1 862.] 



EVOLUTION AND TORYISM. 



35 



Gray ; and told him that the Boston dinner, &c. &c, had 

 quite turned my stomach, that I almost thought it would be 

 good for the peace of the world if the United States were 

 split up ; on the other hand, I said that I groaned to think of 

 the slave-holders being triumphant, and that the difficulties 

 of making a line of separation were fearful. I wonder what 

 he will say Your notion of the Aristocrat being ken- 

 speckle, and the best men of a good lot being thus easily 

 selected is new to me, and striking. The ' Origin ' having made 

 you in fact a jolly old Tory, made us all laugh heartily. I 

 have sometimes speculated on this subject ; primogeniture* is 

 dreadfully opposed to selection ; suppose the first-born bull 

 was necessarily made by each farmer the begetter of his 

 stock ! On the other hand, as you say, ablest men are con- 

 tinually raised to the peerage, and get crossed with the older 

 Lord-breeds, and the Lords continually select the most 

 beautiful and charming women out of the lower ranks ; so 

 that a good deal of indirect selection improves the Lords. 

 Certainly I agree with you the present American row has a 

 very Torifying influence on us all. I am very glad to hear 

 you are beginning to print the ' Genera ;' it is a wonderful 

 satisfaction to be thus brought to bed, indeed it is one's chief 

 satisfaction, I think, though one knows that another bantling 

 will soon be developing. . . . 



C. Darwin to Maxwell Masters.] 



Down, Feb. 26 [1862]. 

 My DEAR Sir, I am much obliged to you for sending me 



* My father had a strong feeling 

 as to the injustice of primogeniture, 

 and in a similar spirit was often 

 indignant over the unfair wills that 

 appear from time to time. He 

 would declare energetically that if 

 he were law-giver no will should be 

 valid that was not published in the 



VOL. II. 



testator's lifetime ; and this he 

 maintained would prevent much of 

 the monstrous injustice and mean- 

 ness apparent in so many wills. 



f Dr. Masters is a well-known 

 vegetable teratologist, and has been 

 for many years the editor of the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle. 



2 C 



