From E. P. Wright 26 February 1879
Trinity College Dublin
26 Feby 1879.
Dear Sir
It is with very great diffidence that on this occasion I write to you— It is an easy matter to me to write to you on Nat History subjects, a very difficult one to write about myself—
I am a Candidate for the vacant chair of Botany in Edinburgh—a very great prize.1 I do not at all know who may be the Candidates—but in such a race, it will be far from ignoble to be beaten—
I would most highly value & esteem, an expression of your opinion as to my general fittness for such a post—
To no one living, can I justify myself, so well as to you—for having, after a ten years spent in the investigation of animals, turned my attention to plants— I did so in 1869—in the hopes of advancing the teaching of biology in this place, where the students of Botany were 10 to one who studied Zoology—
This I feel confident is not a demerit in your eyes.2
While writing these lines, the thought has struck me, that perhaps your Son3 may be a Candidate for this very post—& to my mind, judging from his work done, there could scarcely be a more gifted or a more worthy Candidate— but as I can, by no means, be sure of this—I will venture to send this as it is written—asking you in every case to excuse it all and still to believe me | Most Sincerely yours | Ed Perceval Wright—
Charles Darwin | &c &c—
CD annotations
Footnotes
Summary
Is applying for the Chair of Botany at Edinburgh and asks CD for a testimonial.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11905
- From
- Edward Perceval Wright
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Trinity College, Dublin
- Source of text
- DAR 181: 176
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11905,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11905.xml