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From Henry Johnson   27 December [1880]1

Burnham | Somerset

Dec 27.

My dear Darwin

The Shrewsbury Newspaper of 2 or 3 days ago contained a Paragraph that destressed me very much. It said that you were very ill & I cannot help writing a line to ask you to be so kind as to let me know, some thing about yourself.2

I am here in such an out of the way place that I cannot learn anything about you except from your self or some of your family.

I trust in Goodness you will be able to send me more comforting news about yourself. I fear & have long feared that you were not careful enough of yourself. If one of your Family would write me a few lines I should be for ever obliged & thankful.

Believe me | dear Darwin your affectionate old Friend | Henry Johnson.

Mary3 is with me & quite participates in my anxiety for news.

1
The year is established by the reference to a newspaper report (see n. 2, below).
2
The report in the Shrewsbury paper has not been identified, but short reports appeared in several newspapers stating that CD was confined to his bed but able to read and converse (see, for example, the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, 23 December 1880, p. 5).
3
Mary Elisabeth Johnson was Johnson’s daughter.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12943,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12943