ch. iv.] REMINISCENCES. 93 



sibility of writing a letter while the house was full of com- 

 pany. I think he always felt uneasy at not doing more for 

 the entertainment of his guests, but the result was success- 

 ful ; and, to make up for any loss, there was the gain that 

 the guests felt perfectly free to do as they liked. The most 

 usual visitors were those who staved from Saturday till Mon- 

 day; those who remained longer were generally relatives, 

 and were considered to be rather more my mother's affair 

 than his. 



Besides these visitors, there were foreigners and other 

 strangers, who came down for luncheon and went away in 

 the afternoon. He used conscientiously to represent to them 

 the enormous distance of Down from London, and the 

 labour it would be to come there, unconsciously taking for 

 granted that they would find the journey as toilsome as he 

 did himself. If, however, they were not deterred, he used 

 to arrange their journeys for them, telling them when to 

 come, and practically when to go. It was pleasant to see 

 the way in which he shook hands with a guest who was be- 

 ing welcomed for the first time ; his hand used to shoot out 

 in a way that gave one the feeling that it was hastening to 

 meet the guest's hands. With old friends his hand came 

 down with a hearty swing into the other hand in a way I 

 always had satisfaction in seeing. His good-bye was chiefly 

 characterised by the pleasant way in which he thanked his 

 guests, as he stood at the hall-door, for having come to see him. 



These luncheons were successful entertainments, there 

 was no drag or flagging about them, my father was bright 

 and excited throughout the whole visit. Professor De Can- 

 dolle has described a visit to Down, in his admirable and 

 sympathetic sketch of my father.* He speaks of his man- 

 ner as resembling that of a " savant " of Oxford or Cam- 

 bridge. This does not strike me as quite a good compari- 

 son ; in his ease and naturalness there was more of the 

 manner of some soldiers; a manner arising from total ab- 

 sence of pretence or affectation It was this absence of 

 pose, and the natural and simple way in which he began 

 talking to his guests, so as to get them on their own lines, 

 which made him so charming a host to a stranger. His 

 happy choice of matter for talk seemed to flow out of his 

 sympathetic nature, and humble, vivid interest in other 

 people's work. 



* Darwin considere au point de vue des causes de son succh (Geneva, 1882). 



