To Asa Gray 15 August [1868]1
Freshwater | Isle of Wight
Aug 15th
My dear Gray
Hooker left us yesterday for his Presidency of B. Assoc. & told me (for he forgot to do so before) the wonderful & good news that you & Mrs Gray are coming to Europe for a year. I must write one line to say how very glad I am. You must pay us a visit at Down & see our solitary & very quiet life.2
We have been staying here for a month & go home next week. I was bad for a month before starting & could do nothing & to my great vexation this outing has done hardly anything for me & I much doubt whether I can resume my small modicum of work.—
I hear that you are coming here to begin a great work & not for idleness, which I should think would be best for you.3
I wish you could have attended the B. Assoc. under the Presidency of our good & dear friend; it has been a great disappointment to me that I had not strength enough for the undertaking.
Farewell till I have the very great pleasure of shaking you by the hand & of seeing, as I hope, Mrs Gray. Farewell | Your sincere friend | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Gray, Jane Loring, ed. 1893. Letters of Asa Gray. 2 vols. London: Macmillan and Co.
Summary
AG’s coming visit to England.
Hooker’s Presidency of BAAS.
A month at the Isle of Wight has done almost nothing for CD.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6316
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Asa Gray
- Sent from
- Freshwater
- Source of text
- Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (98)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6316,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6316.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16