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Darwin Correspondence Project

To Anne Marsh-Caldwell   1 December [1866]1

Down Bromley Kent

Dec 1st

My dear Mrs Marsh Caldwell

Your very kind note has pleased me much. I shd. have answered it sooner, but there has been some delay, owing to our return yesterday from London, where we have been staying with Erasmus, who is only very moderately well.2

I am ashamed to say that I forgot the Christian name of Mr Corbet;3 nor do I know his address; so will you be so kind as to direct the enclosed note for him.4

I have given him all the information which I could, but it is worse than useless to try by mere chance experiments in diet.—5

Emma has brought back a cold from London & is in bed, other wise she would have written & sent a note better worth receiving than this.

Pray believe me, my dear Mrs. Marsh Caldwell | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Anne Marsh-Caldwell, 27 November [1866].
See letter from Anne Marsh-Caldwell, 27 November [1866]. According to Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242), CD returned from London on 29 November 1866 and Emma herself returned the next day. Erasmus Alvey Darwin, CD’s brother, lived at 6 Queen Anne Street, London (Post Office London directory 1866).
The reference is to Richard Corbet (see letter from Anne Marsh-Caldwell, 27 November [1866] and nn. 3 and 4).
The enclosure has not been found.
On Corbet’s interest in CD’s diet, see the letter from Anne Marsh-Caldwell, 27 November [1866].

Bibliography

Post Office London directory: Post-Office annual directory. … A list of the principal merchants, traders of eminence, &c. in the cities of London and Westminster, the borough of Southwark, and parts adjacent … general and special information relating to the Post Office. Post Office London directory. London: His Majesty’s Postmaster-General [and others]. 1802–1967.

Summary

Mentions visit to E. A. Darwin.

Encloses note for Mr Corbet.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-5290
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Anne Caldwell/Anne Marsh/Anne Marsh-Caldwell
Sent from
Down
Source of text
American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.323)
Physical description
ALS 4pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5290,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5290.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 14

letter