To Francis Darwin   16 May [1871]1

Bassett Southampton.

May 16th

My dear Frank

George has written to me to say how much he & Pryor would like you to accompany them to N. America.2 I suppose that you would like it also, & I shd. like extremely to give you this pleasure.— But would it seriously interfere with your medical studies?3 Think over this, though it wd be almost superhuman virtue to give it up.— Yet if it broke through a whole year or course, I fear that you ought.— George says that you wd. not have money to pay for yourself (which is of course an extraordinary state of things) so that I will gladly pay the whole cost.—

Reflect & judge wisely, & I hope all will turn out serene—

We shall all be very anxious to see your article.—4

Yours very affectionately | Ch Darwin

Mamma, & be hanged to her, is of course all for your going.—

1
The year is established by the reference to a planned trip to the United States; see letter from G. H. Darwin, [14 May 1871] and n. 1.
3
Francis was studying medicine at St George’s Hospital in London (Darwin 1920, p. 67).
4
Francis wrote a short article that appeared in the 22 May 1871 issue of the Cambridge Tatler ([Darwin] 1871); see first letter from Francis Darwin, [after 22 May 1871] and n. 6.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.00 I suppose] after del ‘would’
1.00 would it] after del ‘it’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7761,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7761