To J. B. Innes   [3] January [1862]1

Down Bromley Kent

Jan. 2d.

My dear Innes

I am heartily glad to say that Quiz arrived last night safe & sound (but with a cough) & has been running about the house quite happy & very polite to every human being, including Cats.—2 Hearty thanks for your present.— Also for your two notes.—3 We most sincerely wish wish you all the happiness which can be expected in this world. Very glad we should be to see you here; but I think you will find yourself so well suited to your new career, that you will remain.4

We are a sick house with 3 Boys in bed with very bad feverish colds,5 so no more at present, except kind remembrances to Mrs. Innes & Johny, the young Laird—6

Ever my dear Innes | Yours very sincerely | Charles Darwin

1
Dated by the relationship to the letters from John Innes, [24 December 1861] (Correspondence vol. 9) and 2 January [1862]. In his letter of [24 December 1861] (ibid.), Innes stated that Quiz would be sent on Thursday 2 January; his letter of 2 January [1862] implies that this plan was adhered to. CD refers to Quiz having arrived ‘last night’, and so appears to have mistaken the date.
3
CD probably refers to the letters from John Innes, [24 December 1861] (Correspondence vol. 9) and 2 January [1862].
4
In his letter of 19 December [1861] (Correspondence vol. 9), CD wished Innes happiness in his ‘new career as Scotch Laird or Chieftain’. On moving to Scotland, Innes became priest in charge of Milton Brodie Mission and chaplain to the bishop of Moray; he continued to be the non-resident incumbent of Down until 1869 (Crockford’s 1894, Freeman 1978).
5
Emma Darwin recorded in her diary (DAR 242) on 1 January 1862 that she returned home from a trip to find the ‘boys ill of influenza’. See also letter from J. D. Hooker, [1 January 1862], n. 7.
6
CD refers to Innes’s wife Eliza Mary Brodie and son, John William Brodie.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 arrived] after del ‘has’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3371,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3371