Ɛpsilon

To Reginald Darwin   10 April [1879]1

Down,

April 10

My dear Cousin

One word to thank you and to say that the Galtons have lent me the essay written by and about Charles.2 I shall be glad to see the Keir-Moilliet memoirs, for I have just come across long and excellent letter to my Father from Mr. Keir about character of our grandfather.3

I have always thought that there is one golden rule for Biographers, that is, not to insert anything which, as far as one can judge, would interest only the members of the Family. This necessitates much brevity, but it seems to me that it is no use whatever to publish, unless one can make what is published in some degree interesting to the public.

God knows whether I shall succeed, but no man can do more than his best.

I have had another most kind letter from your sister4

Yours affectionately | Ch. Darwin

Copy

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Reginald Darwin, 9 April 1879.
2
Reginald Darwin had offered to lend CD an edition of medical works by Erasmus Darwin’s son Charles (E. Darwin ed. 1780; letter from Reginald Darwin, 9 April 1879). CD had already received a copy from Emma Sophia Galton (see letter from E. A. Wheler, 28 March 1879).
3
See letter from Reginald Darwin, 7 April 1879. Amelia Moilliet and James Keir Moilliet had published a life and letters of James Keir (Moilliet and Moilliet 1859). In Erasmus Darwin, pp. 13–14, 35–6, 49–50, and 68, CD quoted from the letter from Keir to Robert Waring Darwin, 12 May 1802 (DAR 227.6: 76). CD marked Keir’s letter with red and blue crayon to indicate the sections he quoted.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11986,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11986