u6 A Century of Family Letters [CHAP, vm 



however small, so as to have a living interest in the manu- 

 factory," but in this very decree I see a blunder by the 

 " mauvaise tete " of Louis Blanc. He talks of the " iniqui- 

 tous oppression " of the work-masters. It is not true, and 

 if it was, it is not for the rulers of the masters as well as 

 workmen to use such language. At a moment when as you 

 say, ' a little spark kin diet h such a blaze ' ' how cautiously 

 ought every word to be weighed ! I cannot help thinking 

 the hand of God is immediately in this revolution. It is so 

 great, so sudden, so unforeseen, so unmeasured even by those 

 who seem to have made it, that it has the effect of a miracle 

 on the soul. 



The most hopeful part of this revolution is the awakening 

 of a religious feeling. Can that be owing only to the piety 

 of one man, Lamartine ? One might doubt it if one did not 

 see the immense spread of good by one woman, Mrs Fry, 

 whose memoirs we are now reading, and a very delightful 

 reading it is. What a blessed woman ! And what a blessed 

 lot was hers ! . . . God bless thee, my beloved child. 

 Ever thy, J. S. 



I like much the u thee and thou," it seems so pretty in 

 Mrs Fry. 



The following letters were written during a visit to 

 Shrewsbury in May, 1848. Dr Darwin was very seriously 

 ill and this was my father's last visit there during his father's 

 lifetime. 



Charles Darwin to Emma Darwin. 

 Saturday [SHREWSBURY, probably 20 May, 1848]. 



Though this will not go to-day I will write a bit of 

 Journal, which " in point of fact ' is a journal of all our 

 healths. My father kept pretty well all yesterday, but 

 was able to talk for not more than 10 minutes at a time till 

 after dinner, when he talked the whole evening most won- 

 derfully well and cheerfully. It is an inexpressible pleasure 

 that he has twice told me that he is very comfortable, and 

 that his want of breath does not distress him at all like the 



