WCP5312

Letter (WCP5312.5856)

[[1]]

Down

Tuesday 29 June 18581

My dearest Hooker,

You will, & so will Mrs Hooker2 be most sorry for us when you hear that poor Baby3 died yesterday evening. I hope to God he did not suffer so much as he appeared. He became quite suddenly worse. It was Scarlet-Fever. It was the most [2] blessed relief to see his poor little innocent face resume its sweet expression in the sleep of death. — Thank God he will never suffer more in this world.

I have received your letters.4 I cannot think now on subject, but soon will. But I can see that you [3] have acted with more kindness & so has Lyell5 even than I could have expected from you both most kind as you are.

I can easily get my letter6 to Asa Gray7 copied, but it is too short. —

Poor Emma8 behaved nobly & how she stood it all I cannot conceive. [4] It was wonderful relief, when she could let her feelings break forth —

God bless you. — You shall hear soon as I can think

Yours affectionately | C. Darwin [signature]

1
The date appears to be in different writing and was probably added later.
2
Hooker (née Henslow), Frances Harriet (1825-1874). British botanist, translator and first wife of J. D. Hooker.
3
Darwin, Charles Waring (1856-1858). Tenth child of Charles and Emma Darwin, and the third of their three children that died in childhood. He passed on Monday, 28 June 1858.
4
The letter from Hooker and Lyell to the Linnean Society communicating ARW's essay and Darwin's essay and letter enclosure is published in: Darwin, C., and Wallace, A. R. 1858. On the tendency of species to form varieties; and on the perpetuation of varieties and species by natural means of selection. Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London. Zoology, 3: 45-62; and Burkhardt, F., et al. (Eds). 1992. The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 7. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [pp. 122-124].
5
Lyell, Sir Charles (1797-1875). British lawyer and geologist.
6
In his letter to Asa Gray of 5 September [1857], Darwin enclosed a description of his views on natural selection (Burkhardt, F., et al. (Eds). 1990. The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 6. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [pp. 445-449]).
7
Gray, Asa (1810-1888). American botanist.
8
Darwin, Emma (née Wedgwood) (1908-1896). Wife and first cousin of Charles Darwin.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP5312.5856)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Darwin Correspondence Project [2015-06-10] Transcription checked by Barton, Michael [2019-12-20]

Please cite as “WCP5312,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP5312