To J. D. Hooker 16 June [1877]1
Bassett, Southampton
Sat. June 16th—
My dear Hooker
I have just received your letter of the 14th & have telegraphed in answer.2 If I had been at Down I would certainly have come to Kew to wait on the Emperor, but I suppose that even an Emperor will not expect an old invalid to travel so far at the cost of great fatigue.—3 The Emperor has done so much for science, that every Scientific man is bound to show him the utmost respect,4 & I hope that you will express in the strongest language, & which you can do with entire truth, how greatly I feel honoured by his wish to see me, & how much I regret my absence from home.
What a life of labour you are leading! I wonder that you do not break down, & I rejoice that before very long you will be on the quiet wide Atlantic.—5
One word more,— when I heard that you were made a Knight of the Star of India, not one of your friends rejoiced more heartily than I did, but I resolved not to write, as I knew that you would be troubled with endless congratulations.6 I should think & hope that even you must be pleased with this peculiar honour,— anyhow it has delighted me.—
My dear old Friend | Yours affectionately | Charles Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
EB: The Encyclopædia Britannica. A dictionary of arts, sciences, literature and general information. 11th edition. 29 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1910–11.
Summary
CD cannot see the Emperor of Brazil because he is in Southampton, but he sends sincere respects for the Emperor’s role in assisting science.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11002
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- Sent from
- Bassett
- Source of text
- DAR 95: 443–4
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11002,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11002.xml