248 



A Century of Family Letters [CHAP, xvn 



Charles Darwin to his son George. 



WEST WORTHING HOTEL, Sept. 8th [1881]. 



... I have had a long and pleasant talk with Mr Rich, 

 and there is something about him which pleases me much; 

 he is so simple and modest. I think that I told you that 

 I thought myself bound to tell him of the large fortune 

 from Erasmus, and that under such changed circumstances 

 I considered him most fully justified in altering his will. I 

 begged him to consider it for a week, and then let me hear 

 his decision. But he would not let me finish, and protested 

 he should do nothing of the kind and that with so many 

 sons I required much money. In this I heartily agree, 

 though your mother is quite sorry ! I now feel convinced 

 that nothing will induce him to change. 



This autumn a strip of field was bought to add to the 

 garden beyond the orchard. One chief object was to have 

 a hard tennis-court, but the new piece of ground added 

 greatly to the pleasantness of the garden. My mother 

 wrote : We are boiling over with schemes about the tennis- 

 court, and as soon as they are matured they are to be 

 broken to E." 



My husband and I had been to Florence this year. My 

 mother wrote on our return: "It will be nice seeing you, 

 but I feel as if you had but just gone not exactly the style 

 of Mme. de Sevigne." 



Emma Darwin to her daughter-in-law Sara. 



DOWN, Friday [Oct., 1881]. 



... I think F. is quite set up by our happy week at 

 Cambridge. We saw many pleasant people, and F. called 

 on old Dr Kennedy, of Shrewsbury, who was particularly 

 pleased to see him. We went to see the red picture, 1 and 

 I thought it quite horrid, s o fierce and so dirty. However, 



1 Sir W. B. Richmond's picture of Charles Darwin in the Library 

 of the Philosophical Society. 



