Ɛpsilon

To Adam Sedgwick   1 June [1870]1

Down. | Beckenham | Kent. S.E.

June 1

My dear Professor Sedgwick

I must write a line to thank you very much for the present of your last writing.2

What I said in my last note was exactly true: I felt your manner towards myself & family extraordinarily kind, & I have not often in my life been more gratified.—3 Walking round the museum, after conversing with you, tired me a good deal, for I am knocked up with incredible ease; but I was quite right again next morning.4 I shall always look back with great satisfaction to my last visit (as it will probably prove) to Cambridge.— I hope that you will feel strong, so as to enjoy to a certain extent your visit to your old home.—5

With the most sincere respect, believe me | Yours truly obliged | Charles Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Adam Sedgwick, 30 May 1870.
3
CD’s letter to Sedgwick has not been found; however, see the letter to J. D. Hooker, 25 May [1870].
4
CD refers to the Woodwardian Museum (see letter to Alfred Newton, [22 May 1870] and n. 3).
5
Sedgwick was planning to visit Dent, in Yorkshire (see letter from Adam Sedgwick, 30 May 1870). Dent is now in Cumbria.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 Beckenham] before del ‘Bromley.’
3.0 was] interl
3.0 (as … prove)] parentheses over commas

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7213F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7213F