Ɛpsilon

From W. D. Fox   3 March [1879]1

Broadlands | Sandown. I. W

March 3

“Long years have pass’d, old friend, since we

First met in lifes young day;

And friends long lov’d by thee and me,

Since then have dropp’d away;—

But enough remain to cheer us on” &c

Dear old Darwin

How you will laugh at the above, and think it a proof of my dotage— to send them.2 They however so exactly express my thoughts, when I enter my little study, and see your dear Fathers happy face, as Caroline coloured the lithograph for me— years, years ago, when she and dear Susan & Catherine filled your old Shrewsbury home, and when you and I, were really in “lifes young day”—as happy as creatures could be.3 By your Fathers lithograph, (which is as like as a daughters loving hand could make it)— I have your Sons Photograph of you, as you now are—no longer in lifes young day, but looking very grave and sedate—widely different from a fellow photo–of you which I always call you “in your rollicking days”—sitting on your chair, just beginning to feel your strength.4 Well! Well! We are both old fellows now, but somehow I fancy that last Photo: must have made you older and graver than you really are. I shall try to get a half hour with you this Summer, if I can manage it and you will have me. I am just emerging from my Winter Chrysalis having kept the house all the winter, and feel rather like the Imago creeping out of it with my wings undried and rather shivery.

But as my Narcissus obvallaris (our earliest daffodil) began to shew colour yesterday—5 I quite hope for 8 months flutter (with other Butterflies this Summer. But, what a fool you will think me—and a nuisance to boot—if I go on in this way.

My reason for writing is to ask for a few lines from you telling me how you have past thro’ this trying winter, and how your excellent little wife is. I hope also your children are better than in the last account you gave me of some of them.6 I hope we shall induce Wm and his wife to come to us for a few days soon, when the spring opens a little. I like so much the little I have seen of him, that I should much like to see more. I fear they have no children, as I have never heard of any—but for all that, they may have some.7

What are you about now? for I feel sure that you are busy about something. I have all your Books within a yard of my Study Chair always, & dip into them with much satisfaction.

We get smaller and smaller, in our numbers. I have only three daughters left now,—and one of those leaves us this Summer.8 Our seven boys join us in the holiday Season—but they are only ephemerals.9 I am just reminded (by a scratch) that I have a most lively family that I am now watching—A lot of Harvest Mice (M: Messorius). They are very pretty little creatures—quite distinct from any group of English Mice— Their tails prehensile and reminding one of a Monkey in a small way, they are always feeling with the extremity & catch hold of a wire or straw beautifully.10 These with a flock of Larus ridibundus black headed Gull—and a lot of Mole crickets—form my Menagerie at present. I wish I had a wall Garden for my Gulls, as I feel sure they would breed if they had space enough.

I am watching for the black heads to come on now.11

I see a “Revd Richard Lubbock” mentioned as observing their habits by Yarrell— I conclude he is some relation of your wonderful neighbour—whom I should be delighted to know.12

Well, It is time I set you at liberty—that is supposing you have not long since set yourself so by throwing my letter into the fire, as it deserves.— Commend my wife and self to Mrs Darwin—13 we often talk of her—and wish we could see her sometimes and Believe me, old friend of some 56 years standing, | Yours always W D Fox.

If you were without a subject—you might write a Book upon the little German Badger hound.14

The way in which every part of the frame—is adapted from their underground life—is extraordinary— The skeleton must be very curious. One would imagine that these dogs must have been very much more used for subterraneous work than they now are—as it must have taken long to form their skeleton. I sometimes almost wish my Sons would die that I might examine the frame work. Of course you must have a well bred one to shew their peculiarities— Ours is from the Emperor of Germanys particular breed— The Princess Royal having given hers to my 3d Son Gerard.15 I wish we could have a ten minutes examination & talk over him— | farewell.

1
The year is established by the reference to the trying winter and the upcoming wedding of Fox’s daughter (see nn. 6 and 8, below).
2
Fox quotes the first five lines of the poem ‘Long years have pass’d’, by Thomas Moore (see T. Moore 1840–1, 5: 310–11).
3
The lithograph of CD’s father, Robert Waring Darwin, has not been found, but a mezzotint by Thomas Goff Lupton after a portrait by James Pardon was made in 1839 (see Correspondence vol. 4, facing p. 188). Both the engraving and the portrait are at Down House, Downe, Kent. Fox refers to CD’s sisters Caroline Sarah Wedgwood, Susan Elizabeth Darwin, and Catherine Langton.
4
Fox probably refers to a photograph of CD taken by Leonard Darwin in 1878 (DAR 225: 119) and to an earlier one taken around 1857 by Maull & Fox (DAR 225: 175; see also Correspondence vol. 8, frontispiece).
5
Narcissus obvallaris (a synonym of N. pseudonarcissus ssp. major) is the Tenby daffodil.
6
The winter of 1878–9 was one of the coldest on record for England (Manley 1974, p. 396); Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242) for this period records long spells of below-freezing weather. The latest extant letter to Fox is that of 10 July 1878 (Correspondence vol. 26), but CD did not mention his children’s health. In CD’s letter to Fox of 14 February 1878, he mentioned the health of family members.
7
William Erasmus and Sara Darwin did not have any children.
8
Fox’s unmarried daughters were Agnes Jane, Julia Mary Anne, Gertrude Mary, and Edith Darwin Fox. Gertrude was married on 10 September 1879 (The Times, 12 September 1879, p. 1). Agnes may not have been living at home (Census returns of England and Wales 1881 (The National Archives: Public Record Office (RG11/4815/56/13)).
10
Mus messorius is a synonym of Micromys minutus; CD had mentioned the animal’s prehensile tail in Origin 6th ed., p. 189, in response to the argument that an incipient tendency to grasp could not be an advantage to an organism (see Correspondence vol. 19, letter to J. D. Hooker, 23 July [1871] and n. 6).
11
Larus ridibundus is a synonym of Chroicocephalus ridibundus; the very dark brown head is characteristic of its summer (breeding) plumage, while in winter most of the dark colour disappears, leaving two small dark spots on either side of its pale grey head. The mole cricket found in Britain is the European mole cricket, Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa.
12
Richard Lubbock’s observations on the black-headed gull, made at Scoulton Mere, Norfolk, are in R. Lubbock 1845, pp. 122–3. William Yarrell recorded information received from Lubbock in 1841 on the habits of this species in his History of British birds (Yarrell 1843–56, 3: 436–7). CD’s neighbour John Lubbock was not related to Richard Lubbock.
13
Fox’s wife was Ellen Sophia Fox.
14
The German badger hound is now more commonly known as the dachshund.
15
Robert Gerard Fox was English tutor to Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (later Wilhelm II), whose mother was Victoria Adelaide Mary Louise, the princess royal and wife of Wilhelm I, the German emperor (Larkum 2009, p. 410).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11913,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11913