To W. D. Fox [23 January 1831]
[Cambridge]
Sunday
My dear Fox
I do hope you will excuse my not writing before I took my degree.—1 I felt a quite inexplicable aversion to write to any body.— But now I do most heartily congratulate you upon passing your examination; & hope you find your curacey2 comfortable; if it is my last shilling (I have not many) I will come & pay you a visit.—
I do not know why the degree should make one so miserable, both before & afterwards; I recollect you were sufficiently wretched before, & I can assure I am now; & what makes it the more ridiculous, is I know not what about.— I believe it is a beautiful provision of nature to make one regret the less leaving so pleasant a place as Cambridge.—& amongst all its pleasures, I say it for once & for all, none so great as my friendship with you.—
I sent you a Newspaper yesterday, in which you will see what a good place I have got in the Polls.—3 As for Christ did you ever see such a college for producing Captains & Apostles.—4 There are no men either at Emmanuel or Christ plucked.— Cameron5 is gulfed,6 together with other 3 Trinity scholars!— My plans are not at all settled, I think I shall keep this term, & then go & economize at Shrewsbury, return & take my degree.— A man may be excused, for writing so much about himself, when he has just passed the examination. So you must excuse.— And on the same principle do you write a letter brim-full of yourself & plans.— I want to know something about your examination: tell me about the state of your nerves.—: what books you got up, & how perfect? I take an interest about that sort of thing as the time will come, when I must suffer.— Your tutor Thompson begged to be remembered to you, & so does Whitley.— If you will answer this; I will send as many stupid answers as you can desire.—
Believe me dear Fox | Chas. Darwin.—
Footnotes
Bibliography
Allen, Peter. 1978. The Cambridge Apostles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Autobiography: The autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809–1882. With original omissions restored. Edited with appendix and notes by Nora Barlow. London: Collins. 1958.
Cambridge University calendar: The Cambridge University calendar. Cambridge: W. Page [and others]. 1796–1950.
Levy, Paul. 1979. G. E. Moore and the Cambridge Apostles. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
LL: The life and letters of Charles Darwin, including an autobiographical chapter. Edited by Francis Darwin. 3 vols. London: John Murray. 1887–8.
OED: The Oxford English dictionary. Being a corrected re-issue with an introduction, supplement and bibliography of a new English dictionary. Edited by James A. H. Murray, et al. 12 vols. and supplement. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1970. A supplement to the Oxford English dictionary. 4 vols. Edited by R. W. Burchfield. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1972–86. The Oxford English dictionary. 2d edition. 20 vols. Prepared by J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1989. Oxford English dictionary additional series. 3 vols. Edited by John Simpson et al. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1993–7.
Summary
Congratulates WDF on passing his examination for the curacy; hopes he will find it comfortable.
CD is pleased at his own good showing.
Asks about WDF’s examination, books, etc.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-89
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Darwin Fox
- Sent from
- Cambridge
- Postmark
- Cambridge JA 23 1831
- Source of text
- Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 36)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 89,” accessed on 1 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-89.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 1