1872.] 



HERBERT SPENCER. 



I6 5 



a visit to Down,* which he described in a letter f to Miss S. 

 Sedgwick (now Mrs. William Darwin) : " If you can imagine me 

 enthusiastic — absolutely and unqualifiedly so, without a but 

 or criticism, then think of my last evening's and this morning's 

 talks with Mr. Darwin. ... I was never so worked up in my 

 life, and did not sleep many hours under the hospitable roof. 

 ... It would be quite impossible to give by way of report 

 any idea of these talks before and at and after dinner, at 

 breakfast, and at leave-taking ; and yet I dislike the egotism 

 of ' testifying ' like other religious enthusiasts without any 

 verification, or hint of similar experience."] 



C. Darwin to Herbert Spencer. 



Bassett, Southampton, June 10 [1872]. 



DEAR SPENCER, — I dare say you will think me a foolish 

 fellow, but I cannot resist the wish to express my unbounded 

 admiration of your article % in answer to Mr. Martineau. It is, 

 indeed, admirable, and hardly less so your second article on 

 Sociology (which, however, I have not yet finished) : I never 

 believed in the reigning influence of great men on the world's 

 progress ; but if asked why I did not believe, I should have 

 been sorely perplexed to have given a good answer. Every 

 one with eyes to see and ears to hear (the number, I 



* Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Brace, who 

 had given much of their lives to 

 philanthropic work in New York, 

 also paid a visit at Down in this 

 summer. Some of their work is 

 recorded in Mr. Brace's 'The 

 Dangerous Classes of New York,' 

 and of this book my father wrote 

 to the author : — 



" Since you were here my wife 

 has read aloud to me more than 

 half of your work, and it has 

 interested us both in the highest 

 degree, and we shall read every 



word of the remainder. The facts 

 seem to me very well told, and the 

 inferences very striking. But after 

 all, this is but a weak part of the 

 impression left on our minds by 

 what we have read ; for we are both 

 filled with earnest admiration at 

 the heroic labours of yourself and 

 others." 



t ' Letters,' p. 246-248. 



\ "Mr. Martineau on Evolution," 

 by Herbert Spencer, ' Contempo- 

 rary Review,' July 1872. 



