Ɛpsilon

From Robert FitzRoy   26 February 1838

Chester St. 31.

26. Feb. /38.

My dear Darwin

Not the slightest inconvenience was caused by your keeping Richardson,1 I assure you,— Had I wished to look at it—I would have written but it is not in my line.

The work you ask about is going on steadily—though not on a railroad— I am rather old fashioned in habits as well as ideas—Ergo—a slow coach.

I am happy to say that there is nothing whatever in your excellent and well-filled volume, to which I have any kind of objection to offer—therefore I trust that you will entertain no further Scruple on that Subject.

I have sealed up the copy sent to me by your Printer and will forward it to Capt. B. Hall with King’s.2

If Mr. Whewell’s notice of your work is published—I should feel obliged by your letting me know where I can see it— I mean his Speech at the Geological Socy. 3 A line by twopenny is the readiest way—

Sincerely yours | Robt. FitzRoy

PS. As my boy has to go near Gt. Marlbro’ Street he may as well take this note—and, if you are at home—, wait for an answer about Mr. Whewell’s Speech.

I have this moment had an application from poor Earle—who—it seems—has been somewhat overthrown by the New Zealand Association—or at least disappointed in his own Expectations.4

1
Possibly John Richardson’s Fauna Boreali-Americana (1829–37).
2
CD’s Journal and remarks and, it appears from this letter, Phillip Parker King’s narrative of the early voyage of the Beagle and Adventure, were already in print, though publication did not take place until FitzRoy had finished his volume and its appendix in 1839. Presumably proofs were being sent to Captain Basil Hall for comment or for the preparation of a review (see letter from Robert FitzRoy, [20 March 1839]).
4
The Association was established in 1837, under the direction of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, to promote the colonisation of New Zealand. Augustus Earle had visited New Zealand in 1827, before he joined the Beagle as draughtsman, and had published an account of his visit (Earle 1832). The disparagement of the work of missionaries by Earle and others stirred FitzRoy and CD to come to their defence in ‘A letter, containing remarks on the moral state of Tahiti, New Zealand, &c.’ (Collected papers 1: 19–38). In 1838, a set of Earle’s paintings of New Zealand (Earle 1838) was published under the auspices of the New Zealand Association. A prospectus (1837) had announced that there would be a series of such publications, sponsored by the association, but Earle’s was the only part published (Murray-Oliver 1968, p. 26).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-403,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-403