Ɛpsilon

To James Cartmell   [November 1877]1

My dear Dr Cartmell,

I thank you cordially, for your extremely kind letter.2 Dec 6th will be much the most convenient time for me to attend at Cambridge & in answer to a letter from the V.C. I have proposed this date.3 It is very good of you to invite me again to the Lodge, but I am sorry to say I must decline your kindness.—4 As I shd be very sorry that you shd. think me ungrateful, allow me to tell you that I suffer so much especially in my head, from all excitement that I cannot sit erect more than half an evening even with my nearest relations. On such occasion as receiving so great an honour as the L.L D. degree it wd be absolutely necessary for me to live quite by myself. I am aware that these details may appear superfluous but I have thought it best to state the simple truth.

Pray believe | yours truly obliged | C. D.

ADraftS

1
The month and year are established by the reference to the award of an honorary LLD degree to CD at the University of Cambridge; the ceremony took place on 17 November 1877 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).
2
Cartmell’s letter has not been found.
4
Cartmell was master of Christ’s College, Cambridge, CD’s college when he was an undergraduate.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1. for] added above
1.1 your extremely] above del ‘very’
1.1 be] interl
1.1 much] after ‘in some respects’ del pencil
1.2 at Cambridge] interl
1.3 proposed] pencil interl above del pencil ‘fixed’
1.4 am … say I] interl pencil; ‘I’ over ‘th’
1.4 kindness] after interl & del ‘great’
1.4 As] added
1.4 very] above del ‘So’
1.5 allow me to] pencil below del pencil ‘I must’, below pencil del pencil ‘allow permit me to’; ‘I must’ after del ‘that’
1.5 I suffer] after del ‘my L’
1.6 sit] after del ‘even’
1.6 erect more] above del illeg
1.7 receiving] after del ‘[illeg] the’
1.9 that] interl
1.9 superfluous] pencil above del pencil ‘ridiculous’
1.9 but … truth. 1.10] below del ‘but’ & ‘especially as I appear to seem in good health’; ‘to seem’ below del ‘as though’
2.1 Pray believe] pencil below del pencil ‘I remain’
2.1 truly] after del ‘very’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11218,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11218