Ɛpsilon

From Robert Swinhoe   14 March 1871

33 Oakley Square | Chelsea SW.

14 March, 1871.

My dear Mr. Darwin,

I do not distinctly recollect, but I have an idea that a stoop is affected which would throw up the shoulders a little. I never saw a Chinaman throw up his shoulders in the emphatic way a Frenchman does, or in the cringing manner of a Bengalie.1

If you will kindly send me another copy of the Queries on Expression I will make some more efforts to answer them in view of the people at Ningpo (below Shanghai), to which Port I am now appointed Consul.2 I leave England by the Southampton Mail of the 1st. of April next, and my address will be, RS.

H.M. Consul

Ningpo

China.

Never forget to work me if I can be of the slightest use to you. I am always at your service.

With many thanks for your kind wishes, | I remain, | Your’s very sincerely, | Robert Swinhoe.

1
In Expression, pp. 264–72, CD discussed the shrugging of shoulders and cited Swinhoe for information on Chinese practice (ibid., p. 269). No letter from CD to Swinhoe on the subject has been found.
2
Ning-po is now Ningbo. CD had sent Swinhoe a copy of his Queries on expression in 1867 (see Correspondence vol. 15, letter to Robert Swinhoe, [27 February 1867], and letter from Robert Swinhoe, 5 August 1867).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7580,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7580