To G. H. Darwin   19 October [1874]¹

My dear George,

We have been greatly interested by your whole letter.² As I believe that no one can tell whether he can lecture fairly well, until he has tried, & whether his nerves will stand the exertion (& I imagine a person out of health w^d be more apt to break down than another), I sh^d. certainly think it much safer for you to have had a trial in some smaller place & not before the elite of London, as at the R. Institution. But if you think you could succeed I am rather strongly of opinion it w^d. be better to take up your new views of Pol. Economy rather than Dress:— I think this latter subject w^d. rather rash for a young man unless he was certain that he c^d. make it very amusing.³ A man with an established reputation might make the trial & it w^d. be thought merely a jeu d’esprit,⁴ & if it failed nothing more w^d. be thought about it. This, however, w^d. not be the case with a young man. Assuming that the Pol. Lecture was too abstruse & would interest very few, yet those who did not care about it, or understand it, would not complain: they w^d. have a silent conviction that the lecture was worth giving, though they did not profit by it. By some reiteration, I sh^d think you could make your new view intelligible. No doubt it is a grt evil not having illustrations, & I suppose any w^d. be impossible.— A lecture on this subject, w^d., I imagine be as intelligible to the multitude as one of Clifford’s.⁵ I sh^d add, as one sign, that your mother did not care about your published article on dress. It is a great honour being asked by such a man as Spottiswoode to lecture, but reflect well before you accede. Could you consult him whether such a subject as Pol. Econ. giving him some notion w^d. do?

Your health is a serious point in the problem—⁶

This is the result of my reflexions on the subject.—

We received the Quarterly yesterday, & am sorry I did not forward it at once, but thought that you w^d have seen it. The last sentence of the rejoinder is decently fair.— I have written to Murray to thank him for the copy, & have told him that the rejoinder was a fine specimen of words having been used in a Pickwickian sense. I have also told him my conviction that Mivart was the author, & have expressed my plain opinion about the man’s malice & utter disregard of truth.⁷

I sh^d doubt whether going to Abinger was worth the cost.—⁸ Thank you for telling me about Balfour⁹

Yours affect | C. Darwin

On account of any proofs of Index let me hear whether you go to Abinger & how long you stay there. I do not believe book will be ready for Murray’s sale!!¹⁰