Dear William.
I hope you will come on the 21st as the little dancing misstress comes on the 26th. I suppose you will only be able to stay a Sunday. We have got Eva now staying, she is so awfully come on in talkativeness. Emily Thorley is staying here too. We all ride the pony turn & turn, & work him plentifully. I suppose you have heard we have got horses at last, a grey & a bay. The grey very pretty indeed, & both very quiet.
Do you think you shall go & see Fechter in Othello, I went when I was in London, & fell much in love. Though I don't think he acts every thing perfectly, the scenes of passion he fails a little in. Poor Effie is still very weak, so as only to be able to sit up for half an hour— now they are nearly sure it is not scarlet fever.
Rose & Mab & Pencorn are gone into lodgings. Rose is still going on with Bella donna, & I believe her pupils are enormous, it will be a blessing if they are not permanently ⟨ ⟩. This is such lovely weather we still play croquet, every day. it is a very odd thing Horace has quite lost the art of playing, & plays worse than any of us. Mr. & Mrs Innes have just been here for a few days, before going off to Scotland.
Goodbye | Yr affec H.E.D.
Papa has got Mr Sowerby here to finish up his tiresome orchids. they is bad news about a cabinet for George, he says it is such a rare thing—for a second hand one to be on sale, & can't hear of one anywhere. Papa hasnt been very well latily, but Mamma much better
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-0313,” in Ɛpsilon: The Darwin Family Letters Collection accessed on