To G. J. Romanes   27 May 1881

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

May 27th 1881

My dear Romanes

I thank you for your kind & very considerate letter.1 I have not the least idea, who is the artist of whom Mr. Murie has thought.2 It tires me a good deal to sit to anyone, but I shd. be the most ungrateful & ungracious dog not to agree. Cordially, supposing that enough is subscribed, about which I have always felt very doubtful. If I am to sit, it would be a pity not to sit to a good artist, & from all that I have heard I believe Mr Collier is a very good one. I have seen a photograph of his picture of Hooker & it seemed very good. I should most particularly desire to sit to Huxley’s son-in-law, if, as you say he would like to paint me.3 Let me earnestly say one thing of you, viz that you will not permit any touting for subscriptions: I always understood that my agreement to sit was contingent on the subscriptions sufficing.—

I am heartily glad that Mrs Romanes & the son & heir are flourishing.—4

We start on June 2d for

Glenrhydding House

Patterdale

Penrith,

where we shall stay 4 or 5 weeks & I already wish that we were home again.5

My dear Romanes | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

2
James Murie, the librarian of the Linnean Society, had received CD’s consent for a new portrait to be made of him (see letter from G. J. Romanes, 25 May [1881]).
3
John Collier was married to Thomas Henry Huxley’s daughter Marian. His portrait of Joseph Dalton Hooker was made in 1880 for the Royal Society of London (letter from Francis Galton to the President of the Royal Society, 1 February 1881; Royal Society Miscellaneous Correspondence MC/12/146).
4
Ethel Romanes had recently had her second child and first son, George Ernest Romanes.
5
The Darwins stayed at Patterdale, a village in the Lake District, from 3 June to 4 July 1881 (Emma Darwin's diary (DAR 242)).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Railway … S.E.R.)] parentheses added
1.2 is] above del ‘was’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13178,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13178