,ET. 73.] TO J. D. HOOKER. 751 



and characters over against them, of as great account 

 as they, in whose mirrors they are reflected, whom 

 they excite and delight, and without whose interest 

 they would be blanks. This combination comes out 

 in his great generalizations, in the bold and yet con- 

 siderate way in which he deals with Darwin's ideas, 

 and in the notices of so many of his scientific friends, 

 whom we feel that he was interested in as men, and 

 not only as scientific inquirers. The sweetness and 

 charity, which we remember so well in living con- 

 verse, is always on the lookout for some pleasant 

 feature in the people of whom he writes, and to give 

 kindliness and equity to his judgment. 



And what a life of labors it was ! I am perfectly 

 aghast at the amount of grinding work of which 

 these papers are the indirect evidence. . . . 



For they [his religious views] were a most charac- 

 teristic part of the man, and the seriousness and 

 earnest conviction with which he let them be known 

 had, I am convinced, a most wholesome effect on the 

 development of the great scientific theory in which he 

 was so much interested. It took off a great deal of 

 the theological edge, which was its danger, both to 

 those who upheld and those who opposed it. I am 

 sure things would have gone more crossly and un- 

 reasonably, if his combination of fearless religion and 

 clearness of mind, and wise love of truth, had not 

 told on the controversy. 



TO J. D. HOOKER. 



CAMBRIDGE, June 9, 1884. 



Your last is of May 24th from the Camp, and gives 

 us on the whole better accounts of your invalids. 

 Bentham at Boultibrooke ! I wonder if he would care 



