158 THE COMING [CH. 



he loved to hear ' what was doing ' in his ' favourite 

 science.' On board the Beagle, before he had met 

 the man whose life and work were to be so closely 

 linked with his own, he was in the habit of specially 

 treasuring up any ' facts that would interest Mr Lyell' ; 

 in middle life he declared that ' when seeing a thing 

 never seen by Lyell, one yet saw it partially through 

 his eyes 152 '; and never, I think, did we meet after 

 the friend was gone, without the oft repeated query, 

 ' What would Lyell have said to that ? ' 



These reminiscences of the past, in which I have 

 ventured to indulge, may not inappropriately conclude 

 with a reference to the last interview I was privileged 

 to have with him, who was 'the noblest Roman of 

 them all ! ' On the occasion of his last visit to 

 London, in December, 1881, Charles Darwin wrote 

 asking me to take lunch with him at his daughter's 

 house, and to have 'a little talk' on geology. Greatly 

 was I surprised at the vigour which he showed on 

 that afternoon, for, contrary to his usual practice, he 

 did not interrupt the conversation to retire and rest 

 for a time, though I suggested the desirability of his 

 doing so, and offered to stay. His brightness and 

 animation, which were perhaps a little forced, struck 

 me as so unusual that I laughingly suggested that he 

 was 'renewing his youth.' Then a slight shade passed 

 over his countenance but only for a moment as he 

 told me that he had 'received his warning.' The 



