732 FINAL JOURNEYS AND WORK. [1882, 



be printed before long. 1 I shall be curious to know 

 what you think of it. 



I sent you a portion of a New York religious news- 

 paper containing a sort of review of two books with 

 which I beguiled the voyage last October or Novem- 

 ber. It is of no great consequence. But I sometimes 

 write such reviews or articles to papers of this kind, 

 which are endeavoring to do their best in bridging 

 over the gap between the thoughts of a former gener- 

 ation, or of our younger days, and of the present day. 

 I believe such articles are now and then helpful. 



You supposed that I had seen the " Ly ell's Life 

 and Letters " sooner than I had. To my surprise the 

 volumes are not reprinted in America ; and I have 

 only just succeeded in procuring a copy from England. 



I have read a good deal of it, and with much inter- 

 est. The allusion to me, which you referred to, was 

 of course very pleasant. The last chapter of the 

 " Antiquity of Man ' had apprised me (for I never 

 had any direct correspondence with Lyell) that we 

 thought much alike on such matters ; and we are apt 

 to approve views which agree with our own. I always 

 thought Lyell a very level-headed man, one with a 

 very judicial turn of mind ; and his letters and journal 

 bring this out well, as they do the whole life and the 

 charming character of the man. It is interesting to 

 see how early he took the line which he followed in his 

 whole life's work, and which has changed the face of 

 geology and philosophical natural history. For, in- 

 deed, Lyell is as much the father of the new mode of 

 thought which now prevails as is Darwin. I have 

 said a word about this, which I will try to send you. 



That is a noble letter to Mr. Spedding, about the 



1 Contemporary Review, xli. 



