From Emma Darwin to F. P. Cobbe [25 February 1871]1
6 Queen Anne St
Saturday
My dear Miss Cobbe
Many thanks for your taking the trouble to write.2 Mr Murray seemed to think that he had made an unreasonable fuss in the matter.3 We want to see the Echo, tho’ not so much as if you had written it.4 The papers we have seen are quite mild & civil.
Mr Darwin says that he knows so well how much you & many others will disapprove of the moral sense part that he will not be surprised at any degree of vigour in your attack.5
He does not know to what you refer when you say that he does not distinguish between regret & repentance or remorse, he remembers reflecting on the wide & obvious distinction. It appears to him that as long as hatred is felt against any one, the social instincts are overmastered & there is no room for repentance. But no doubt he will understand what you mean when he reads your article.
If you should come to Mr Martineau’s tomorrow do look in at No 6 Q. Anne St where we are—6
Speaking in my private capacity I quite agree with you. I think the course of all modern thought is “desolating” as removing God further off. But I do not know whether his views on the moral sense would exclude Spiritual influence though not included in his theory—
So you see I am a traitor in the camp.
With very kind regards to Miss Lloyd.7 | Yours very truly | Emma Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Cobbe, Frances Power. 1871. Darwinism in morals. Theological Review 8: 167–92.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Post Office London directory: Post-Office annual directory. … A list of the principal merchants, traders of eminence, &c. in the cities of London and Westminster, the borough of Southwark, and parts adjacent … general and special information relating to the Post Office. Post Office London directory. London: His Majesty’s Postmaster-General [and others]. 1802–1967.
Summary
Discusses CD’s and her own views on ‘moral sense’.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7516F
- From
- Emma Wedgwood/Emma Darwin
- To
- Frances Power Cobbe
- Source of text
- The Huntington Library (CB 390)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7516F,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7516F.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19