To R. B. Litchfield   2 February 1880

Down.

Feb 2. 1880

My dear Litchfield

I have only a moment or two to thank you & Henrietta most warmly for all the trouble which you have taken.1 Your first letter I think about the most sensible one I ever read.2 Your imaginary answer for B is splendid. I am almost converted not to answer & I did not think I could be. Indeed I am converted.— So almost is Mother— Leonard partially.— F still maintains that if it were his case he would answer.3 We had thought of Huxley & I shall despatch by this post the Athenæum & my answer to him & I will enclose (for I think you could not object) your first letter. I will not enclose 2nd. letter, merely not to trouble H with reading so much.—4 I hope to god Huxley will say no. We do not agree about the 2 sentences to be cut out, if my answer is to be printed.5 You have both been very very kind to me. The affair has      me to a silly extent6

yours affectionately | Ch. Darwin

Copy

1
CD had asked the Litchfields for advice on whether to respond to Samuel Butler’s letter to the Athenæum complaining of the treatment of his own work in Erasmus Darwin (see letter to H. E. Litchfield, 1 February [1880]).
3
Litchfield had composed an imaginary reply by Butler to CD’s draft letter to the Athenæum; see letter from R. B. Litchfield, 1 February 1880 and enclosure. Emma Darwin, Leonard Darwin, and Francis Darwin had also read CD’s draft reply to Butler.
4
CD sent Thomas Henry Huxley a copy of the Athenæum containing Butler’s letter, his second draft letter to the Athenæum, and the first enclosure to the letter from H.E. Litchfield, [1 February 1880] (see letter to H. E. Litchfield, 1 February [1880], enclosures 1 and 3).
5
The sentence beginning ‘I could explain …’ and the final sentence of CD’s second draft letter to the Athenæum were enclosed in pencil brackets to indicate that they should possibly be omitted (see letter to H. E. Litchfield, 1 February [1880], enclosure 3).
6
The copyist left a gap, presumably because a word was illegible.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12453,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12453