To J. D. Hooker   10 September [1869]1

Down. | Beckenham | Kent. S.E.

Sept. 10th

My dear Hooker

We are all very sorry you cannot come here at once, but shall be very, very, very, glad whenever you can.2 We have had our Dutchman, Prof. Donders, who came with Bowman to luncheon: he is a very pleasant, jolly man & good “Darwinian”(!).3 He was speaking about Miquel. By the way, if you N. B would like it, & Miquel not dislike it, you could propose to bring him here for a Sunday, but it would rather spoil your visit selfishly for us, & in this case you must tell the truth & tell M. how little I can see of anyone.—4

Thanks for news about Exeter; much of which was new to me, but as far as I have heard & read I agree to every word you say.5

But you do not mention the most charming (& that is the correct word) speech of all & that was yours on resigning the Presidentship.—6 By Jove you ought to have been an embassador, a foreign councillor or some such swell to have made speeches when monarchs are received!—

I received the Indian Census, for which many thanks; but now I know not how far to trust it—7

Yours affectionately | C. Darwin

I am unusually well & been working unusually hard.—

P.S. Henrietta8 will be away on Sat. 18 & at home on Sat. 25. & she will be much pleased if the latter will suit you equally well, but most likely you will not be able to take your choice of times being so busy—

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from J. D. Hooker, 7 September 1869.
2
See letter from J. D. Hooker, 7 September 1869. The third ‘very’ is underlined three times.
3
CD refers to Frans Cornelis Donders and William Bowman. See letter from William Bowman, 3 September [1869].
6
Hooker’s resignation speech preceded the address of the new president for the coming year, George Gabriel Stokes, on 18 August (Report of the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Exeter in 1869, p. lxxxvii). A short excerpt from Hooker’s speech was published in The Times, 20 August 1869, p. 7.
8
The reference is to Henrietta Emma Darwin. The postscript is in Emma Darwin’s hand.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 Beckenham] before del ‘Bromley.’
1.4 N. B] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-6886,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-6886