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From W. E. Darwin   26 March [1867]1

Southampton

March 26

My Dear Father,

I send you one of the most delightful inventions of the age, going by the name of a Cardigan Jacket.2 I find it most comfortable over one’s waistcoat when riding or travelling. I should think it would save you the agony of having to put on a second flannel waitscoat in the middle of the day.

I am astonished to find how disappointed I am with the D of Argyle; I really can hardly finish it, some of it is the most illogical stupid twaddle I ever read; especially “creation by law” and about the humming bird; he mentions you enough but I believe he does not understand and will not understand the Origin.3 being a Duke has played the deuce with him, he thinks I’m a Duke, and a Duke is just about the finest thing that grows, the creator can’t be very much finer, I use my wonderful & ducal mind in such and such a way to produce certain things, therefore of course the creator does the same Q.E.D.

I hope Horace is going on well.4 | Your affect son | W.E.Darwin

Footnotes

1
The year is established by the reference to the duke of Argyll’s book, The reign of law, which was published at the beginning of March 1867 (see n. 3, below).
2
The cardigan (a knitted over-waistcoat with or without sleeves) was named for James Thomas Brudenell, seventh earl of Cardigan; the word first appeared in print in this context in 1868 (Rutt 1987, p. 135).
3
The reign of law, by the eighth duke of Argyll, George Douglas Campbell, had just been published (Campbell 1867; Publishers’ Circular, 15 March 1867, p. 149). In a chapter entitled ‘Creation by law’ (Campbell 1867, pp. 217–94), Campbell gave a critique of natural selection and discussed other aspects of CD’s theory as presented in Origin. Campbell discussed the plumage of humming-birds, concluding that the variety of colours and forms served no function in the battle for life and could not be explained by any physical law, but must be referred to a creative law that promoted beauty and variety of form (Campbell 1867, pp. 242–9).
4
According to Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242), Horace Darwin returned to Down from school on 16 March 1867 with a fever, and began taking quinine on 1 April. For 27 March, Emma recorded ‘fever at 4’ (see also Correspondence vol. 15, letter to W. E. Darwin, 27 [March 1867]).

Bibliography

Campbell, George Douglas. 1867. The reign of law. London: Alexander Strahan.

Rutt, Richard. 1987. A history of hand knitting. London: Batsford.

Summary

Sends CD a Cardigan Jacket, ‘one of the most delightful inventions of the age’.

Discusses the Duke of Argyll.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-5460F
From
William Erasmus Darwin
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Southampton
Source of text
Cornford Family Papers (DAR 275: 27)
Physical description
ALS 4pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5460F,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5460F.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24 (Supplement)

letter

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