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Darwin Correspondence Project

To H. E. Litchfield   27 [March 1874]1

27.

My dearest Etty,

I feel quite guilty when I think of the labour which I cost you— Your criticisms are excellent & prove how thoroughly you do the work. The whole is atrociously written & I am in despair.2 The Printers think Revises necessary & Mamma will do them   Ellen Tollet looked over the first sheet & declares that it is perfectly clear—3 You ought to have the maps & I will today write to Hooker to ask him to lend you his copy.—4

I send today         5 when we meet I should much like to hear all you think— There is such an eulogium of me, that I almost doubt whether I ought to distribute copies; but I think that I shall swallow modesty.6 I have as yet read only a part as my head is very pulpy

Goodbye, | C. D.

P.S. Your scrap just received. I mean to have very complete Headings.— You had better leave them for me. It is good to have the Chapt in

Footnotes

1
The year and month are established by the reference to the letter to J. D. Hooker, 27 [March 1874].
2
Henrietta was helping to correct the proofs of Coral reefs 2d ed. (see also letter to H. E. Litchfield, 21 [March 1874]).
3
Ellen Harriet Tollet stayed at Down from 24 to 28 March 1874 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).
5
The original copyist was unable to read CD’s hand and left a blank space in the text. CD probably wrote Abbot (see n. 6, below).
6
CD refers to Francis Ellingwood Abbot’s lecture, ‘Darwin’s theory of conscience’ (Abbot 1874), which was published in the Index (see letter from F. E. Abbot, 3 March 1874). CD’s annotated copy is in DAR 139.12.3. Henrietta and Richard Buckley Litchfield stayed at Down from 2 to 9 April 1874 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).

Bibliography

Abbot, Francis Ellingwood. 1874. Darwin’s theory of conscience: its relation to scientific ethics. Index, 12 March 1874, 122–5.

Coral reefs 2d ed.: The structure and distribution of coral reefs. By Charles Darwin. Revised edition. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1874.

Summary

Thanks her for her excellent criticisms and corrections [for 2d ed. of Coral reefs?].

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-9325
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Henrietta Emma Darwin/Henrietta Emma Litchfield
Sent from
Down
Source of text
DAR 153: 85
Physical description
C 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9325,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9325.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22

letter

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