Ɛpsilon

From T. H. Huxley   20 December 1872

Athenæum Club | Pall Mall S.W.

Dec. 20. 1872

My dear Darwin,

I am utterly disgusted at having only just received your note of Tuesday—1 But the fact is there is a certain inconvenience about having four addresses as has been my case for the most part of this week—in consequence of our moving—and as I have not been in Jermyn St. before today I have missed your note—2 I should run round to Queen Anne St. now on the chance of catching you but I am bound here by an appointment3

However, it just occurs to me that Mrs Litchfield said something last Tuesday about you coming to stay with her—& I shall send this note to her address4

Please send me a post card to 4 Marlborough Place

Abbey Road N.W.

to say what time tomorrow I may call & have a chat with you   My lectures are out today & I am free—

You may judge what a joy moving has been in this weather—5

Ever yours very faithfully | T. H. Huxley

1
See letter to T. H. Huxley, [17] December [1872]. In 1872, 17 December was a Tuesday.
2
Huxley’s four addresses included the residence he moved from at 26 Abbey Place, St John’s Wood; his new residence at 4 Marlborough Place, Abbey Road, St John’s Wood; the Athenaeum Club, where he wrote this letter; and the Government School of Mines on Jermyn Street, where he was lecturer in natural history and palaeontology.
3
CD was staying at Erasmus Alvey Darwin’s house at 6 Queen Anne Street, London.
4
Henrietta Litchfield’s address was 2 Bryanston Street, London (DAR 248/2). CD, however, stayed with Erasmus Darwin for the entire time he was in London (see ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).
5
The Huxleys moved house ‘amid endless rain and mud’ (L. Huxley ed. 1900, 1: 384).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8687,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8687