To Frederic Harrison 1 April [1871]1
Down. | Beckenham | Kent. S.E.
April 1st
Dear Sir
I am much obliged for your note & especially for your writing at some length.—2 I will keep it & reconsider it whenever I have time to bring out a corrected Edition. At present the Printers are printing off so quickly, that I can make only trifling corrections.3
With respect to Beauty I can at present see nothing to do but to reiterate my caution that I do not mean by the word the highly complex & lofty notions implied by cultivated men. I will also endeavour to show, very imperfectly no doubt, that the sense or capacity of enjoying beauty is acquired.—4
Your remarks on the queries—selection of opinions & judgments for admiration by society seem very just. I daresay I have made too much of natural selection, though less than some who agree with me generally on such points.5
I shall be truly glad to receive & read carefully anything which you may publish on these subjects, & which you are so good as to say you will send me.—6
Dear Sir | Yours faithfully & obliged | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Freeman, Richard Broke. 1977. The works of Charles Darwin: an annotated bibliographical handlist. 2d edition. Folkestone, Kent: William Dawson & Sons. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, Shoe String Press.
Summary
Discusses his concept of beauty. "I daresay I have made too much of natural selection".
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7650
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Frederic Harrison
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.392)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7650,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7650.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19