Ɛpsilon

WCP3750

Letter (WCP3750.3661)

[1]1

9, St. Mark's Crescent N.W.

Saturday

Dear Mrs. Huxley,2

Many thanks for your kindness in sending me the ticket, which I exceedingly regret I was not able to use, as I had accepted an engagement for last evening a week ago, before I heard of the lecture, & have been debating with myself ever since if I could decently break it off. I was sorely tempted, but the dictates of a high morality prevailed. But alas! Virtue was not its own reward. I had a most stupid evening. Thirty miscellaneous [2] men in black, crowded into a room with two microscopes & four chairs, — hot and dreary, and at 11 o’clock a standing up supper! I had just been reading Lubbock's3 Customs of modern Savages,4 but thought we need not go far to see barbarous & savage customs under the focus of civilization.

Another time I will not make myself such a martyr to polite society.

With kind love to all your little ones.

Believe me | Dear Mrs. Huxley | yours very faithfully | Alfred R Wallace [signature]

1
In unknown handwriting, “Wallace Alf. Russell” and “[1865]”.
2
Huxley (née Heathorn) Henrietta ((“Nettie”) Anne (1825-1914). Wife of Thomas Henry Huxley.
3
Lubbock, John (1834-1913). First Baron Avebury. British archaeologist, politician, philanthropist and polymath.
4
Lubbock, John. 1865. Pre-historic times, as Illustrated by Ancient Remains, and the Manners and Customs of Modern Savages. London: Williams & Norgate.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP3750.3661)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Royce, Isobel [2012-06-27] Transcription checked by Lucas, Paula [2019-12-20] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2026-04-18]

Please cite as “WCP3750,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3750