From A. R. Wallace 11 March 1871
Holly House, Barking. E.
March 11th. 1871
Dear Darwin
I need not say that I read your second volume with, if possible a greater interest than the first, as so many topics of special interest to me are treated of.1 You will not be surprised to find that you have not convinced me on the “female protection” question, but you will be surprised to hear that I do not despair of convincing you.2
I have been writing as you are aware a review for the “Academy”, which I tried to refuse doing, but the Editor used as an argument the statement that you wished me to do so.3 It is not an easy job fairly to summarize such a book, but I hope I have succeeded tolerably. When I got to discussion, I felt more at home, but I most sincerely trust that I may not have let pass any word that may seem to you in the least too strong.
You have not written a word about me that I could wish altered, but as I know you wish me to be candid with you I will mention that you have quoted one passage in a note p. 376. vol 2 which seems to me a caricature of anything I have written.4
Now let me ask you to rejoice with me, for I have got my Chalkpit & am hard at work engineering a road up its precipitous slopes.5 I hope you may be able to come & see me there some day, as it is an easy ride from London, and I shall be anxious to know if it is equal to the pit in the wilds of Kent, Mrs. Darwin mentioned when I lunched with you.6 Should your gardener in the Autumn have any thinnings out of almost any kind of hardy plants they would be welcome, as I have near four acres of ground in which I want to substitute ornamental plants for weeds
With best wishes, & hoping you may have health & strength to go on with your great work
Believe me Dear Darwin | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace
My Review will appear next Wednesday
Charles Darwin F.R.S.
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Raby, Peter. 2001. Alfred Russel Wallace: a life. London: Chatto & Windus.
Summary
Admiration for vol. 2 of Descent, and plans for his review of it for the Academy [2 (1871): 177–82].
News of his new residence.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7569
- From
- Alfred Russel Wallace
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Barking
- Source of text
- DAR 106: B98–9
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7569,” accessed on 1 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7569.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19