Sir
Having just put down your last work after reading it through with much interest I venture to contribute to the many you have doubtless collected an instance of subtle transversion what struck me forcibly some years since.
I knew well a lady who whenever a doubt of any thing spoken crossed her mind (which it did very often) twitched her mouth sideways once or twice. She was highly educated & in good society, but seldom sat long without crossing her knees and hooking the upper foot behind the leg of her chair. I sketched her once in this attitude unawares.
She died about 30 years ago leaving (among other children) an infant daughter whom I met accidentally about 14 years since. We had not conversed five minutes before the same habit of trivial scepticism and the same remarkable expression of it reminded me of her mother. I invited her on a visit, & no day passed that she was not found in her mothers attitude on her chair.2
I may add both mother & daughter were as artists far beyond the standard amateurs attain, except in rare instances.
Pray do not suppose I wish to inflict on you the trouble of acknowledging this I merely register what seems a curious group of facts with the only person I can imagine they might interest
Yours truly | J O W Haweis
Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9001,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on