To J. D. Hooker [29 June 1858]1
Down
Tuesday
My dearest Hooker
You will, & so will Mrs Hooker, be most sorry for us when you hear that poor Baby died yesterday evening.2 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 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. I cannot think now on subject, but soon will. But I can see that you have acted with more kindness & so has Lyell even than I could have expected from you both most kind as you are.3
I can easily get my letter to Asa Gray copied, but it is too short.—4
Poor Emma behaved nobly & how she stood it all I cannot conceive. It was wonderful relief, when she could let her feelings break forth—
God Bless you.— You shall hear soon as soon as I can think
Yours affectionately | C. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Emma Darwin (1915): Emma Darwin: a century of family letters, 1792–1896. Edited by Henrietta Litchfield. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1915.
Summary
Death of Charles Waring Darwin [1856–8] from scarlet fever.
JDH’s and Lyell’s kindness [presumably about A. R. Wallace’s letter]. CD can provide a copy of his letter to Asa Gray [about CD’s species theory].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2297
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 114: 239
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2297,” accessed on 9 November 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2297.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 7