To Dear Friend1   4 January 1822

My Dear friend,

You must known that I am very sorry about shakespeare when Maryane, told me to put it up,2 and I like Mariane excessively, she is so very good to Miss Jone,3 I will tell you a little accident that happened to me   of course you know Miss Jones is in bed, and when I went there with Mariane last night, while she stoopped there I went in town and bought the cakes, and I came back sooner than Mariane was ready, and that foolish old man shoed in the bedroom   then there was a bit of Kick-hoop, not that I went quite in, oh no, quite the reverse

Your affectionate

Justice brust with a nose as big as your fist

PS I hope you were not much alarmed at Miss Clare4 accident

January 4, 1822

AL

1
The friend has not been identified. See this volume, Supplement, letter to Dear Friend, 1 January 1822, n. 1.
2
CD refers to his sister Marianne Darwin.
3
Possibly Martha Jones, a housemaid, who appears in Robert Waring Darwin’s accounts as receiving money between 1817 and 1822 (DAR 227.5: 82, f. 51 and contents page). The local poor and sick whom Erasmus Alvey Darwin visited in 1826 included Mrs O. Jones (Correspondence vol. 1, letter from Susan Darwin, [27 March 1826]).
4
Possibly Clare Leighton, a friend of the family (see Correspondence vol. 1, letter from Caroline and Susan Darwin, 2 [January 1826], and letter from Catherine Darwin, 15 January [1826]).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

3.1 your] over illeg

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1J,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1J