From Leonard Jenyns 28 May 1862
1. Darlington Place | Bath
May 28th. 1862
My dear Darwin,
It was a great pleasure to get your letter yesterday, & to have your testimony in favour of my memoir of our departed friend.—1 You are thoroughly qualified to judge of its faithfulness as a correct portrait, as well as of any value it may possess in a scientific & literary point of view,—from your intimate acquaintance with Henslow, & with the subjects to which he devoted so much of his attention.—2 I had previously received letters from Berkeley & others equally satisfactory in respect of their judgment,—3so I am inclined to hope the book will not be altogether a failure, as I was afraid it might turn out.— Some might wish for a longer biography,—but there scarce materials for it,—were it desirable.
I may take this opportunity of stating that I made many inquiries after Hope in Bath some time back, from what you stated in a former letter,—but I could hear nothing of him.4 None of the letter carriers at the Post Office knew any one of that name in the town, at least a clergyman.— I think it must have been a mistake of yours—supposing he was here. I know him very well, & should have been glad to see him: I think also he would have found me out, had he been in the place.—
I am sorry to hear you are still in indifferent health.— I thank you for your inquiries after myself,5 & am thankful to report myself quite well at this present time,—though not quite so strong as formerly, nor equal to taking the same long Nat. Hist. rambles, in which I delighted.—
With best wishes, believe me, | My dear Darwin, | Very Sincerely Yours | L. Jenyns.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
DNB: Dictionary of national biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. 63 vols. and 2 supplements (6 vols.). London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1912. Dictionary of national biography 1912–90. Edited by H. W. C. Davis et al. 9 vols. London: Oxford University Press. 1927–96.
Jenyns, Leonard. 1862. Memoir of the Rev. John Stevens Henslow, late rector of Hitcham, and professor of botany in the University of Cambridge. London: John Van Voorst.
Summary
Pleased with CD’s opinion of the Henslow Memoir [L. Jenyns, Memoir of the Rev. John Stevens Henslow (1862)]
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3573
- From
- Leonard Jenyns/Leonard Blomefield
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Bath
- Source of text
- DAR 168: 57
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3573,” accessed on 1 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3573.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 10