Ɛpsilon

To H. W. Jackson   9 [July 1880]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Friday 9th

My dear Sir

I shall be happy to see the members of the Association here tomorrow, & I heartily wish that the place was more attractive than it is.—2 Perhaps I cd. make a few remarks to the members on the Natural History of the district, which might interest them slightly,— anything of much interest I could not say. As the party will be rather large I think the best plan will be to receive them in the drawing room, which opens into a rather large verandah & I will have benches in the garden close in front, & by these together everybody will, I hope, be able to rest a little.3

My dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin

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1
The month and year are established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to H. W. Jackson, 15 July 1880.
2
Jackson was an honorary secretary of the Lewisham and Blackheath Scientific Association. CD had invited members and their friends to visit Down on the afternoon of 10 July 1880.
3
According to a report of the visit in the Proceedings of the Lewisham and Blackheath Scientific Association 2 (1880): 19–20, forty-three members and friends of the society visited Down. CD showed them the albums he received from German and Dutch naturalists on his 70th birthday and also showed some recent research on earthworms in his study. The visit was also described in a letter from Emma Darwin to Henrietta Emma Litchfield, [11 July 1880] (DAR 219.9: 242).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12650,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12650