Volume I Part 30 (1/2)

My dear Fox,

I do not suppose you will have heard of our bitter and cruel loss Poor dear little Annie, when going on very well at Malvern, was taken with a voht of the smallest importance; but it rapidly assumed the form of a low and dreadful fever, which carried her off in ten days Thank God, she suffered hardly at all, and expired as tranquilly as a little angel Our only consolation is that she passed a short, though joyous life She was my favourite child; her cordiality, openness, buoyant joyousness and strong affections made her most lovable Poor dear little soul Well it is all over

CHARLES DARWIN TO WD FOX Down, March 7th [1852]

My dear Fox,

It is indeed an age since we have had any colad I was to receive your note Our long silence occurred to , but was idle I congratulate and condole with you on your TENTH child; but please to observe when I have a tenth, send only condolences to me We have now seven children, all well, thank God, as well as their mother; of these seven, five are boys; and ave as irls; so that bona fide we have seventeen children It makes me sick whenever I think of professions; all seeht I should very bears are Californian and Australian gold, beggaring ; the French co by the Westerha Down; and thirdly, professions for my boys), and I should like to talk about education, on which you askNo one can more truly despise the old stereotyped stupid classical education than I do; but yet I have not had courage to break through the trammels After by, where for his age he has been very well placedI honour, ad your boys at home What on earth shall you do with your boys? Towards the end of this by, and thence for five or six days to Susan (His sister) at Shrewsbury; I then return howood's of Etruria for a week Very e invitation to Dela anywhere, on account ofunder any exciteo to London; not that I am at all worse, perhaps rather better, and lead a very comfortable life with my three hours of daily work, but it is the life of a herorous You ask about water-cure I take at intervals of two or three months, five or six weeks of MODERATELY severe treatood effect Do you co whenever you can find tiive me and E I have finished the 1st volume for the Ray Society of Pedunculated Cirripedes, which, as I think you are a et Read what I describe on the sexes of Ibla and Scalpellum I am noork on the Sessile Cirripedes, and am wonderfully tired of ht to work at least eight hours per day You saw through me, when you said that I ible] Debacle, for I was saying a week ago to E, that had I been as I was in old days, I would have been certainly off that hour You ask after Erasmus; he is much as usual, and constantly more or less unwell Susan (His sister) isand happy Catherine (Another sister) is at Roree that is quite astonishi+ng to h, and h about the house of Darwin; so my dear old friend, farewell What pleasant tie, and think of the glories of Crux aeus crux-major) Ah, in those days there were no professions for sons, no ill-health to fear for theold, no French invasions

How paramount the future is to the present when one is surrounded by children My dread is hereditary ill-health Even death is better for them

My dear Fox, your sincere friend, C DARWIN

PS--Susan has lately been working in a hich I think truly heroic about the scandalous violation of the Act against children cli chimneys We have set up a little Society in Shrewsbury to prosecute those who break the law It is all Susan's doing She has had very nice letters from Lord Shaftesbury and the Duke of Sutherland, but the brutal Shropshi+re squires are as hard as stones to move The Act out of London seems most commonly violated It makes one shudder to fancy one of one's own children at seven years old being forced up a chi of the consequent loathsoradation If you think strongly on this subject, do ood works, this other one, and try to stir up thea stir in different parts of England on this subject It is not very likely that you would wish for such, but I could send you some essays and inforive away

CHARLES DARWIN TO WD FOX Down [October 24th, 1852]

My dear Fox,

I received your long and , and will answer it this evening, as I shall be very busy with an artist, drawing Cirripedia, and ht But first you deserve to be well abused--and pray consider yourself well abused--for thinking or writing that I could for one minute be bored by any as It is just what I like hearing; believe me that I often think of old days spent with you, and sometimes can hardly believe what a jolly careless individual one was in those old days A bright autu excursion froret that we live so far off each other, and that I am so little locomotive I have been unusually well of late (no water-cure), but I do not find that I can stand any change better than forue, though so trifling, brought on rieve to hear that your chest has been ailing, and most sincerely do I hope that it is only the y I can well understand your reluctance to break up your large and happy party and go abroad; but your life is very valuable, so you ought to be very cautious in good time You ask about all of us, now five boys (oh! the professions; oh! the gold; and oh! the French--these three oh's all rank as dreadful bugbears) and two girlsbut another and the worst of bears is hereditary weakness All my sisters are well except Mrs Parker, who is e: he has lately moved into Queen Anne Street I had heard of the intended hes) of your sister Frances I believe I have seen her since, but my me down I rehtful expression of her countenance I most sincerely wish her all happiness

I see I have not answered half your queries We like very well all that we have seen and heard of Rugby, and have never repented of sending [W]

there I feel sure schools have greatly improved since our days; but I hate schools and the whole systeh the affections of the fa the boys so early in life; but I see no help, and dare not run the risk of a youth being exposed to the teone the reat school

I see you even ask after our pears We have lots of Beurrees d'Are, Winter Nelis, Marie Louise, and ”Ne plus Ultra,” but all off the wall; the standard dwarfs have borne a few, but I have no room for more trees, so their names would be useless to me You really must make a holiday and pay us a visit sometime; nowhere could you be more heartily welcome

I am at work at the second volume of the Cirripedia, of which creatures I am wonderfully tired I hate a Barnacle as noshi+p My first volu at is on the sexes of Ibla and Scalpellum I hope by next summer to have done with my tedious work Farewell,--do coe it

I cannot but hope that the carbuncle ood: I have heard of all sorts of weaknesses disappearing after a carbuncle I suppose the pain is dreadful I agree most entirely, what a blessed discovery is chloroform When one thinks of one's children, it makes quite a little difference in one's happiness The other day I had five grinders (two by the elevator) out at a sitting under this wonderful substance, and felt hardly anything

My dear old friend, yours very affectionately, CHARLES DARWIN

CHARLES DARWIN TO WD FOX Down, January 29th [1853]

My dear Fox,

Your last account soo was so little satisfactory that I have often been thinking of you, and should be really obliged if you would give me a few lines, and tell me how your voice and chest are I oodOur second lad has a strong ineer I shall try and find out for him some less classical school, perhaps Bruce Castle I certainly should like to see more diversity in education than there is in any ordinary school--no exercising of the observing or reasoning faculties, no general knowledge acquired--I must think it a wretched system On the other hand, a boy who has learnt to stick at Latin and conquer its difficulties, ought to be able to stick at any labour I should always be glad to hear anything about schools or education fro subject, but trust I shall really go to press in a few months with my second volu some odd facts in ood opinion I regard as finalDo write pretty soon, and tell me all you can about yourself and family; and I trust your report of yourself may be much better than your last

I have been very little in London of late, and have not seen Lyell since his return from America; how lucky he was to exhume with his own hand parts of three skeletons of reptiles out of the CARBONIFEROUS strata, and out of the inside of a fossil tree, which had been holloithin

Farewell, my dear Fox, yours affectionately, CHARLES DARWIN

CHARLES DARWIN TO WD FOX 13 Sea Houses, Eastbourne, [July 15th?