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Darwin Correspondence Project

From H. E. Litchfield   [13 November 1871]1

1 C.P.2

Monday

Dear Father

Thanks for Abbott letter.3 I’m sorry to say I don’t much like its tone. I call it flabby & it lowers my opinion of him. His sending the 50 dollars too shows a great want of judgement.— However this is beside the point— what I meant to beg you to consider very seriously is whether it isn’t a great pity that you should lend your name to any religious movement whatever. If you write any sentence to be printed it will mean so m. more than that you have read through the Truths for the Times once or twice & were much struck with them.4 I consider that is in your private capacity just as Jones or Smith might be struck—but printing it as the Author of the Origin it ought to & will mean very much more than I think it has a right to mean— I don’t want you to commit yourself to any definite opinions in the religious scientific questions. You have not time or strength to go in for it thoroughly. & then speaking of it damages you as a scientific man & does not do a compensating good to free thought— I feel so profound a conviction that to let people draw their own inferences if they feel that you have no party spirit will be such an infinitely stronger lever. I have felt so thankful you were not as Tyndall—5 You ought to be as careful of your fair fame as Cæsars wife or whomever it was.6 I feel very stupid this morning & can only just scrattle down my thoughts which have been coming to a head since I read Abbotts letter & wh. have been ripened by talking it over with R.7 R. & I are both rather unhappy that yr name is down for Voysey— You don’t care 212d abt Voysey’s new Church— you only think he has fought a good fight (wherein I don’t agree for I think he fought an unworthy fight) but I don’t like you to be ticketted as a Voyseyite—8 I think it damaging to you.

Forgive this cool lecture dear Father I’m too stupid to make it not read so bald & dictatorial— I only mean it is my deliberate opinion— | Ever your faithful | Rhadamantha9

Send word how much time you can allow for reading M.S. | R. & I will be delighted to read over Music M.S carefully.10

Footnotes

The date is established by the relationship between this letter, the letter from F. E. Abbot, 1 November 1871 (sent from Ohio), and the letter to F. E. Abbot, 16 November [1871] (Correspondence vol. 19, see n. 3, below). In 1871, 13 November was a Monday.
Cumberland Place, Regent’s Park, London, was the home of Hensleigh and Frances Emma Elizabeth Wedgwood.
CD had sent a letter written by Francis Ellingwood Abbot. See Correspondence vol. 19, letter from F. E. Abbot, 1 November 1871.
In his letter of 1 November 1871 (Correspondence vol. 19), Abbot asked to quote from a letter by CD praising his essay ‘Truths for the Times’ (Abbot [1870]). He enclosed a cheque for $50 in the hope that CD would agree to contribute articles to the Index, a weekly newspaper promoting free religion. CD allowed his words to be quoted, but declined the offer to write for the Index and returned the cheque (Correspondence vol. 19, letter to F. E. Abbot, 16 November [1871]).
For John Tyndall’s views on science and religion, see Barton 1987.
Henrietta alludes to the saying, ‘Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion’ (see Brewer 1999, p. 179).
Charles Voysey was deprived of his living in the Church of England in February 1871 and went on to found the Theistic Church (ODNB). CD had given £5 to a charitable fund for Voysey; the names of the contributors were reported in several newspapers (see Correspondence vol. 19, letter from F. A. Hanbury, 4 September 1871 and nn. 1 and 2).
Thomas Henry Huxley had given Henrietta the nickname Miss Henrietta Minor Rhadamanthus Darwin (Correspondence vol. 11, letter from T. H. Huxley, 25 February 1863). Rhadamanthus was a figure in Greek mythology; the term denotes an inflexible judge (OED).
CD’s was working on the proofs of Expression (Correspondence vol. 19, Appendix II). He sent a draft of his discussion of vocal and musical expression to Henrietta and Richard Litchfield for comments (see Correspondence vol. 19, letter to H. E. Litchfield, [before 2 December 1871], and memorandum from R. B. Litchfield, [before 2 December 1871]).

Bibliography

Abbot, Francis Ellingwood. [1870.] Truths for the times. Mount Pleasant, Ramsgate: Thomas Scott.

Barton, Ruth. 1987. John Tyndall, pantheist: a rereading of the Belfast address. Osiris 2d ser. 3: 111–34.

Summary

Does not want CD to put his name to any religious movement. Discourages giving money to Abbott or Voysey.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-8054F
From
Henrietta Emma Darwin/Henrietta Emma Litchfield
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Source of text
Cornford Family Papers (DAR 275: 41)
Physical description
ALS 7pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8054F,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8054F.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24 (Supplement)

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