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To J. D. Hooker   16 [April 1845?]1

Down Bromley Kent

16th

My dear Hooker

Unfortunately we shall have the house nearly or quite full on Saturday with relatives & friends.2 Even if we could hold you, of which I am not sure, I know I shall be tired & not able to talk with you on the many things about which I want to talk, & I cannot bear to lose any part of the pleasure & profit of your visit, so will you come the ensuing Saturday 26th, or if that will not do, the Saturday after that.—3

I am so sorry to put you off. | Ever yours | C. Darwin

1
The date is conjectured from the fact that during the period in which the Darwins were using the ‘Down Bromley Kent’ address (1842–6, 1853, and 1855–69), Emma Darwin recorded in her diary a visit from a large number of relatives on a Saturday 19th only in April 1845 (DAR 242). CD and Hooker’s correspondence began in 1843 and CD first addressed him as ‘Dear Hooker’ in February 1844 (see Correspondence vol. 2 and Correspondence vol. 3, letter to J. D. Hooker, 23 February [1844]).
2
Emma’s brother, Hensleigh Wedgwood, his wife, Frances Emma Elizabeth Wedgwood, and presumably their six children, were at Down on Saturday 19 April 1845 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).
3
There is no record of a visit from Hooker at this time.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-857G,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-857G