DR. ERASMUS DARWIN'S LIFE. 



species, and it is succeeded by these supremely happy 



lines : 



" ' So with strong arms immortal Brindley leads 

 His long canals, and parts the velvet meads ; 

 Winding in lucid lines, the watery mass 

 Mines the firm rock, or loads the deep morass ; ' * 

 &c. &c. &c. 



****** 



" The mechanism of the pump is next described with 

 curious ingenuity. Common as is the machine, it is not 

 unworthy a place in this splendid composition, as being, 

 after the sinking of wells, the earliest of those inven- 

 tions, which in situations of exterior aridness gave 

 ready accession to water. This familiar object is illus- 

 trated by a picture of Maternal Beauty administering 

 sustenance to her infant." t 



Here we will leave the poetical part of the ' Botanic 

 Garden.' The notes, however, to which are " still," as 

 Dr. Dowson says, " instructive and amusing," and con- 

 tain matter which, at the time they were written, was 

 for the most part new. 



Of the * Zoonomia ' there is no occasion to speak here, 

 as a sufficient number of extracts from those parts that 

 concern us as bearing upon evolution will be given 

 presently. 



On the 18th of April, 1802, Dr. Darwin had written 

 " one page of a very sprightly letter to Mr. Edgeworth, 

 describing the Priory and his purposed alterations 

 there, when the fatal signal was given. He rang the 

 bell and ordered the servant to send Mrs. Darwin to 

 him. She came immediately, with his daughter, Miss 

 Emma Darwin. They saw him shivering and pale. 



* * Memoirs," &c., p. 249. t ' Memoirs/ &c., p. 250. 



O 



