Ɛpsilon

To J. D. Hooker   [18 July 1868]1

Dumbola2 Lodge | Freshwater. | I. of Wight

Saturday 17th

My dear Hooker

Even two days from home have done my head so much good that I shall be up any time for a moderate amount of talk, & shall much enjoy seeing you & hearing about your Address.—3

It will not signify to you, but we are much disappointed in this place, which strikes us as very far from beautiful, & our House proves much too small.— But I daresay things will improve, & if I can keep better it will answer for me.—

You must come by S.W Railway to Lymington & cross to Yarmouth4 & Coach thence passes our door.—

Yours affect. | C. Darwin

Endorsement: ‘/July 68.’

1
The date is established by the endorsement and by the fact that the first Saturday that the Darwins spent at Freshwater was 18 July 1868 (see n. 3, below).
2
The name of the lodge was in fact ‘Dimbola’ (ODNB s.v. Cameron, Julia Margaret).
3
According to Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242), the Darwins went to London on Thursday 16 July and arrived in Freshwater on Friday 17 July; this letter was presumably written on Saturday 18 July, and CD’s date is in error. See also letter from J. D. Hooker, 12 July [1868] and n. 3.
4
Lymington in Hampshire is a coastal town from which the crossing to Yarmouth on the north-west coast of the Isle of Wight could be made.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.3 keep] above del ‘get’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-6279,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-6279