From Edward Wilson 4 February 1868
Hayes | Bromley, Kent.
4 Feby 1868
My dear Mr Darwin
I promised your son a specimen of the Australian boiled beef, which is likely to form a very important addition some day to the food of the sadly underfed working classes of the northern country.1 A tin is now sent. Please taste the beef & ⟨ ⟩ what you think of it. It ⟨is⟩ best cold, with potatoes, & some ⟨ ⟩ mustard, as being preserved ⟨& not⟩ fresh, it wants condiments to make it as palatable as it can be. The retailers sell it at 7d cooked, & without bone, which makes it pretty cheap, but as the “industry” expands it will [remain] both better & cheap:—
I most heartily congratulate you on the achievement of your great “wrangler”.2 What a pleasure it must have given you all to find his name so high on such a list! Let us hope that such a success is a prelude to a brilliant future, & that in his case at least one may find the greatly useful securely grafted upon the greatly distinguished. I was quoting Woolner’s rather startling theory as to the contemptibility of uselessness to your other son, & he seemed rather amused by it.3 But these high spirited young fellows cannot be too thoroughly impressed with the idea that they are sent into the world for a purpose, & that the world is big enough for each man to leave his foot-prints if he pleases
I am, Dear Sir | Yours very sincerely | Ed Wilson
Footnotes
Bibliography
Shephard, Sue. 2000. Pickled, potted and canned: the story of food preserving. London: Headline Book Publishing.
Summary
Sends some Australian boiled beef for CD to sample.
Congratulations on George Darwin’s success at Cambridge.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-5838
- From
- Edward Wilson
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Hayes, Kent
- Source of text
- DAR 181: 122
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp damaged
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5838,” accessed on 19 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5838.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16