Ɛpsilon

To Thomas Gold Appleton   31 March [1846]1

Down Bromley Kent

March 31

Dear Mr. Appleton

I was much surprised a few days since by receiving your kind present of Fremont’s Expedition,2—a work of which I had seen extracts & had been for some time wishing to read—so that it is a most desirable present in itself & I feel very much gratified at your kind remembrance of us.— Mrs. Darwin & the children are all very well & we are leading our usual quiet life in our quiet village of Down.— Some not long time since we had a visit from Mrs. Mackintosh & Robert, with only the Baby, as the other children were a little unwell.3 Your sister looked decidedly better than when I last saw her before, but yet sadly delicate— I hope to hear of her paying you a visit at Boston this summer.— Robert has at last finished his collected works of Sir James, & I am delighted to hear that they are likely to sell well; it always has appeared to me rather a hazardous undertaking in a money point of view.4

With Emma’s kind remembrances pray believe me, with thanks | yours very sincerely | C. Darwin

1
The year is established by the reference to Mackintosh 1846.
2
CD refers to John Charles Frémont and Frémont 1845. CD’s annotated copy of Frémont 1845 is in the Darwin Library–CUL; he read it in 1846 (see CD’s Reading notebooks, Correspondence vol. 4, Appendix IV, 119: 17a).
3
CD refers to Mary and Robert James Mackintosh and their children Angus, Eva, and Ronald. Mary was Appleton’s sister.
4
CD refers to Mackintosh 1846. James Mackintosh was Robert Mackintosh’s father.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-968F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-968F