To F. T. Buckland 15 December [1864]1
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
Dec. 15th
My dear Mr Buckland
It would give me very great pleasure to see you here on your return from Galway; but I much fear when you hear what I am bound to say, that it will not be worth your while.2 We are six miles from Bromley Station. My health is so uncertain that I never know how I shall be & some few days I cannot speak to any one. On my best days I dare not talk for more than 10 or 15 minutes, though I can repeat the dose two or three times. As you are medical I may tell you that I have suffered from almost incessant vomiting for nine months, & that has so weakened my brain, that any excitement brings on whizzing & fainting feelings, when I cannot speak; & much of this makes me for days afterwards very unwell; so I find by experience I must be very cautious.
All I can say is that I shd be delighted to see you for a few minutes, but it would not be worth all the trouble of coming here.
I am so glad & cordially thank you about the otter-hound.—3
Believe me | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Summary
Would be delighted to see FB for a few minutes but his health is so poor he doubts it would be worth the trouble for FB to visit.
Thanks about the otter-hound.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4717F
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Francis Trevelyan (Frank) Buckland
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (General Special Collections DC AL 1/8)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4717F,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4717F.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 12