To J. V. Carus   27 October [1872]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Oct 27th

My dear Sir

I thank you very sincerely for your criticisms.— I am always blundering. I entreat you to send me any more corrections.— Pray alter your Translation, in all the places as I will in any future edition.— About “blushing” I will say though the word blushing is used in our English Translation, but that there is no sufficient evidence of true blushing.—2 I will ask Mr. Wedgwood whether he can justify about “ugly”—: please leave out the end of note.3

It is Spenser—(no doubt my familiarity with Herbert Spencer led to my stupid blunder).—4 It is Mr. R. B. Smyth.—5

I enclose what you wanted about the words from Shaspeare at p. 79: my daughter has looked out passages in the Index or Concordance, but she has not verified all the references: they seem, however, always right.—6

Again I thank you heartily.— | In Haste | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

How I admire & envy your wonderfully accurate mind & eye!—

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from J. V. Carus, 24 October 1872.
6
See letter from J. V. Carus, 7 October 1872 and nn. 7 and 8. Henrietta Emma Litchfield often assisted CD by reading and commenting on his work before publication (see, for example, Correspondence vol. 19, letter to H. E. Darwin, 20 March 1871). Alternatively, CD may be referring to Elizabeth Darwin, who still lived at home. The enclosure has not been found.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 in … places] interl
1.4 but that] interl
2.2 Mr. R. B.] interl
3.2 she] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8580,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8580