From G. H. Lewes [17 November 1868]1
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
Tuesday
Dear Mr Darwin
I wish very much to belong to the ‘Linnæan Society’ for the sake of its Library; and under the august shadow of your name I should perhaps not be objected to. If you have no objection to propose me, Busk offers to second the proposal.2
My disreputable German was better than I feared & not only has he failed to ‘shoot my duck’ he has failed even to see it flying; so I am at ease on that score, and the labor of years is not yet proved to have been misdirected.3
By the way do you think Sir Charles Lyell would mind setting forth his objections to my papers in the shape of Notes?4 When I recast the papers into a book I should be glad to have everything that tells against them distinctly before me. That indeed was one of my objects in publishing the papers which were only intended as a sort of nucleus for the future books
You made Mrs Lewes5 & myself very happy by your visit & we only hope your head was none the worse for it.
Believe me | Faithfully Yours | G. H. Lewes
Footnotes
Bibliography
Lewes, George Henry. 1868b. Mr. Darwin’s hypotheses. Fortnightly Review n.s. 3: 353–73, 611–28; 4: 61–80, 492–509.
ODNB: Oxford dictionary of national biography: from the earliest times to the year 2000. (Revised edition.) Edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. and index. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Summary
Asks CD to propose him for Linnean Society.
Would like to have Lyell put his objections to GHL’s papers [Fortn. Rev. 9 (1868): 353–73, 611–28; 10 (1868): 61–80, 492–509] in the form of notes, so he can have them before him when he recasts his papers into a book.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6462
- From
- George Henry Lewes
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, Regents Park
- Source of text
- DAR 106: D3–4
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6462,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6462.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16