182 



ON THE RECEPTION OF 



trouble, by and by), and I should be glad to be assured that 

 the feeling is reciprocal ; but I am afraid that the story of our 

 dealings with Darwin may prove a great hindrance to that 

 veneration for our wisdom which I should like them to dis- 

 play. We have not even the excuse that, thirty years ago, 

 Mr. Darwin was an obscure novice, who had no claims on our 

 attention. On the contrary, his remarkable zoological and 

 geological investigations had long given him an assured posi- 

 tion among the most eminent and original investigators of 

 the day ; while his charming ' Voyage of a Naturalist ' had 

 justly earned him a wide-spread reputation among the general 

 public. I doubt if there was any man then living who had a 

 better right to expect that anything he might choose to say 

 on such a question as the Origin of Species would be listened 

 to with profound attention, and discussed with respect ; and 

 there was certainly no man whose personal character should 

 have afforded a better safeguard against attacks, instinct with 

 malignity and spiced with shameless impertinences. 



Yet such was the portion of one of the kindest and truest 

 men that it was ever my good fortune to know ; and years 

 had to pass away before misrepresentation, ridicule, and 

 denunciation, ceased to be the most notable constituents of 

 the majority of the multitudinous criticisms of his work which 

 poured from the press. I am loth to rake any of these ancient 

 scandals from their well-deserved oblivion ; but I must make 

 good a statement which may seem overcharged to the present 

 generation, and there is no piece justificative more apt for the 

 purpose, or more worthy of such dishonour, than the article in 

 the ' Quarterly Review ' for July i860* Since Lord Brougham 



* I was not aware when I wrote 

 these passages that the authorship 

 of the article had been publicly 

 acknowledged. Confession unac- 

 companied by penitence, however, 

 affords no ground for mitigation of 

 judgment ; and the kindliness with 



which Mr. Darwin speaks of his as- 

 sailant, Bishop Wilberforce (Vol. II. 

 PP- 3 2 5 1 329, 332) , is so striking an ex- 

 emplification of his singular gentle- 

 ness and modesty, that it rather 

 increases one's indignation against 

 the presumption of his critic. 



