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Darwin Correspondence Project

To G. H. Darwin   10 [February 1875]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

10th

My dear George

Immediately on getting Whitney’s letter I wrote to Knowles; but it was very good of you to think of saving me the trouble.—2 I got a most civil answer from Knowles this morning, hoping that W.s’ article wd. be a long one.— I have despatched it to Whitney with your note, & a short one from self.—3

I am very very sorry you give so poor an account of yourself.—4 Do not force your mind to activity: I am absolutely certain that you will never be idle, when you ought to exert yourself.— I know well the feeling of life being objectless & all being vanity of vanities. But this will wear away all the sooner for not trying to work too soon.— There were a lot of things in your letter which have interested me, especially about H. Sidgwick5 & spiritualism & on ethics.— I guessed about C. Leslie,6 & it rejoiced me.— We have ordered the F.R.7 which you shall have.— We heard this morning a terrible piece of news, the sudden death of Arthur Williams, so that poor Margaret is a widow.—8

I am quite tired so good bye | C. Darwin

Footnotes

1
The month and year are established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from G. H. Darwin to J. T. Knowles, 8 February 1875.
2
Neither William Dwight Whitney’s letter to CD nor CD’s letter to James Thomas Knowles has been found; Whitney had written to CD enclosing a letter to Knowles requesting the opportunity to respond to a recent article by Friedrich Max Müller that was critical of Whitney’s views on language. George had written a letter to Knowles that he intended CD to use as a cover letter (see letter from G. H. Darwin to J. T. Knowles, 8 February 1875 and nn. 1, 3, and 4).
3
See letter from J. T. Knowles, 9 February 1875. The two notes have not been found
4
George had evidently enclosed his letter to Knowles of 8 February 1875 in a letter to CD; that letter has not been found.
6
Thomas Edward Cliffe Leslie was an economist who challenged the purely deductive approach to economic analysis.
7
George had published an article, ‘The theory of exchange value’, in the February issue of the Fortnightly Review (G. H. Darwin 1875d).

Summary

J. T. Knowles [editor of Contemp. Rev.] hopes W. D. Whitney’s article will be a long one.

CD is sorry about GHD’s account of his low spirits. "I know well the feeling of life being objectless & all being vanity of vanities."

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-9851
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
George Howard Darwin
Sent from
Down
Source of text
DAR 210.1: 44
Physical description
ALS 4pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9851,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9851.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 23

letter

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