Transcription:"Dear Innes, Many thanks for your friendly note. You seem all very prosperous, & we are very glad to hear of it. I have heard of the mul Show moreTranscription:"Dear Innes, Many thanks for your friendly note. You seem all very prosperous, & we are very glad to hear of it. I have heard of the mule from the canary & other finches occasionally breeding; but it is very rare (except with the siskin where the case is not so rare) & there is hardly one quite well authenticated case of two such mules breeding together. I will not forget your offer if I should wish for any observations or enquiries made in the north. Life rolls on, as you know, very uniformly in Down, & we have no news. Yes, we have, the Butcher has jilted his old love, & is going to be married to a new one! We went a few days ago to lunch with the John Lubbocks & they evidently seem thoroughily to enjoy their new home & freedom. They gave us a good account of poor Montague. We have had the Influenza here very badly— 16 were sick in this house, & at one time six in bed. Etty keeps capital;f6 but now we have Horace failing badly with intermittent weak pulse, like four of our other children previously. It is a curious form of inheritance from my poor constitution, though I never failed in exactly that way. I am glad to hear that Mrs. Innes (to whom pray give our kind remembrances) has been out to dinner; she beats me, for I have not ventured on such a bold step for an age. Believe me Dear Innes, Yours very sincerely, C. Darwin" Postmark: Postmark: FE 24 62 Letter, signed by sender. Sent from Down House, near Beckenham, Kent, England. Envelope included. The Robert M. Stecher Collection of Charles Darwin Books and Manuscripts Show less