My dear Father,

I have received this morning a very flattering letter from Spottiswoode asking me if I will give a Friday evening lecture at the R. I. between Xmas & Easter.¹ He begs me to answer at my liesure & says ‘I feel confident you w^d. succeed’ & asks me to fix my own subject— I am rather non-plussed what to say,— as to the success I’m by no means so confid^t.   In the first place I w^d. not lecture unless I thought I’d something worth lecturing about; but I’ve an impression that the Polit. Econ. which I am at work on now w^d. do— the only objection to it is that it is rather stiff & I have attended eno’ lectures there to feel sure that anything that is really stiff is not adapted to that audience.² I am sure all the ladies often come away with the sort of feeling that they’ve been doing something virtuous but with no distinct ideas whatever—in fact with the general sort of feeling which the ‘bumming away’³ of the parson is apt to inspire. I think then that a lecture sh^d. be down to the audience, also those lectures are rather expected to be amusing. I sh^d. certainly not be able to say all I have to say on the subject in a lecture—as it w^d. be too hard; but it w^d. not prevent my writing it with additions in the Contemp⁴ afterwards. I am getting more & more convinced that what I have to say is worth saying & I have been working 4 or 5 hrs a day at it & reading a great deal.

Another subject I have thought of is that furnished by my dress article.⁵ It is exceedingly condensed in M^cMillan & I have a good deal more to say on the subject, & I think it w^d. be amusing with numerous actual examples & copies of old drawings—so that it w^d. not be a mere reproduction of what I then wrote. The only question is, is it below the dignity of the place? I am inclined to think not, as it certainly serves to bring home evolutional ideas in a very intelligible form to many persons who w^d. never grasp it in a more recondite shape. I feel more inclined to give this as I think it w^d. be much easier to do well, the idea that one c^d. do it well w^d. add to the power of doing it well. Then too a lecture to be a perfect lecture sh^d. not be a mere essay, which the Political Economy w^d. be—& the showing of models & pictures are to a lecture very much what chapters are to books.

Lastly there is the important health consideration— I feel sure that however I am, I c^d. get thro’ it, & with my present prospects I have a reasonable hope of getting thro’ with nothing more than a sleepless night & a little upset of digestion. You may remember that D^r. Clark⁶ advised me not to give up dining out because it upset me a bit, but persevere & fight it out.

Lastly (Number 2) one of the great objects in life is to learn to know oneself, & I sh^d. like to know whether I can lecture. If I fail, I shall “begin with shame to take the lowest room”,⁷ & it will be good for me to learn what I’m worth; & if I succeed, well—I shall more cocky but I shall feel it tant mieux⁸ & shall know that I’ve one more power. I shall be glad too to help the R. I to success.

I shall be very much interested to hear what you think of all this, & if you recommend no, shall almost certainly take y^r advice.

That was a pleasant letter of Innes’— but I’m afraid the Ffinden affair is all moonshine;—for curiously eno’ Cookson mentioned to me a v. curious case about the Deptford living wh. has come before him. 30 yrs ago the patron sold the living to a M^r. ffrench for 1000^£ (Sketchly then being incumb^t.), he then in ’73 having forgotten all about the sale sold it again to a cheese monger in Tottenham C^t. R^d. for £2000, since Sketchley was then 80 yrs old.⁹ In ’74 the double sale was discovered the cheesemonger had of course no right— Sketchley suddenly dies & the cheesemonger posts down to D^r.s Commons & presents D^r. Vaughan¹⁰ a broad churchman (connected with the S^t. Geo. in the last note¹¹ you may remember) Now M^r. ffrench had intended to present his nephew, but the nephew¹² does’nt like the living as he’s another in his eye— Sketchley however being dead & no one presented the living ca’nt be sold without simony.¹³ Thus ffrench has an unsaleable property on his hands for which he has no use— the cheesemonger has no right but is very anxious to present Vaughan & the ex patron is prepared of course to reimburse the 2^nd. purchaser his money— so they’re at a dead lock.

It is proposed by Cookson that they ffrench shall go to the Bishop & say you want Vaughan put in— well I’ll let it lapse & you shall present him if you’ll agree to the cheesemonger, myself & the ex-patron squaring acc^ts., but if you wo’nt I’ll present some one you do’nt like. This wo’nt be simony!! but none of the parties will be defrauded of what is just as much property as an acre of land. Ffinden has no chance of getting it & Vaughan is almost certain.

I have been having rather a relapse the last few days, with some of the old irritation in the stomach, but whilst making me pretty uncomf. it does’nt take away my strength & I played an hr hard a tennis in the morning & $\frac{1}{2}$ an hour in the afternoon yesterday. If I’m not decidedly better on Wedn. I shall telegraph that I’m not coming to Abinger— my chief reason for accepting was to show Effie that I like coming¹⁴—& then horror! they’ve a dinner party on Wedn.—& the tiresome long rail journey rather knocks one up.

I’ve not seen Maxwell yet but I fancy I c^d. work an hour every day in the laboratory if I can find anything to do alone—¹⁵ I sh^d. work 5 to 6 or 3 to 4 or both.

The polit. econ. is engrossing me very much now & takes a deal of reading. I’m read^g Musters Patagonian book too.¹⁶

F Balfour sailed for S. America yesterday & I caught a sight of him on Friday, when we or rather they, the Balfours, celebrated his departure in a bottle of champagne at luncheon with me. He’ll be back in the spring & go str^t. to Naples, he says he cdn’t get sharks there at this time of year: Huxley spoke in the very highest terms of his original work— he was an examiner.¹⁷

I’ve been p^d. my £20 for the May exam today.

Sorry to hear Jim is seedy—¹⁸ I hope you’re passably well again

You’re affec son | G H Darwin

I’m sending a heap of American introd^ns. to L. in a day or two.¹⁹