Ɛpsilon

From Charles Lyell   [c. 16 July 1841]

My dear Darwin

I have no doubt that your father did righly in persuading you to stay, but we were much dissappointed in not seeing you before we start for a years absence—1 I cannot tell you how often since your long illness I have missed the friendly intercourse which we had so frequently before & on which I built more than ever after your marriage— It will not happen easily that twice in ones life even in the large world of London a congenial soul so occupied with precisely the same pursuits & with an independance enabling him to pursue them will fall so nearly in my way, & to have had it snatched from me with the prospect of your residence somewhere far off,2 is a privation I feel as a very great one— I hope you will not like Herschell get far off from a rail way—3 I have told my clerk to send to your house the charts on Coral reefs you kindly lent me but I have taken with me Lt. Smyths view of Pitcairns isle4 but will send it back per steamer from U.S if you should wish to have it for publication before my return—

With our joint wishes for your entire recovery & the health & happiness of your wife & family believe me ever most sincerely yrs | Cha Lyell

CD annotations

Verso of last page: ‘Letter from Lyell’ ink
1
CD initially wrote from Shrewsbury that he intended to return to London by the 16th (see letter to Charles Lyell, 6 [July 1841]). However, he did not return until the 23d (‘Journal’; Correspondence vol. 2, Appendix II). Lyell evidently departed for America shortly after the 16th (Wilson 1972, pp. 459–60, 517).
2
During his visit to Shrewsbury, CD had persuaded his father to support him in the purchase of a country house (see letter to Emma Darwin, [3 July 1841]).
3
In 1840 J. F. W. Herschel had bought a country house in Kent (Buttmann 1970, p. 129).
4
William Smyth. He is listed as an Admiralty Mate on the Blossom’s roster (Beechey 1831, 1: ix). The view of Pitcairn Island is reproduced in Lyell 1830–3, 2: 297.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-604,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-604