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Darwin Correspondence Project

To Lawson Tait   13 January 1880

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)

Jan 13. 1880

My dear Sir

The honour which you propose to do me is a great one.1 But would it not be better to wait until I am in my grave? Nevertheless if you & friends remain of the same opinion, I can express only my gratitude & the wish that I were more worthy of the honour. I know of no other biographical notices published in England so full as the two to which you allude. A good sketch by Prof. Preyer appeared in the last Feby. nor. of Kosmos, as a sort of commemoration of my Birth-day.2 I could lend you the nor, if you shd. think it worth while to read it in German, which to almost all Englishmen is a great trouble & sorrow.

I was born on Feb. 12th 1809, so shall be 71 next Feb.y.

Pray reflect on what I have said about my grave, & till then, pray believe me | Yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin

Footnotes

The biographical sketch by William Preyer appeared in the special issue of Kosmos commemorating CD’s 70th birthday (Preyer 1879).

Bibliography

Preyer, William. 1879. Charles Darwin. Eine biographische Skizze. Kosmos 4 (1878–9): 339–50.

Summary

The honour RLT proposes [Darwin Festival] is a great one, "but would it not be better to wait until I am in my grave?"

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-12420
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Robert Lawson (Lawson) Tait
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Shrewsbury School, Taylor Library
Physical description
ALS 3pp & ADraft 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12420,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12420.xml

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