To Edward Cresy   7 September [1865]1

Down, Bromley, Kent

Sept. 7th.

Dear Cresy

As you have been so kind as to give me advice about the career of my son George, I have thought that you would permit him to call on you for a little additional advice.2 We were in hopes to have been able to see you here for a Sunday, but I have been confined to my bed-room with almost constant sickness for the last four months, and have seen nobody and done nothing.3 If I should get a little better I will still try to persuade you to come, though I might only be able to see you for a very short time, as it is a real pleasure to me to see you.

Dear Cresy, believe me | Yours very sincerely | Charles Darwin

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1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Edward Cresy, 10 September 1865.
2
George Howard Darwin matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, in October 1864 (Alum. Cantab.). Cresy may have given CD advice about George’s pursuing a career as an engineer (Henrietta Emma Darwin, in a letter to George that can be dated February–March 1866 (DAR 245: 271) commented: ‘Cresy said it wd be very good thing for engineer to have a little practice in public speaking’). Cresy was the principal clerk at the Metropolitan Board of Works, Spring Gardens, London (Post Office London directory 1865).
3
CD recorded in his Journal that his sickness began around 22 April 1865 (see Correspondence vol. 13, Appendix II).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4610,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4610