Ɛpsilon

To W. E. Darwin   20 November [1867]1

Down

Nov. 20th

My dear William

I enclose cheque for £200, & & please acknowledge receipt.—2

I have thought of a better & safer plan than lending it. & that is giving it. Anyhow I wd. not have been such an old Jew as to take 6 per cent.— I believe I did say something about helping you, so now I pay about half of Overend & your duty.—3 I am sorry the Bank will be bad this Xmas; but I supposed it cd. not be otherwise. You are quite right to pay off whole Duty & get done with it.

I am so glad that you will pay us & Eras.4 a little visit.— We do not yet know when we go up.— Woolner comes here, the Devil take him, early in December.5

My dearest old fellow | Your affect. Father | C. Darwin

1
The year is established by the date on which CD paid the cheque to William (see n. 2, below).
2
CD recorded a payment of £200 to William on 20 November 1867 (CD’s Account books–banking account (Down House MS)).
3
Against his record of the payment, CD noted that the cheque was in respect of Overend and succession duty (CD’s Account books–banking account (Down House MS)). For more on the failure of the financial firm, Overend, Gurney & Co., see Correspondence vol. 14, letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 May 1866, n. 15. The succession duty probably related to William’s inheritance from his aunt, Susan Elizabeth Darwin, who died in October 1866 (Correspondence vol. 14, letter to W. E. Darwin, 8 November [1866]).
5
Thomas Woolner planned to visit Down in December to make a bust of CD (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 17 November [1867]).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

safer] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5685,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5685