Ɛpsilon

To George Bentham   1 October 1866

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

October 1st. 1866

My dear Bentham,

I write one line to thank you for your note, which will be very useful to me,1 and to say how very glad I shall be to see you when you are at Holwood.—2 Would it suit Mrs. Bentham3 and yourself to fix any day and come here to luncheon at half past one? I may just mention that by my doctors orders I ride every day from 12 to luncheon time.4

Believe me | Yours very sincerely | Charles Darwin

LS

1
Bentham’s letter has not been found, but see the letter from George Bentham, 25 September 1866 and n. 5, and the letter to George Bentham, 27 September [1866]. CD had asked Bentham, who was president of the Linnean Society, whether he could borrow more than two books at a time from the library. He suggested that the librarian, Richard Kippist, would not allow him to do so without explicit instructions from Bentham. Bentham’s note was evidently a confirmation of CD’s special borrowing privileges.
2
Holwood Park, a mile and a half north of Down House, was the home of Robert Monsey Rolfe. Bentham was planning to visit Rolfe later that month (see letter from J. D. Hooker, 28 September 1866 and n. 13).
4
CD’s doctor, Henry Bence Jones, had recommended a strict diet and exercise (see letter to H. B. Jones, 3 January [1866], nn. 2–4). CD had begun walking regularly in August 1865; he started riding on 4 June 1866 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5225,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5225