Ɛpsilon

To Francis Galton   18 [December 1881]1

4. Bryanston St.

Sunday 18th

My dear Galton

I have been wishing to call on you & Mrs Galton, but I have not been very well during the whole of last week, & have not been able to do a quarter of the things which I wished to do.—2 We return home early on Tuesday morning, & if you shd. happen to have nothing to do tomorrow (Monday) evening between 4o & 6o P. M, would you call here that we may just have a sight of you.3

Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

1
The month and year are established by the address, and by CD’s reference to his illness and the day of his return (see nn. 2 and 3, below). The Sunday between 13 and 20 December 1881 was 18 December.
2
The Darwins visited London, staying at the home of Henrietta Emma and Richard Buckley Litchfield, from 13 to 20 December 1881 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)). CD was unwell for much of the visit (see letter to Francis Darwin, [18 December 1881] and n. 5). Galton’s wife was Louisa Jane Galton.
3
No record of the Galtons’ visit has been found, but CD did receive a visit on 19 December 1881 from John Scott Burdon Sanderson, so was probably well enough to receive visitors (see letter to G. J. Romanes, 17 [December 1881] and n. 5).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 4. Bryanston St.] above del ‘Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.’
1.3 early] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13560,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13560