From G. H. Darwin   [4 November 1874]1

Wedn.

My dear Father,

I am sorry that you shd. think that I ever wished that your work shd. be postponed to mine, & I gather from your letter that you think I ought not to have sent M.S to Norman without consulting you, But I thought he would know what time he had at his own disposal, & as he expressly wrote last week that he cd. undertake it, I don’t think I was very wrong in sending it—especially as 2 hrs wd. do the job.2 Immediately on getting Mother’s letter3 I wrote to tell him to get some one else to copy it, if it wd. delay your work. As I thought that, combined with yr. order that he was not to do it wd. be sufficient, I have not written again— I asked him to get some one else to copy it & I’ve no doubt he knows some one who can do so.

My cold has gone to my stomach a good deal & I’m pretty seedy, tho’ I’ve been playing tennis this a.m.

As I wrote yest. I will come home for a few days on this day week4

Yrs affectionately | G H Darwin

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to G. H. Darwin, 5 November [1874]. In 1874, the Wednesday before 5 November was 4 November.
2
Ebenezer Norman, schoolmaster in Down and CD’s copyist, was probably making fair copies of chapters of CD’s book on insectivorous plants. George may have wanted Norman to make a copy of his lecture on political economy (see letter to G. H. Darwin, 5 November [1874] and n. 6).
3
Emma Darwin’s letter to George has not been found.
4
There is no record of George’s arriving at Down on 11 November, but Emma Darwin’s diary records that ‘G’ left on 16 November (DAR 242).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9708,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9708