Ɛpsilon

To M. C. Lloyd   5 June [1872]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

June 5th

My dear Miss Lloyd

I received yesterday a most spirited drawing of a dog, & I have heard to day that it was sent by you.2

I admire it much, but regret exceedingly that you should have taken so much trouble in vain; for two sketches of dogs in the same frame of mind are now actually in the hands of the engraver.3 I did not understand that Miss Bonham Carter was going to apply to you; but some little time ago I expressed in her presence my trouble about drawings; & she, I presume, wrote to you.—4 I had at that time one sketch which would do moderately well, & directly afterwards I received a second from a young artist, which seemed to me so true & spirited that I at once sent it off to be engraved.5

Pray accept my cordial thanks for your great kindness, & believe me | Yours truly obliged | Charles Darwin

1
The year is established by the reference to engravings of dogs for Expression (see n. 3, below).
2
The sketch has not been found.
3
Sketches of hostile and affectionate dogs had been made by Arthur Dampier May and Briton Riviere and were being engraved as plates for Expression by James Davis Cooper (see Expression pp. 52–5; see also letter to Briton Riviere, 29 May 1872, and letter from Samuel Butler, 30 May 1872 and n. 2).
4
Elinor Mary Bonham-Carter had provided CD with information on expression in dogs, including some from Riviere (see Correspondence vol. 19, letter from Briton Riviere to E. M. Bonham-Carter, 26 June 1871). See also Correspondence vol. 19, letter to A. D. Bartlett, 19 December [1871], for CD’s efforts to secure suitable drawings.
5
CD received the sketches done by May, a teenager, through Samuel Butler at the end of May 1872, when he was already in possession of those by Briton Riviere (see letter from Samuel Butler to Francis Darwin, [before 30 May 1872], and letter from Samuel Butler, 30 May 1872).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8370,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8370