Ɛpsilon

To H. E. Litchfield   11 [December 1879]1

11th

Down.

My dear Etty

I send by this post, Guthries book which you will perhaps not care to see after reading Moulton’s letter. I also enclose William, who wished to see Moulton’s, so please send it.— You had better ask whether Eras, wd like to see the Book & these letters.2 I have sent the Photo. to Mrs Billing.3

Good-bye dearest— love to Litchfield— you have both been very good to us.—4

Your affec | C. Darwin

I scrattled to death.—5

3o15′ P.m. Mother not arrived!6

1
The year and month are established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from J. F. Moulton, 10 December 1879.
2
CD’s copy of Malcolm Guthrie’s On Mr. Spencer’s formula of evolution (Guthrie 1879) is in the Darwin Library–Down. See also letter from W. E. Darwin, [8 December 1879], and letter from J. F. Moulton, 10 December 1879. Erasmus Alvey Darwin was CD’s brother.
3
Mrs Billing has not been identified.
4
CD and Emma Darwin had stayed with Henrietta Emma and Richard Buckley Litchfield in London from 3 to 8 December 1879 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).
5
In the Darwin family, ‘scrattle’ seems to mean chatter.
6
The Darwins had returned from London, where they had been staying with E. A. Darwin, on 11 December (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12353,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12353