To John Murray 3 August [1860]1
Down Bromley Kent
Aug. 3d
My dear Sir
I suppose that I have to thank you for a copy of the Quarterly, which I found here on my return home.—2 The article on the Origin seems to me very clever & I am quizzed splendidly; I really believe that I enjoyed it as much as if I had not been the unfortunate butt. There is hardly any malice in it, which is wonderful considering the source whence many of the suggestions came.3 The Bishop makes me say several things which I do not say, but these very clever men think they can write a review with a very slight knowledge of the Book reviewed or subject in question.—
With my thanks for your kind present | Pray believe me | Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin
I see there is a cancelled page, which I presume contained some great blunder; what sweet revenge it would have been, had but the page been left in!—
Did you ever read such magnificent nonsense as the “strong shudder which ran through all this the world”!4
Footnotes
Bibliography
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
[Wilberforce, Samuel.] 1860. [Review of Origin.] Quarterly Review 108: 225–64.
Summary
Thanks JM for Quarterly Review [July 1860] in which he is "quizzed splendidly". The Bishop [Wilberforce] misrepresents him often, but clever men think they can write a review with very slight knowledge of the book.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2888
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- John Murray
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms.42152 ff.74–75)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2888,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2888.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 8