1851-1853] Erasmus Darwin 147 



always; many a road, to shops and the like, he drove her 

 in his cab (' Darwingium Cabbum,' comparable to Georgium 

 Sidus) in those early days when even the charge of omni- 

 buses was a consideration, and his sparse utterances, 

 sardonic often, were a great amusement to her. ' A 

 perfect gentleman,' she at once discerned him to be, 

 and of sound worth and kindliness in the most unaffected 

 form." 



He was the very soul of sincerity, but to speak of him 

 as " this honest Darwin " gives an impression of a kind of 

 hearty open-air frankness, which was entirely unlike our 

 refined, sensitive, reserved uncle. His humour, too, was 

 always kind, if penetrating never grim or sardonic. It 

 irradiated all his talk with a peculiar charm often remind- 

 ing one of the manner of Charles Lamb. " There was the 

 same kind of playfulness, the same lightness of touch, the 

 same tenderness, perhaps the same limitations," his cousin, 

 Julia Wedgwood, wrote in a letter to the Spectator shortly 

 after his death. She also spoke of a strong sense of humour 

 as his most marked characteristic, and added: " I remember 

 his being called ' a universal solvent.' He contributed to 

 intercourse the influence that combines dissimilar elements ; 

 where he was the response came more readily, the flow of 

 thought was quicker." 1 



Again, I take exception to the phrase that Mrs Carlyle 

 at once discerned him to be a perfect gentleman. It 

 did not require Mrs Carlyle 's penetration to discern what 

 was so obvious. To those whom he did not like, and he 

 did not like everyone, his personality, always impressive, 

 might have been awful. I sometimes wondered at his 

 servants being so deeply devoted to him when I remember 

 his distant manner in giving an order an order that 

 was to be obeyed with no hesitation or discussion. His 

 whole bearing showed the marks of ill-health. He was very 

 tall and slight, and his movements had a languid grace. He 

 had long, thin hands, which were wonderfully clever and 

 neat in all practical handiwork; everything about him was 

 delicately clean and neat ; he had a fine and interesting face 

 lighting up when he spoke from an habitually patient and 

 sad expression. His voice and laugh, too, were delightfully 

 sympathetic. He read much, and had a wider range of 

 interest in literature than my father. Natural history 



1 Bedford College Magazine, June, 1902. He was Trustee of this 

 College from the beginning, Chairman of the Council for seven years, 

 and the first Visitor from 1869 to 1879. 



