Dear Sir,

I received a week of two ago the work which you & Prof Marion have been so kind as to send me.² When it arrived I was much engaged, and this must be my excuse for not having sooner thanked you for it, and it will likewise account for my having as yet read only the preface. But I now look forward with great pleasure to reading the whole immediately. If I then have any remarks worth sending, which is not very probable, I will write again. I am greatly pleased to see how boldly you express your belief in evolution, in the preface.³ I have sometimes thought that some of your countrymen have been a little timid in publishing their belief on this head, and have thus failed in aiding a good cause.

With much respect, and my best thanks— | I remain, dear Sir, | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin