To Lawson Tait 13 January 1880
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)
Jan 13. 1880
My dear Sir
The honour which you propose to do me is a great one.1 But would it not be better to wait until I am in my grave? Nevertheless if you & friends remain of the same opinion, I can express only my gratitude & the wish that I were more worthy of the honour. I know of no other biographical notices published in England so full as the two to which you allude. A good sketch by Prof. Preyer appeared in the last Feby. nor. of Kosmos, as a sort of commemoration of my Birth-day.2 I could lend you the nor, if you shd. think it worth while to read it in German, which to almost all Englishmen is a great trouble & sorrow.
I was born on Feb. 12th 1809, so shall be 71 next Feb.y.
Pray reflect on what I have said about my grave, & till then, pray believe me | Yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Preyer, William. 1879. Charles Darwin. Eine biographische Skizze. Kosmos 4 (1878–9): 339–50.
Summary
The honour RLT proposes [Darwin Festival] is a great one, "but would it not be better to wait until I am in my grave?"
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-12420
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Robert Lawson (Lawson) Tait
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Shrewsbury School, Taylor Library
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp & ADraft 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12420,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12420.xml