To W. D. Fox   25–6 October [1865]

Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.

Oct. 25

My dear Fox

It is a long time since we have had any communication & I should like much to hear how you are yourself as well as Mrs Fox1 & all your family.

I know you will wish to hear about me. I have had a bad time for the last 6 months & have been able to do no scientific work. I have put myself under Dr Bence Jones’s care & he has stopped my vomiting by a scanty diet of toast & meat; but I cannot recover my strength.2 I know you are half a Doctor therefore I thought you wd like to hear these details.

My Sister Susan’s health has lately been much failing & I fear from the last accounts that her state is becoming serious.3 As for the rest of us we are pretty well, at least for Darwins, & that is not saying much. My children however are all well I am thankful to say

Oct 26. I had dictated thus far yesterday, & now by an odd chance your kind & welcome letter has arrived.4 I heartily rejoice at the good account you give of yourself, patriarch as you are with your half dozen grandchildren   I congratulate you most sincerely on the brilliant success of your son & my Godson.5 My eldest son6 is established as a banker at Southampton & is fairly well contented with his lot. My second son George has just passed his Little go at Trin. Coll.7 He has a turn for mathematics, & means to try for a scholarship there this Easter.8 As for myself I have not gone out of my grounds for the last 12 months; but on Nov. 7. we go for a week to Erasmus’s in order that Dr Bence Jones may see me two or three times.9 I hope this may coincide with part of your visit, as I shd like extremely to see you again for a few minutes,—more than that I fear I cd not stand.

My wife desires to join in very kind remembrances to Mrs Fox | My dear old friend | Yours affectionately | C. Darwin

LS(A)

Postmark: OC 27 65

2
According to Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242), CD began his diet under the supervision of Henry Bence Jones on 24 July 1865. See also letters to Asa Gray, 15 August [1865], n. 12, and 19 October [1865] and n. 6.
3
Susan Elizabeth Darwin lived at the Mount, the Darwin family residence in Shrewsbury.
7
‘Little-go’: ‘the popular name … for the first examination for the degree of B.A., officially called … “The Previous Examination” at Cambridge’ (OED). George Howard Darwin matriculated at Trinity College in October 1864.
8
George received a prize for achieving first class in the Easter term examination, 1866 (Cambridge University calendar 1867, p. 397).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.3 scanty] in CD’s hand above del ‘sharp’
3.4 thankful to say] interl in CD’s hand
5.1 My dear … C. Darwin 5.2] in CD’s hand

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4924,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4924