To J. D. Hooker   [12 May 1866]

Down.

Saturday

My dear Hooker

Caspary wrote to me a little time ago that he wanted to meet him;1 I answered that I shd. be very glad to see him here, but that I doubted whether it was worth his while, as I could talk so little with anyone.—2 He writes me a very nice letter & says he shall consult you.—3 Therefore I write to beg you to ask him by all means to come & sleep here, if he has spare time, but at same time tell him the truth how little exertion I can stand. I shd like very much to see him, though I dread all exertion.—4

Yours affect | C. Darwin

London did me no harm,5 but I have not been quite so brilliant lately, I am pleased to see that you will be D.C.L of Oxford.—6

Endorsement: ‘May 12th/66’

1
See letter from Robert Caspary, 26 April 1866. CD wrote ‘him’ rather than ‘me’ in error.
2
The letter to Caspary has not been found.
4
CD often remarked that conversation with visitors made him exhausted or sick, and he frequently excused himself from social occasions on these grounds (see Correspondence vol. 13, Appendix IV and n. 9).
5
CD had visited London from 21 April to 1 May 1866 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).
6
Hooker received the honorary degree of doctor of civil law from Oxford University on 13 June 1866 (The Times, 13 June 1866, p. 9).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 I doubted] ‘I’ over ‘it’
1.3 letter] after del illeg

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5088,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5088