To J. D. Hooker   [3 July 1860]

Sudbrook Park

Tuesday morning

My dear Hooker

I have heard this morning from home that Emma hopes to move Etty today;1 if so it would be folly in me not to try whether the Baths would not do me some good: so that I think I shall stay here till Saturday; but a bad account would take me home on Thursday; so I must leave my visit to you rather uncertain.—2 If I do not hear I shall understand that you probably will be at home on Saturday morning between 10 & 11— But I shall judge by your note to certain extent.—   Do not trouble yourself to write, unless you are certain that you will not be at home on Saturday.3

Yours affect | C. Darwin

I have reread your letter again this morning with infinite satisfaction.—4

I see Trains do not work in very well for me, for I cannot leave (to catch Down Train) before 1o. 14‘ from Kew so I must leave your house at 1o 5’. Will you give me a sandwich at 12o. 45‘? I will not come till past eleven; & if tired I can take a stroll in garden & save myself & you time.—

Endorsement: ‘July 3d.1860’

1
Emma Darwin wrote in her diary on 3 July 1860 ‘came to Hartfield.’ The house of Emma’s sister Sarah Elizabeth Wedgwood was known in the family as ‘the kindly hospital for all who are sick or sorry’ (Emma Darwin (1915) 2: 176).
3
CD stayed at Sudbrook Park until Saturday, 7 July (‘Journal’; Appendix II). He visited Hooker on his return to Down (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 July [1860]).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2856,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2856