Ɛpsilon

To John Lubbock   [8 June 1861]1

Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.

Saturday Night

My dear Lubbock

I fear that you will think me utterly unreasonable if I was to ask you to call here either before or after church & stay lunch if so inclined. I know that you cannot do more, or say more than you have done; but you cannot imagine what a relief it would be to me to have one more final talk with you over this business; for I know no one else in whose judgment on such matters I have confidence.—

I know I am utterly unreasonable to ask you to call; but I fear I shall be a good deal knocked up tomorrow.—

Good Heavens what a whirlwind of business your office appeared.2 Pray forgive me & have charity, & a real charity it will be.—

Sir John Lubbock put the whole case with admirable clearness & helped me beyond measure.3 If it were not for looking to future, I would close at once; but I cannot feel easy at future.—

Your most sincerely | C. Darwin

1
Dated on the assumption that the letter was written in the evening following the meeting on Saturday, 8 June 1861, at Robarts, Lubbock & Co. (see the letter to W. E. Darwin, 6 [June 1861] and the letter to John Lubbock, 6 June [1861]). The eighth of June fell on a Saturday in 1861.
3
Lubbock’s father, John William Lubbock, was a partner in Robarts, Lubbock & Co. (Banking almanac 1861).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 & stay … inclined.] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3179,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3179