To John Lubbock   11 August [1857]1

Down.

Augt. 11th

My dear Lubbock

I am going to do a most ungracious thing, viz to ask you not to call here on Thursday, for I heard yesterday that a very old friend is coming to spend the day here,2 & childish as it must seem to you, this is a very great exertion to me, & the last straw breaks the camel’s back,—especially such a miserable worthless camel as I am.— I am sure I need not say how much pleasure a talk with you gives me whenever you have time & inclination to call.—

Forgive me | Dear Lubbock| Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

I did not write in answer about the Chinese fowls, as I thought I shd see you before very long. When I do see you & hear about them, I will settle whether the long journey to Bromley is worth while.

I went yesterday to Crystal Palace for Poultry show, & returned rather soured in temper, as I saw nothing worth seeing in my line.—3

1
The dates of this and the letter to Lubbock on 12 [August 1857] are based on John Stevens Henslow’s proposed trip to Down (see letter to Henslow, 10 August [1857], n. 1).
3
Beginning in 1857, the Crystal Palace was the site of a twice yearly poultry show, the largest in the London area (Secord 1981, p. 171).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 not] interl
1.4 a miserable] ‘a’ over ‘as’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2481,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2481