Ɛpsilon

To ?   14 June [1860]1

Down Bromley Kent

June 14th

My dear Sir

Many thanks for your kind note & offer.— I have sent the list to Dr Hooker & have told him to write direct to you if they desire any or all at Kew.—2 As Hooker is very much over-worked I have told him that I have told you, that if you did not hear in 2 or 3 or 4 days the seeds were not wanted at Kew.— I really have no where else to recommend.—

I am sorry to say my Translator could not agree with Publisher, & I see no chance whatever of French Translation.—3 There was good Review lately in the Revue des Deux Mondes & in Bib. Univ. of Geneva.—4

I am extremely much pleased to hear what you say about young men: I knew well I shd. never convert old stagers.—

I am sorry to say that my eldest daughter has long been very ill; & I am much harassed and unwell—5 I fear there is little chance of my being at Oxford—6

In Haste | My dear Sir | Yours truly obliged | C. Darwin

1
The year is established by the reference to reviews of Origin in Revue des Deux Mondes and Bibliotheque Universelle (see n. 4, below); these reviews were published in April and March 1860, respectively.
2
Joseph Dalton Hooker was assistant director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
3
CD had engaged Pierre Theodore Alfred Talandier to make a French translation of Origin (Correspondence vol. 8, letter to Edward Cresy, 20 January [1860]), but Talandier failed to secure a publisher (ibid., letter to J. L. A. de Quatrefages de Bréau, 30 March [1860]).
4
CD refers to Pictet de la Rive 1860 and Laugel 1860; there are annotated copies in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.
5
Henrietta Emma Darwin was ill from late April 1860 until early 1861 (see Correspondence vol. 8, Appendix II, and Correspondence vol. 9, p. xix).
6
In 1860, the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science was held at Oxford. For accounts of the meeting, see Correspondence vol. 8.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2832F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2832F