From J. T. Moggridge   25 May [1866]1

7a. Eastbourne Terr. | Hyde Park | W.

May 25.

Dear Mr. Darwin

I thank you most heartily for your very kind offer of hospitality, & accept for June 23.—2

I have seen quite enough of invalid life to understand the laws of a sick house,3 & I only hope that no ceremony may prevent the issue of the necessary instructions—

—With renewed thanks believe me | very sincerely yours | J. Traherne Moggridge.

CD annotations

Top of letter: ‘Will leave L. at 4o .30 or 5o .— | Sowerby’4 pencil
1
The year is established by the date of Moggridge’s visit to Down (see n. 2 below).
2
The letter to Moggridge has not been found. Moggridge arrived at Down on 23 June and departed on 25 June 1866 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).
3
Moggridge spent each winter in Mentone, in the south of France, because of ill health (Gardeners’ Chronicle n.s. 2 (1874): 723).
4
CD may refer to George Brettingham Sowerby Jr, who had been employed to produce illustrations for Variation (see letter to John Murray, 22 February [1866] and n. 14, and letter to G. B. Sowerby Jr, 19 October [1866]).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5101,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5101