Ɛpsilon

To J. D. Hooker   21 April [1877]1

2. Bryanston St

Ap. 21.

My dear Hooker

Will you give the enclosed to M. DeCandolle, if still in England.—2 If not, burn it.—

I fear that there is no ghost of a chance of seeing you here, or at 6. Q. Anne St (where we go on Tuesday Morning) any day—3 We always lunch at 1 oclock.— It would be very very pleasant to see you, but I fear there is no chance. I doubt whether I shall be able to get my steam up to go to the R. Soc. on Wednesday & I forgot to bring my card,; but I will write to Down for it.4

Ever Affectionately yours | C. Darwin

1
The year is established by the address and the reference to going to Queen Anne Street (see n. 3, below).
2
Casimir de Candolle had arrived in England in January 1877 (see letter from Alphonse de Candolle, January 1877). The enclosure has not been found.
3
CD visited London from 20 to 28 April 1877, staying first with his daughter and son-in-law, Henrietta Emma and Richard Buckley Litchfield, and from Tuesday 24 April, with his brother, Erasmus Alvey Darwin (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).
4
The meeting of the Royal Society of London on Thursday 26 April 1877 was chaired by Hooker (Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 26 (1877): 163). The Royal Society annual conversazione took place at Burlington House on Wednesday 25 April 1877 (Nature, 3 May 1877, p. 16); the card CD refers to was probably an invitation to the event.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 2. Bryanston St] before del ‘Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.’
1.1 If … it.—1.2] added

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10935,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10935