From H. W. Bates   25 January 1862

King St Leicester

25 Jany 1862

My Dear Sir

I found the returned M.S & your kind letter when I came home after 8 days stay in town chiefly occupied by studies relative to the travels.1 I hope your good opinion of the 2nd chapter will be equally merited by the rest. I will now trouble you to write to Mr. Murray, as there is quite enough ready for him to form an opinion of the work.2

I will not write more at the present time— The complaint which I heard in London has afflicted your family has extended to here— I am now suffering from a kind of influenza with some symtoms of an old ague but it has not upset me completely at present3

Yours sincerely | H W Bates

1
Bates refers to the manuscript of the second chapter of his book describing his experiences as a naturalist in the Amazon region of South America, which he had sent to CD for comment (see letter to H. W. Bates, 13 January [1862]).
2
CD had offered to write to his publisher, John Murray, recommending Bates’s manuscript (see Correspondence vol. 9, letter to H. W. Bates, 25 September [1861]). Murray published the work the following year (Bates 1863).
3
According to Henry Holland, influenza was ‘very rife both in London & the country’ (see letter from Henry Holland, 15 January [1862]).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3412,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3412