Ɛpsilon

To F. E. Abbot   2 July 1872

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

July 2d. 72/

My dear Sir

I am ashamed to say that I kept no memorandum when I first subscribed for the Index.— I now send the amount, according to my sons calculation, for two years subscription & postage; so kindly make a note the date to which this extends & which will probably last out my active life.—1

I was very much interested two or three months ago by a grand Lecture which you delivered in Boston.—2

I had the great pleasure of having here to dinner a short time ago Col. Higginson: he seems in every way a man, whom one may have been proud to have received.—3

With all good wishes | In Haste, My dear Sir | yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

1
For CD’s arrangement to receive the Index, see the letter to F. E. Abbot, 8 January 1872, n. 1. CD’s calculation of the amount for two years’ subscription with postage was probably based on Abbot’s printed letter head, which stated: ‘Office of the Index, a weekly paper, devoted to free religion. Terms $2.00 a year.’
2
Abbot’s lecture ‘The god of science’, published as an Index tract (Abbot 1872b), had been delivered on 11 February 1872 in the Horticultural Hall, Boston, as part of a course of Sunday afternoon lectures under the auspices of the Free Religion Association. There was a short notice of the lecture in the Index, 24 February 1872, pp. 57–60.
3
Thomas Wentworth Higginson recalled his visit to Down in Higginson 1898, pp. 283–5.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.4 will] after del ‘I’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8401,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8401