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To J. D. Hooker   4 August [1873]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Aug. 4th

My dear Hooker,

I shd. so much like to see you, but we start tomorrow morning for Abinger to pay Farrer & Effie a visit of a few days (I have not done such a feat for 25 years) as they have tempted me most kindly by offering me a room to myself. Afterwards we go to William at Southampton & shall not return till 20th or 21st or 22nd;2 So that Sunday 24th is first day possible for you & Gen. Strachey. But I will not hear of a “luncheon”: you must come down to dinner on Saturday & return as early as you like on Monday.3 The common flowers to be named will keep till you come then, or soon afterwards, & if you cannot come at such time, I will most gratefully send them you.—

I am glad to hear so good an account of Huxley.4

Farewell till we meet. | Ever yours | Ch Darwin

I have been half-killing myself over Drosera, which is a never ending job, over which I could spend my life.5

Footnotes

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 August 1873.
2
CD visited Thomas Henry and Katherine Euphemia (Effie) Farrer from 5 to 9 August 1873; he visited William Erasmus Darwin from 9 to 21 August (see ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)). Because of his frequent bouts of illness, CD rarely visited anyone other than immediate family.
3
Richard Strachey and Hooker visited Down on 23 August 1873 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).
4
Hooker had accompanied Thomas Henry Huxley for part of his recuperative visit to France and Germany (see letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 August 1873 and n. 1).
5
CD had resumed his experiments on the physiology of Drosera from mid-June (see ‘Journal’ (Appendix II) and letter to J. V. Carus, 2 August [1873]).

Summary

Starts tomorrow for visit to Farrer and Effie [Euphemia Farrer, daughter of Hensleigh Wedgwood]. Has not done such a feat [i.e., staying as a guest of someone outside the immediate family?] for 25 years.

Has been half killing himself with Drosera.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-9000
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Sent from
Down
Source of text
DAR 94: 268–9
Physical description
ALS 3pp †

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9000,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9000.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21

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