Down
Wed
My dear William
It was very pleasant Papa having that little sight of you in London. It seems you cannot wait for the boys holidays but no doubt you will be able to come over after taking your degree.
He came home all the better for his trip & his paper met great honour at the Linnæan all the great Botanists being there & Bentham & Hooker speaking on the subject. Hooker quoted Wordsworth's line which I forgot "To him a yellow primrose was a yellow primsore" That does not sound quite right. I send you G's long account of the row but don't notice it as I send yours generally to G. & poor Franky seems sore about his misfortunes I have no doubt that he found the hissing to be contagious & did not really mean to hiss. I can't understand what Mrs P. had to do with it.
Hen. is gone to town yesterday by herself in the train. Wiltshire will meet her at Vic. The wretched Mack is to be made to go with them. She means to stay till Monday if she can & then she brings home Emily Thorley & Eva with her. The boys went to Bromley the other day Their chief object was to buy presents for Miss L. Hen. & Lizzy. Nice little ducks. Lenny is poorly & Horace headachy & I not much to boast of
You may burn G. | Yours my dear old man | E.D
I expect Brodie will have your letter framed & glazed It was just what she wd like Some day you had better write to Hemmings He & Martha were married nearly 6 months ago but I only lately heard of it. They were married in London after leaving Hartfield Martha told me they intended it.
Status: Draft transcription
This transcript was produced as a side-product of the work of the Darwin Correspondence Project and may not have been proofread to the DCP’s usual standards.
Please cite as “FL-0311,” in Ɛpsilon: The Darwin Family Letters Collection accessed on