WCP3769

Letter (WCP3769.3682)

[1]

Jan. 7th. 81

DOWN,

BECKENHAM, KENT

RAILWAY STATION

ORPINGTON.S.E.R.

My Dear Huxley,

Hurrah — Hurrah — read the enclosed. Was it not extraordinary kind in Mr Gladstone to write himself at the present time.1 — The Duke of Argyll’s private note to Mr G. seems to have done good service.2 —

I have written to Wallace.3 He owes much to you; had it not been for your advice & assistance, I sh[oul]d have had courage to go on.4 —

Ever yours sincerely | Charles Darwin [signature]

The Memorial was sent in only on the 5th5

P.S. I see in the newspapers that you have been appointed to the Fisheries in F. Buckland’s place.6 I heartily hope that it is a fairly good place worth your accepting. I suppose & hope that it may compel you, to move about the country; & this I shd. think wd. be good for your health; for you have done an awful lot of work of late years.

P.S. 2d.

It is wonderfully handsome in Gladstone, as he has dated Wallace’s pension from last July 1st. His Secretary wrote & told me.7

1
CD had enclosed a copy of William Ewart Gladstone’s letter of 6 January 1881; Gladstone recommended Alfred Russel Wallace for a Civil List pension.
2
CD has asked George Douglas Campbell, eighth duke of Argyll to write a separate letter of support to Gladstone (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter to G. D. Campbell, [before 27 December 1880] and n. 4).
3
See letter to A. R. Wallace, 7 January 1881.
4
Huxley had worked with CD on the draft of the memorial and had advised CD on how to present it to Gladstone (see Correspondence vol. 28, letters from T. H. Huxley, 14 November 1880 and 28 December 1880).
5
The sentence beginning "The memorial" is written vertically up the left hand margin of the page.
6
Frank Buckland had been an inspector of fisheries from 1867 until his death in 1880 (ODNB). On Huxley’s appointment, see MacLeod 1968, pp. 138-40.
7
The secretary was Horace Alfred Damer Seymour (see letter from ARW, 29 January 1881).

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP3769.3682)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Parfitt, Elisabeth [2013-02-05] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-02-05]

Published letter (WCP3769.6494)

[1] [p. 282]

The result was all that could be hoped. On January 7 Darwin writes:- "Hurrah! hurrah! read the enclosed. Was it not extraordinarily kind of Mr. Gladstone to write himself at the present time?... I have written to Wallace. He owes much to you. Had it not been for your advice and assistance, I should never have had courage to go on."

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP3769.6494)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Wallace, Natalie [2019-12-23]

Please cite as “WCP3769,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3769