To Maria Hooker   [17 December 1848]1

Down Farnborough Kent

Sunday

Dear Lady Hooker

I am extremely much obliged to your Ladyship for the enclosed very interesting letters, which shd. have been returned a day earlier, had I not been prevented returning home by unwellness in London.—

I am truly glad to hear so much better an account of Miss Hooker, to whom I beg my kind remembrances.—

Your son tells me he will send me some Zoolog. pamphlets from Hodgson through Sir William,2 will you ask him to be so kind as to send them, whenever convenient, directed to me to the Athenæum Club.—

With my sincere thanks for the pleasure I have received from knowing familiarly about your sons proceedings.

I remain Your Ladyships | Truly obliged | C. Darwin

1
Dated by the reference to the letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 October 1848, and the date of a visit to London. On 17 December, CD recorded in his Account Book (Down House MS) the expenses of a trip to London and also payment of a fee to Dr Henry Holland during his stay in the city. According to Emma Darwin’s diary, CD went to London on Wednesday, 13 December, where he was taken ill.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1209,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1209