Part 2 (2/2)

On another occasion I met at Lord Stanhope's house, one of his parties of historians and other literary st them were Motley and Grote After luncheon I walked about Chevening Park for nearly an hour with Grote, and was much interested by his conversation and pleased by the simplicity and absence of all pretension in his o I dined occasionally with the old Earl, the father of the historian; he was a strange man, but what little I knew of hienial, and pleasant He had strongly marked features, with a brown complexion, and his clothes, when I saw hi which was to others utterly incredible He said one day to y and zoology, and turn to the occult sciences!”

The historian, then Lord Mahon, see wife much amused

The last man whom I will mention is Carlyle, seen by me several times at my brother's house, and two or three ti, just like his writings, but he so on the same subject I rest a few others, were Babbage and Lyell, both of whom liked to talk Carlyle, however, silenced every one by haranguing during the whole dinner on the advantages of silence After dinner Babbage, in his gri lecture on silence

Carlyle sneered at almost every one: one day in ht, until his 'Reminiscences' appeared, that his sneers were partly jokes, but this now seems rather doubtful His expression was that of a depressed, almost despondent yet benevolent hed I believe that his benevolence was real, though stained by not a little jealousy No one can doubt about his extraordinary power of drawing pictures of things and men--far more vivid, as it appears to me, than any drawn by Macaulay Whether his pictures of men were true ones is another question

He has been all-powerful in irand moral truths on the minds of

In his eyes ht His mind seemed to me a very narrow one; even if all branches of science, which he despised, are excluded It is astonishi+ng to sley should have spoken of hihed to scorn the idea that a e, as I ht it a lacier moved a little quicker or a little slower, or e, I never met a man with a mind so ill adapted for scientific research

Whilst living in London, I attended as regularly as I could the s of several scientific societies, and acted as secretary to the Geological Society But such attendance, and ordinary society, suited my health so badly that we resolved to live in the country, which we both preferred and have never repented of

RESIDENCE AT DOWN FROM SEPTEMBER 14, 1842, TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1876

After several fruitless searches in Surrey and elsewhere, we found this house and purchased it I was pleased with the diversified appearance of vegetation proper to a chalk district, and so unlike what I had been accustomed to in the Midland counties; and still more pleased with the extreme quietness and rusticity of the place It is not, however, quite so retired a place as a writer in a German periodical makes it, who says thatourselves here has answered admirably in one hich we did not anticipate, na very convenient for frequent visits from our children

Few persons can have lived a more retired life than we have done

Besides short visits to the houses of relations, and occasionally to the seaside or elsewhere, we have gone nowhere During the first part of our residence ent a little into society, and received a few friends here; but my health almost always suffered fro attacks being thus brought on I have therefore been coive up all dinner-parties; and this has been somewhat of a deprivation to h spirits From the same cause I have been able to invite here very few scientific acquaintances

My chief enjoyhout life has been scientific work; and the exciteet, or drives quite away,the rest of my life, except the publication of my several books Perhaps a few details how they arose

MY SEVERAL PUBLICATIONS

In the early part of 1844,the voyage of the ”Beagle” were published In 1845, I tooka new edition of inally published in 1839 as part of Fitz-Roy's work The success of this, my first literary child, always tickles my vanity more than that of any of land and the United States, and has been translated for the second ties This success of a book of travels, especially of a scientific one, soTen thousand copies have been sold in England of the second edition In 1846 ical Observations on South America' were published I record in a little diary, which I have always kept, that ical books ('Coral Reefs' included) consumed four and a half years' steady work; ”and now it is ten years since land Howto say about these three books except that to my surprise new editions have lately been called for

('Geological Observations,' 2nd Edit1876 'Coral Reefs,' 2nd Edit

1874)

In October, 1846, I began to work on 'Cirripedia' When on the coast of Chile, I found a most curious form, which burrowed into the shells of Concholepas, and which differed so much from all other Cirripedes that I had to form a new sub-order for its sole reception Lately an allied burrowing genus has been found on the shores of Portugal To understand the structure of my new Cirripede I had to exaradually led roup I worked steadily on this subject for the next eight years, and ultimately published two thick volu all the known living species, and two thin quartos on the extinct species I do not doubt that Sir E Lytton Bulwer had me in his , who had written two huge voluht years on this work, yet I record in my diary that about two years out of this time was lost by illness On this account I went in 1848 for some months to Malvern for hydropathic treatood, so that on my return home I was able to resume work So much was I out of health that when my dear father died on November 13th, 1848, I was unable to attend his funeral or to act as one of his executors

My work on the Cirripedia possesses, I think, considerable value, as besides describing several new and reies of the various parts--I discovered the ceh I blundered dreadfully about the ceenera of minute males complemental to and parasitic on the hermaphrodites This latter discovery has at last been fully confirh at one time a German writer was pleased to attribute the whole account toand difficult group of species to class; and my as of considerable use to in of Species' the principles of a natural classification Nevertheless, I doubt whether the orth the consumption of so much time

Froe pile of notes, to observing, and to experi the voyage of the ”Beagle” I had been deeply ireat fossil ani armadillos; secondly, by the manner in which closely allied ani southwards over the Continent; and thirdly, by the South Aos archipelago, and htly on each island of the group; none of the islands appearing to be very ancient in a geological sense

It was evident that such facts as these, as well as many others, could only be explained on the supposition that species gradually become modified; and the subject haunted me But it was equally evident that neither the action of the surrounding conditions, nor the will of the organisms (especially in the case of plants) could account for the innuanisms of every kind are beautifully adapted to their habits of life--for instance, a woodpecker or a tree-frog to climb trees, or a seed for dispersal by hooks or plumes I had always been much struck by such adaptations, and until these could be explained it seemed to me almost useless to endeavour to prove by indirect evidence that species have been land it appeared to y, and by collecting all facts which bore in any way on the variation of aniht perhaps be thrown on the whole subject My first note-book was opened in July 1837 I worked on true Baconian principles, and without any theory collected facts on a wholesale scale, more especially with respect to domesticated productions, by printed enquiries, by conversation with skilful breeders and gardeners, and by extensive reading When I see the list of books of all kinds which I read and abstracted, including whole series of Journals and Transactions, I am surprised at my industry I soon perceived that selection was the keystone ofuseful races of anianis in a state of nature remained for some time a mystery to me