From W. W. Reade 10 January 1871
11 Saint Mary Abbot’s Terrace, | Kensington. W.
Jan. 10. ’71.
My dear Sir
I think it scarcely possible that you have not noticed the selection of Lycurgus as applied to the breeding of men— However I send a passage from Mitford i. 282.
“All children presented after birth were examined by public officers appointed for the purpose: the well-formed & vigorous only were preserved; those in whom any defect either of shape or constitution appeared were exposed without mercy to perish in the wilds of Mount Taygetus”—1 The baby of the African exposed to all weathers, vertical sun, and night wind is likely enough to be rejected & slain by Nature if it has any defect in shape or constitution—2
Yours very truly | Winwood Reade
Comte Traité de Legislation liv iii, ch IV. has collected many instances of ideas of beauty as existing among various peoples. Referred to in Lecky’s Morals i. 82 Lecky takes your view3
Footnotes
Bibliography
Comte, Charles. 1837. Traité de législation ou exposition des lois générales, suivant lesquelles les peuples prospèrent, dépérissent, ou restent stationnaires. 3d edition. Brussels: Société Belge de Librarie, Imprimerie et Papeterie; Haumann, Cattoir et Compe.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Descent 2d ed.: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. London: John Murray. 1874.
Lecky, William Edward Hartpole. 1869. History of European morals: from Augustus to Charlemagne. 2 vols. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
Mitford, William. 1829. The history of Greece. New edition. 8 vols. London: T. Cadell.
Oxford classical dictionary. 4th edition, revised. Edited by Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2012.
Summary
Sends quotation about Lycurgus and Spartan exposure of infants who were deemed defective.
Bibliographic references on sense of beauty and morals.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7435
- From
- William Winwood Reade
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, St Mary Abbot’s Terrace, 11
- Source of text
- DAR 87: 140
- Physical description
- ALS 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7435,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7435.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19