To John Lubbock   23 October [1862]1

Down

Oct. 23d.

My dear Lubbock

I had intended writing to you on my return home, but two days afterwards I had a bad attack, which kept me in house for week or two & stopped me going to Cambridge, as I had much wished & where I shd. have seen you.—2

I very much wish to see you; but I do not know what to do. Two days ago three officers of the Beagle came here to dinner;3 I took every possible precaution, but it made me very ill with violent shaking & vomiting till the early morning; & Could not even wish them goodbye next morning. Forgive these wretched details on my health, for I cannot bear that you shd. think me indifferent of your friendship or ungrateful for your kindness about my son William.—4

It is not worth your while, but if you could any day come & dine & sleep here & let me go away for an hour after dinner & retire to my room at 9 o clock I do not think it would hurt me; or if weather shd. ever come fine again would you spare time, if so inclined, to come on a Sunday to our early dinner, which would do, for your lunch.—

Whether I see you or not, I hope you will believe in my sincere attachment.

Yours very truly | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship to the letter from John Lubbock, 25 October 1862.
2
The Darwins spent September 1862 on holiday in Bournemouth (see ‘Journal’ (Correspondence vol. 10, Appendix II)); following their return to Down House, CD developed eczema (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 6 October [1862]). In 1862, the British Association for the Advancement of Science held its annual meeting in Cambridge from 1 to 8 October.
3
Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242) records that Arthur Mellersh, Bartholomew James Sulivan, and John Clements Wickham, three of CD’s former shipmates from the Beagle, dined at Down House on 21 October 1862.
4
In 1861, Lubbock helped to arrange William Erasmus Darwin’s partnership with George Atherley in the Southampton and Hampshire Bank, Southampton (see Correspondence vol. 9).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.3 & Could … morning. 2.4] interl
3.1 you] after del ‘at’
3.2 o clock] interl
4.1 I hope] ‘I’ over ‘h’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3779,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3779