To J. D. Hooker 24 June [1868]¹

Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.

June 24^th

My dear Hooker

Thanks for name of grass.—²

I write one line to say how very very glad we all are that you will run down here; but I write also to say that we have this day fixed to go to Isle of Wight rather earlier than we had intended, viz on 17^th of July;³ but you must not let that stop you coming here.— Thanks about my Frank: it would be “jolly” as he declared to go, but he has not time, as he means to read this Long vacation at Cambridge.—⁴

The state of affairs about your address sounds awesome⁵

Ever yours | C. Darwin

I suppose that you have heard that M^r Rodney, Sir J. Lubbocks Brother-in-law, is just dead.—⁶

Have you had time to read Bentham’s address: of course I am quite delighted with it— all the critics in the world may no[w] go the Devil for what I care what they say about my book— But independently of self the address seems very good indeed.—⁷

Footnotes

1

The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from J. D. Hooker, 22 June 1868.

2

See letter from J. D. Hooker, 22 June 1868 and n. 1.

3

The Darwins left Down on 16 July 1868 for London, and arrived at Freshwater on the Isle of Wight on 17 July, arriving back at Down on 21 August (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).

4

Francis Darwin was an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge; see letter from J. D. Hooker, 22 June 1868 and n. 5. ‘Long vacation’: i.e. summer vacation.

5

See letter from J. D. Hooker, 22 June 1868 and n. 6.

6

William Powell Rodney had married John Lubbock’s sister, Diana Hotham Lubbock.

7

CD refers to George Bentham and his anniversary address to the Linnean Society (see letter to George Bentham, 23 June 1868).