1 879.] ERASMUS DARWIN. 219 



His chief reason for writing a notice of his grandfather's 

 life was " to contradict flatly some calumnies by Miss Seward." 

 This appears from a letter of March 27, 1879, to his cousin 

 Reginald Darwin, in which he asks for any documents and 

 letters which might throw light on the character of Erasmus. 

 This led to Mr. Reginald Darwin placing in my father's hands 

 a quantity of valuable material, including a curious folio 

 common-place book, of which he wrote : " I have been 

 deeply interested by the great book, .... reading and 

 looking at it is like having communion with the dead .... 

 [it] has taught me a good deal about the occupations and 

 tastes of our grandfather." A subsequent letter (April 8) to 

 the same correspondent describes the source of a further 

 supply of material : — 



" Since my last letter I have made a strange discovery ; 

 for an old box from my father marked ' Old Deeds,' and 

 which consequently I had never opened, I found full of 

 letters — hundreds from Dr. Erasmus — and others from old 

 members of the family : some few very curious. Also a 

 drawing of Elston before it was altered, about 1750, of which 

 I think I will give a copy." 



Dr. Krause's contribution formed the second part of the 

 * Life of Erasmus Darwin,' my father supplying a " preliminary 

 notice." This expression on the title-page is somewhat mis- 

 leading ; my father's contribution is more than half the book, 

 and should have been described as a biography. Work of 

 this kind was new to him, and he wrote doubtfully to Mr. 

 Thiselton Dyer, June 18th: "God only knows what I shall 

 make of his life, it is such a new kind of work to me." The 

 strong interest he felt about his forebears helped to give 

 zest to the work, which became a decided enjoyment to him. 

 With the general public the book was not markedly success- 

 ful, but many of his friends recognised its merits. Sir J. D. 

 Hooker was one of these, and to him my father wrote, 

 •" Your praise of the Life of Dr. D. has pleased me exceed- 



