Ɛpsilon

To Anne Marsh-Caldwell   1 December [1866]1

Down Bromley Kent

Dec 1st

My dear Mrs Marsh Caldwell

Your very kind note has pleased me much. I shd. have answered it sooner, but there has been some delay, owing to our return yesterday from London, where we have been staying with Erasmus, who is only very moderately well.2

I am ashamed to say that I forgot the Christian name of Mr Corbet;3 nor do I know his address; so will you be so kind as to direct the enclosed note for him.4

I have given him all the information which I could, but it is worse than useless to try by mere chance experiments in diet.—5

Emma has brought back a cold from London & is in bed, other wise she would have written & sent a note better worth receiving than this.

Pray believe me, my dear Mrs. Marsh Caldwell | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Anne Marsh-Caldwell, 27 November [1866].
2
See letter from Anne Marsh-Caldwell, 27 November [1866]. According to Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242), CD returned from London on 29 November 1866 and Emma herself returned the next day. Erasmus Alvey Darwin, CD’s brother, lived at 6 Queen Anne Street, London (Post Office London directory 1866).
3
The reference is to Richard Corbet (see letter from Anne Marsh-Caldwell, 27 November [1866] and nn. 3 and 4).
4
The enclosure has not been found.
5
On Corbet’s interest in CD’s diet, see the letter from Anne Marsh-Caldwell, 27 November [1866].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5290,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5290