To B. J. Sulivan 30 September [1881]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)
Sept. 30th—
My dear Sulivan
Your grape case is a mystery, quite beyond my comprehension.—2
I am very sorry to hear a somewhat poor account of your health; but I earnestly hope that with rest you may get up to your former standard.— Whenever you feel strong enough, I very much hope that you will come here & stay & sleep, & not pay us a mere call. We are generally at home, & though I cannot stand much conversation or amusement of any kind, yet I shd. enjoy seeing you again very much indeed.
It is wonderful what you tell me about the survival of so many of the old Beagles, & I always like much to hear any news of them. Poor FitzRoy what a lamentable end was his.—3
I have no news to tell you of myself. I feel very old, but am able to go on working a little at Natural History, but do not suppose that I shall be able to do much more of any interest to naturalists.
We suffered lately a heavy loss in the death of my brother.4
My dear Sulivan | Your old friend | Charles Darwin
Footnotes
Summary
BJS’s grape case is a mystery.
CD is still able to work a little but does not expect to do much more of any interest to naturalists.
The death of his brother [E. A. Darwin] was a heavy loss.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13365
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Bartholomew James Sulivan
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Sulivan family (private collection)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13365,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13365.xml
