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To Thomas Salt   17 February [1861]

Down Bromley Kent

Feb 17th

Dear Sir

I am much obliged for your letter. I still feel almost sure that some communication passed between Mssr Burd & myself about five years ago about a prolonged period of agreement; & as this period had expired it seemed to me prudent to consult you on the subject & at the same time about the rate of Interest.1 I had no wish or intention for my Trustees to call in the sum on mortgage.—2 Mssr. Burd have never asked me to reduce the interest: had they done so, I should have consulted you.—

I am sorry to hear that you have been suffering from so painful a disorder as erysipelas.

With my best thanks for your advice, I remain | Dear Sir | Yours faithfully & obliged | Charles R. Darwin

Endorsement: ‘17 Feby 1861’

1
Salt’s letter has not been found; it probably concerned William Mostyn Owen’s mortgage (see this volume, Supplement, letter to Thomas Salt, 9 February [1861]). Laurence Burd was a solicitor in Shrewsbury, near which town Mostyn Owen lived, and may have been acting for Mostyn Owen in this matter.
2
The trustees were Erasmus Alvey Darwin and Josiah Wedgwood III (see this volume, Supplement, letter to Thomas Salt, 9 February [1861], n. 1).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3063F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3063F