Ɛpsilon

To W. D. Roebuck   3 November 1880

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

Nov. 3rd 1880

Dear Sir

I am much obliged for the Transactions which I was glad to look at before the arrival of the Deputation.1

The Address which was presented to me is certainly one of the greatest honours ever paid to a scientific man.— It is admirably expressed, & the engrossing seems to me an exquisite work of art.2

I fear that I by no means deserve all that is said of me in the address; but it shows the great kindness & sympathy of the senders.

Pray accept my best thanks for all the kind interest which you have shown in the affair & believe me | Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin

1
Roebuck had sent issues of the Transactions of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union (see letter from W. D. Roebuck, 1 November 1880 and n. 1). He had arranged for a deputation from the union to present CD with a memorial address on 3 November (see letter from W. D. Roebuck to G. H. Darwin, 25 October 1880).
2
Engrossing: decorative writing in large letters (OED). The address was published in Nature, 18 November 1880, p. 57 (see Appendix III); the original has not been found in the Darwin Archive–CUL.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Railway … S. E. R.)] parentheses added
1.1 was] after del ‘have’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12793,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12793