Ɛpsilon

To Lawson Tait   14 February 1880

Down.

Feb. 14. 1880.

My dear Sir.

I have received the Newspaper which you kindly sent me, with the account of the meeting and this has deeply gratified me.1 The whole affair is a quite unprecedented honour— If you think fit to come here to give me the Address I shall be extremely glad to see you, but is it not a pity that you should spend your valuable time in travelling here? Had you not better send it by post? I would offer to come to London to receive it, but even a short journey is apt to fatigue me much, and I am always very unwilling to undertake one. Should you decide to come to Down March 21st. would not be quite convenient on two or three accounts; nevertheless I could manage it, but should prefer Wednesday, March 3rd. if equally convenient to you.2

With my sincere thanks for all the extraordinary interest which you have shown in this affair. | I remain, my dear Sir. | Yours sincerely | Charles Darwin.

Copy

1
See letter to Lawson Tait, 13 February 1880 and n. 1; Tait evidently sent a copy of the Birmingham Daily Post, 13 February 1880, containing an account of a meeting of the Birmingham Philosophical Society at which an address to CD was read (ibid., p. 5). CD had been made the first honorary member of the Birmingham Philosophical Society (see letter from Lawson Tait, 18 January [1880]).
2
The address from the Birmingham Philosophical Society was presented by Tait when he visited CD in London on 4 March 1880 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242); LL 3: 227).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12481,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12481