Ɛpsilon

To George Bentham   9 November [1861]1

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

Nov. 9th

My dear Bentham

I write one line to thank you for your very kind note, & for arranging about my paper & for your Photograph.2 The photograph hardly does you justice, though like.

Pray believe me | Yours very sincerely | Charles Darwin

P.S. As my movements are never very certain, if I do not appear at the Socy. on Thursday Evening the Secretary must read my paper, but I will certainly attend if I am well.—3

1
The year is given by the reference to CD’s paper to be read before the Linnean Society of London (see n. 3, below).
2
Bentham’s letter has not been found. A reproduction of the photograph he may have sent to CD, dated 1861, is included in this volume facing p. 334. He had been elected president of the Linnean Society earlier in the year.
3
CD went to London on 20 November 1861, returning home on 23 November (Emma Darwin’s diary). He read his paper on the two forms of Primula before the Linnean Society on Thursday, 21 November 1861 (see Collected papers 2: 45–63).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3314,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3314