Ɛpsilon

From G. C. Robertson to G. J. Romanes   21 January 1882

31, Kensington Park Gardens. | W.

21.1.82

Dear Romanes,

I return Mr. Darwin’s letter.1

I will set about speaking to the subscribers to the fund as I have opportunity, but from what I know of Allen I am still inclined to think that he would appreciate the acknowledgment more if it came to him after his payment of the second instalment.2 He is extremely sensitive on the matter, and if he should be unable to complete the payment as soon as some time ago he hoped, he would feel it more because of what he would consider the new obligation. When his original “debt” (as he thinks it) is wiped off, he will be in the mood to regard the new gift or testimonial in the light that we should like.3 At all events, it might be well to delay till after I (or you) have seen him. He is coming up to lecture at the Lond. Institution on the 6th. & will stay here for a day or two then.4

The subscribers number 15, without Trübner.5 Would it not be the best plan to agree to ask for an equal contribution from each, since it will only be very small even for a rather superior microscope? I suppose a very good one might be got for about £20, but you will know.

Yours ever | G Croom Robertson

2
Grant Allen was repaying money that had been raised by subscribers to support him and his family in 1879 during a period of illness (see Correspondence vol. 29, letter to G. J. Romanes, 8 December 1881 and n. 1).
3
CD and Romanes had agreed to give Allen a microscope (see Correspondence vol. 29, letter to G. J. Romanes, 8 December 1881). Robertson evidently proposed that the microscope be a gift from the original subscribers and that the gift be postponed (see letter to G. J. Romanes, 20 January 1882). Romanes forwarded Robertson’s letter to CD, adding at the top of the letter: ‘Do not trouble to answer or return if you agree with contents—G. J. R.’
4
Allen’s lecture ‘An English weed’ was given at the London Institution on 6 February 1882 (Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, 3 February 1882, p. 10). The London Institution was founded in 1806 to promote science, literature, and the arts; it had a library, reading rooms, and a large lecture theatre. Francis Darwin had given a botanical lecture there in 1878 (see Correspondence vol. 26, letter to Francis Darwin, [21 November 1878], n. 6).
5
Nicholas Trübner’s firm had published Allen’s recent book The colour-sense (Allen 1879).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13633,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13633