Holly House, Barking. E.
Nov[embe]r. 24th. 1870
Dear Darwin
Your letter gave me very great pleasure. We still agree I am sure on nineteen points out of twenty, and on the twentieth I am not unconvinceable. But then I must be convinced by facts & arguments, not by high-handed ridicule such as Claparède[’]s.1
I hope you see the difference between such criticisms as his, & that in the last number of the N. American Review,2 where my last chapter is really criticised, point by point;3 — & though I think some of it very weak, I admit that some is very [2] strong, & almost converts me from the error of my ways.
As to your new book,4 I am sure it will not make me think less highly of you than I do, unless you do, what you have never done yet,— ignore facts and arguments that go against you.
I am doing nothing just now but writing articles and putting down anti-Darwinians, being dreadfully ridden upon by a horrid old-man-of-the-sea4.5, who has agreed to let me have the piece of land I have set my heart on4.6, & I [3] which I have been trying to get of him since last February, but who will not answer letters, will not sign an agreement, & keeps me week after week in anxiety, though I have accepted his own terms unconditionally, one of which is that I pay rent from last Michaelmas! And now the finest weather for planting is going by. It is a bit of wilderness that can be made into a splendid imitation of a Welsh valley in little, & will enable me to gather round me all the beauties of the [4] temperate flora which I so much admire, — or I would not put up with the little fellow’s ways. The fixing on a residence for the rest of your life is an important event, and I am not likely to be in a very settled frame of mind for some time.
I am answering A[ndrew]. Murray’s5 Geog[raphical] Dist[ribution] of Coleoptera for my Ent[omological]. Soc[iety] Pres[idential]. Address6, and am printing a 2nd. Edition of my "Essays" with a few notes and additions.7
Very glad to see (by your writing yourself) that you are better, & with kind regards to all your family
Believe me Dear Darwin| Yours very faithfully| Alfred R. Wallace [signature]
My wife is suffering from face-neuralgia, otherwise we are pretty well.8
Darwin, C. 1871. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. 1st Ed. 2 vols. London, UK: John Murray.
4.5. James Theobald (1800-1871) of Hyde Abbey, Winchester.
4.6. The site of ARW's house The Dell, Grays, Essex.
Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP1937.4088)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
[1]1
To C.Darwin.) Holly House, Barking.E. Nov.24th.1870
Dear Darwin Your letter gave me very great pleasure. We still agree I am sure on nineteen points out of twenty, and on the twentieth I am not inconvincible. But then I must be convinced by facts & arguments, not by high-handed ridicule such as Claparède's.
I hope you see the difference between such criticisms as his, & that in the last number of the N.American Review, where my last chapter is really criticised, point by point;— & though I think some of it very weak I admit that some is very strong, & almost converts me from the error of my ways.
As to your new book I am sure it will not make me think less highly of you than I do, unless you do, what you have never yet done yet,— ignore facts & arguments that go against you.
I am doing nothing just now but writing articles and putting down anti-Darwinians, being dreadfully ridden upon by a horrid old-man-of-the-sea, who has agreed to let me have the piece of land I have set my heart on, & which I have been trying to get of[f] him since last February, but who will not answer letters, will not sign an agreement, & keeps me week after week in anxiety though I have accepted his own terms unconditionally, one of which is that I may rent from last Michaelmas! And now the finest weather for planting is going by. It is a bit of wilderness that can be made into a splendid imitation of Welsh valley in little, & will enable me to gather round me all the beauties of the temperate flora which I so much admire,— or I would not put up with the little fellow's ways. The fixing of a residence for the rest of your life is an important event, and I am not likely to be in a hurry very settled frame of mind for some time.
I am answering A.Murray's Geog.Dist.of Coleoptera for my Ent. Soc. Pres. Address, and am printing a second Edition of my "Essays" with a few notes and additions. Very glad to see (by your writing yourself) that you are better, & with kind regards to all your family Believe me Dear Darwin Yours very faithfully (signature)
Pagenumber (1) is typed top centre of the page, and crossed out in pencil.
Believe me Dear Darwin Yours very faithfully (signature)
Status: Draft transcription [Transcription (WCP1937.1827)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
To C.Darwin.) Holly House, Barking. E. Nov.[ember]24th.1870
Dear Darwin
Your letter gave me very great pleasure. We still agree I am sure on nineteen points out of twenty, and on the twentieth I am not inconvincible. But then I must be convinced by facts & arguments, not by high-handed ridicule such as Claparède’s.1
I hope you see the difference between such criticism as his, & that in the last number of the N. American Review, where my last chapter is really criticised, point by point;—& though I think some of it very weak I admit that some is very strong, & almost converts me from the error of my ways.
As to your new book2, I am sure it will not make me think less highly of you than I do, unless you do, what you have never yet done yet,—ignore facts & arguments that go against you.
I am doing nothing just now but writing articles and putting down anti-Darwinians, being dreadfully ridden upon by a horrid old-man-of-the-sea, who has agreed to let me have the piece of land I have set my heart on, & which I have been trying to get of him since last February, but who will not answer letters, will not sign an agreement, & keeps me week after week in anxiety, though I have accepted his own terms unconditionally, one of which is that I pay rent from last Michaelmas!3 And now the finest weather for planting is going by. It is a bit of wilderness that can be made into a splendid imitation of a Welsh valley in little, & will enable me to gather round me all the beauties of the temperate flora which I so much admire,—or I would not put up with the little fellow’s ways. The fixing on a residence for the rest of your life is a very importance event, and I am not likely to be in a hurry very settled frame of mind for some time.
I am answering A[ndrew]. Murray’s Geog. Dist. of Coleoptera4 for my Ent[omological]. Soc[iety]. Pres[identical]. address,5 and am printing a second Edition of my "Essays" with a few notes and additions.
Very glad to see (by your writing yourself) that you are better, & with kind regards to all your family[.]
Believe me | Dear Darwin | Yours very faithfully | 6 (signature)7
Status: Draft transcription [Transcription (WCP1937.4496)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
[1] [p. 254]
Holly House, Barking, E. November 24, 1870.
Dear Darwin, — Your letter1 gave me very great pleasure. We still agree, I am sure, on nineteen points out of twenty, and on the twentieth I am not inconvincible. But then I must be convinced by facts and arguments, not by highhanded ridicule such as Claparède's.2
I hope you see the difference between such criticisms as his, and that in the last number of the North American Review,3 where my last chapter is really criticised, point by point; and though I think some of it very weak, I admit that some is very strong, and almost converts me from the error of my ways.
As to your new book, I am sure it will not make me think less highly of you than I do, unless you do, what [2] you have never done yet, ignore facts and arguments that go against you.
I am doing nothing just now but writing articles and putting down anti-Darwinians, being dreadfully ridden upon by a horrid old-man-of-the-sea,4 who has agreed to let me have the piece of land I have set my heart on, and which I have been trying to get of him since last February, but who will not answer letters, will not sign an agreement, and keeps me week after week in anxiety, though I have accepted his own terms unconditionally, one of which is that I pay rent from last Michaelmas! And now the finest weather for planting is going by. It is a bit of a wilderness that can be made into a splendid imitation of a Welsh valley in little, and will enable me to gather round me all the beauties of the temperate flora which I so much admire, or I would not put up with the little fellow's ways. The fixing on a residence for the rest of your life is an important event, and I am not likely to be in a very settled frame of mind for some time.
I am answering A. Murray's5 Geographical Distribution of Coleoptera6 for my Entomological Society Presidential Address,7 and am printing a second edition of my "Essays,"8 with a few notes and additions. Very glad to see (by your writing yourself) that you are better, and with kind regards to all your family, believe me, dear Darwin, yours very faithfully, | ALFRED R. WALLACE.
Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP1937.6022)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Please cite as “WCP1937,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 29 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1937