Ɛpsilon

To Lawson Tait   13 November [1877]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Nov. 13th

My dear Sir

I have been asked at least a score of times to write in periodicals, but have always refused, as I am not fitted for the work & dislike doing so particularly.—2 It wd. cost me much loss of time, as I cannot change with ease from one job to another.— Therefore you must excuse me. Will you be so good as to hand over the enclosed to Mr Badger when you next communicate with him?—3

My dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

I hope that your journal may be successful.—

photocopy

1
The year is established by the allusion to the Midland Naturalist (see n. 3, below).
2
See, for example, Correspondence vol. 24, Supplement, letter to H. J. Slack, 2 December [1867], and Correspondence vol. 18, letter to H. W. Bates, [22 May 1870].
3
Edward William Badger was an editor of the Midland Naturalist, the journal of the Midland Union of Scientific and Literary Societies; the journal began publication in 1878. The enclosure has not been identified. Tait was not listed in connection with the journal, but he was a member of the Birmingham Natural History Society (ODNB) and instrumental in the founding of the Midland Union (Midland Naturalist 1 (1878): 228).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11235,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11235