My dear Hooker.

Your note has pleased me much. The death of Erasmus is a very heavy loss to all of us, for he had a most affectionate disposition.¹ He always appeared to me the most pleasant & clearest-headed man, whom I have ever known. London will seem a strange place to me without his presence; but I will not run on about him. I am deeply glad that he died without any great suffering, after a very short illness from mere weakness, & not from any definite disease. He had become quite weary of life! I cannot quite agree with you about the death of the old & young. Death in the latter case, when there is a bright future ahead, causes grief never to be wholly obliterated.

Farewell my old & dear friend. I remember the little room, where we first met.²

Ever Yours | Charles Darwin