224 PUBLICATION OF THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, [ch. xir. 



to me, and acknowledgment of supposed assistance * from 

 me, as the warm tribute of affection from an honest (though 

 deluded) man, and furthermore accept it as very pleasing t ) 

 my vanity; but,my dear fellow,neither my name nor my judg- 

 ment nor my assistance deserved any such compliments, and 

 if I am dishonest enough to be pleased with what I don't 

 deserve, it must just pass. How different the booh reads 

 from the MS. I see I shall have much to talk over with 

 you. Those lazy printers have not finished my luckless 

 Essay : which, beside your book, will look like a ragged 

 handkerchief beside a Royal Standard. . . . 



C. D. to J. D. Hooker. [November, 1859.] 



My dear Hooker, I cannot help it, I must thank you 

 for your affectionate and most kind note. My head will be 

 turned. By Jove, I must try and get a bit modest. I was a 



little chagrined by the review. f I hope it was not . As 



advocate, he might think himself justified in giving the 

 argument only on one side. But the manner in which he 

 drags in immortality, and sets the priests at me, and leaves 

 me to their mercies, is base. He would, on no account, burn 

 me, but he will get the wood ready, and tell the black 

 beasts how to catch me. ... It would be unspeakably grand 

 if Huxley were to lecture on the subject, but I can see this 

 is a mere chance ; Faraday might think it too unorthodox. 



... I had a letter from [Huxley] with such tremen- 

 dous praise of my book, that modesty (as I am trying to cul- 

 tivate that difficult herb) prevents me sending it to you, 

 which I should have liked to have done, as he is very mod- 

 est about himself. 



You have cockered me up to that extent, that I now feel 

 I can face a score of savage reviewers. I suppose you are 

 still with the Lyells. Give my kindest remembrance to 

 them. I triumph to hear that he continues to approve. 



Believe me, your would-be modest friend. 



The following passage from a letter to Lyell shows how 

 strongly he felt on the subject of LyelPs adherence : " I 



* See the Origin, first edition, p. 3, where Sir J. D. Hooker's help is con- 

 spicuously acknowledged. 



+ This refers to the review in the Athenceum, Nov. 19th, 1859, where the 

 reviewer, after touching on the theological aspects of the book, leaves the au- 

 thor to " the mercies of the Divinity Hall, the College, the Lecture Room, and 

 the Museum." 



