My dear Sir

As M^r. Butlers last letter was almost wholly a renewed attack on me, & not on you, you probably will not think of answering it.¹ But some of my friends have written to me today saying that they hope that you will not write again, as the letter which has been published contains everything which was necessary, & as M^r. Butler is utterly unscrupulous in what he writes.² If you have preserved the letter in which I asked your permission for a translation, I sh^d. like to hear the date to keep as a record for my private satisfaction;³ & of a second letter in which I told you (if I remember rightly) that M^r Dallas had just informed me of the advertisement of M^r. Butlers book, for this was the first time I ever heard of it.—⁴

My dear Sir | Yours ever sincerely obliged | Ch. Darwin