To G. H. Darwin 10 [February 1875]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
10th
My dear George
Immediately on getting Whitney’s letter I wrote to Knowles; but it was very good of you to think of saving me the trouble.—2 I got a most civil answer from Knowles this morning, hoping that W.s’ article wd. be a long one.— I have despatched it to Whitney with your note, & a short one from self.—3
I am very very sorry you give so poor an account of yourself.—4 Do not force your mind to activity: I am absolutely certain that you will never be idle, when you ought to exert yourself.— I know well the feeling of life being objectless & all being vanity of vanities. But this will wear away all the sooner for not trying to work too soon.— There were a lot of things in your letter which have interested me, especially about H. Sidgwick5 & spiritualism & on ethics.— I guessed about C. Leslie,6 & it rejoiced me.— We have ordered the F.R.7 which you shall have.— We heard this morning a terrible piece of news, the sudden death of Arthur Williams, so that poor Margaret is a widow.—8
I am quite tired so good bye | C. Darwin
Footnotes
Summary
J. T. Knowles [editor of Contemp. Rev.] hopes W. D. Whitney’s article will be a long one.
CD is sorry about GHD’s account of his low spirits. "I know well the feeling of life being objectless & all being vanity of vanities."
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9851
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- George Howard Darwin
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 210.1: 44
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9851,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9851.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 23