To John Lubbock [22 November 1859]1
Well Terrace | Ilkley Otley | Yorkshire
Tuesday
My dear Lubbock
I beg pardon for troubling you again. I do not know how I blundered in expressing myself in making you believe that we accepted your kind invitation to Brighton. I meant merely to thank you sincerely for wishing to see such a worn-out old dog as myself.2 I hardly know when we leave this place,—not under a fortnight, & then we shall wish to rest under our own roof-tree.—
I do not think I hardly ever admired a book more than Paley’s Natural Theology:3 I could almost formerly have said it by heart.—
I am glad you have got my Book, but I fear that you value it far too highly.— I shd. be grateful for any criticism I care not for Reviews, but for the opinion of men like you & Hooker & Huxley & Lyell &c—
Farewell. With our joint thanks to Mrs Lubbock & yourself | Adios. | C. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Autobiography: The autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809–1882. With original omissions restored. Edited with appendix and notes by Nora Barlow. London: Collins. 1958.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Freeman, Richard Broke. 1977. The works of Charles Darwin: an annotated bibliographical handlist. 2d edition. Folkestone, Kent: William Dawson & Sons. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, Shoe String Press.
Paley, William. 1802. Natural theology; or, evidences of the existence and attributes of the Deity, collected from the appearances of nature. London: R. Faulder.
Summary
CD’s former admiration for Paley’s Natural theology [1802].
Cares not for reviews [of Origin] but for opinions of men like Lubbock, Huxley, Hooker, Lyell.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2532
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury
- Sent from
- Ilkley
- Source of text
- DAR 263: 17 (EH 88206466)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2532,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2532.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 7