To A. S. Horner   [4 October 1842]

My dear M^rs. Horner

I am very much obliged for your letter & most kind congratulations¹ from yourself & M^r. Horner & Katharine.² We are going on very well & Emma is making a quicker recovery, owing I think to country air, than she has ever done before. Our children are very well & Willy approves of “country ouse” very | much.— I think the place will suit us very well & we have found moving so expensive, that I have not ceased to be thankful that we bought a very cheap house.— It is the quietest country, I ever lived in, & I fear must be very dull to all visitors, as it is scarcely possible to take any drives. To the east & west there are impassible valleys, to the south only one very narrow lane, & to the north, through the village, only two other lanes.— For walking the country is very good there being foot-paths in every direction.— My brother, who detests the country, declared we ought to call the place “Down-in-the-Mouth”—but he is now with us & has rather altered his opinion.—

I am exceedingly sorry to hear that M^r. Horner has not made more rapid progress;—with his activity of mind corporeal bondage must be, I am sure, extremely distressing. Pray tell him, that I have received such a letter from Lyell on my Coral Volume (I mention it, as he approved of it) that I have scarcely yet ceased stalking about like a peacock. I do hope by your return M^r. Horner will be sensibly better. His assistance & that of all true friends, will be wanted at the Geolog. Soc. in November.—³

I never saw anything like poor Lonsdale’s deep gratification at the present—⁴ My paper is full. Emma joins in warmest thanks to you & believe me, Yours truly obliged | C. Darwin