Ɛpsilon

From A. R. Wallace   8 January 1881

Pen-y-bryn, St. Peter’s Road, | Croydon.

Jany. 8th. 1881

My dear Darwin

I need not say how very grateful I am to you for your constant kindness, and especially for the trouble you have taken in recommending me to Mr. Gladstone.1 It is also of course very gratifying to hear that so many eminent men have so good an opinion of the little scientific work I have done,—for I myself feel it to be very little in comparison with that of many others.2

The amount you say Mr. Gladstone proposes to recommend is considerably more than I expected would be given, and it will relieve me from a great deal of the anxiety under which I have laboured for several years.3

Today is my 58th. birthday and it is a happy omen that your letter shd. have arrived this morning.

I presume after I receive the official communication will be the proper time to thank the persons who have signed the Memorial in my favour.

I do not know whether it is the proper etiquette to write a private letter of thanks to Mr. Gladstone, or only a general official one.

Whenever I hear anything from the Government I will let you know.

Again thanking you for your kindness | Believe me | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace

Charles Darwin Esq.

1
CD had circulated a memorial for a civil list pension for Wallace; he sent it to William Ewart Gladstone on 4 January 1881 (see letter to W. E. Gladstone, [4 January 1881]).
2
For a list of the persons who signed the memorial, see the letter to A. B. Buckley,  4 January 1881, enclosure.
3
Gladstone had recommended Wallace for a pension of £200 per year (see letter from W. E. Gladstone, 6 January 1881 and n. 1).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12994,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12994