My dear Sir

I shall be very glad to translate for you the biography of Erasmus Darwin if my time will suit you, as I cannot well touch it for a few days.—¹ I think, however, I can finish it so as to get the whole in type by the end of the present month, & if this will be early enough I will with pleasure undertake the work.—

As regards remuneration, I cannot, unfortunately, offer to do the work for nothing, as I should have liked to do, for I find it necessary to turn as much as possible of my time to account.— Taking the columns as equal to pages of an ordinary book, I think £10 will pay well for the translation, especially as I see that there are several passages quoted from Erasmus Darwin’s works & these will only have to be copied.—² Please let me know your decision in the matter, so that, if necessary, I may get to work next week, when I shall be pretty free after Monday.— I don’t know whether it is in accordance with strict etiquette to thank you for so kindly signing my certificate for the Royal Society,— if it is proper to offer such thanks will you be so good as to accept the best that I have to offer for a kindness to which, I fear, I have but little claim,— if I am violating the proprieties please regard the last part of this letter as non avenue³

With kind regards | Believe me | Yours very truly | W. S. Dallas

C. Darwin Esq