that period.3 His subsequent career every one must honour & I will send by this post a subscription of 2 guineas to the treasurer for his memorial.4 It has often amused me to reflect how little a man sometimes knows himself, or his friends know him, for I well remember Ramsay of Jesus5 chaffing Dawes that he was a man who wd go through life laughing & doing nothing else, & Dawes himself & all of us quite agreed that this was true.
Thank you for your kind enquiries about my health; I had two or three bad years but am now much better, & am able to work; but Tyndall gave too flourishing an account, for I am never well for the whole day; this prevents me going any where, & we cannot accept your cordial invitation, which I shd in every way have much enjoyed.6 Whenever you & Mrs Herbert7 (to whom we both send our very kind remembrances) happen to be in London & have a little spare time, we should be extremely glad if you would pay us a visit.
Believe me my dear old friend | yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Summary
Contributes to a memorial for Richard Dawes.
Describes his health.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-5529
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- John Maurice Herbert
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.327)
- Physical description
- LS(A) 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5529,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5529.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 15