220 MISCELLANEA {continued). [1880. 



ingly, for I despised my work, and thought myself a perfect 

 fool to have undertaken such a job." 



To Mr. Galton, too, he wrote, November 14 : — 



" I am extremely glad that you approve of the little ' Life * 

 of our grandfather, for I have been repenting that I ever 

 undertook it, as the work was quite beyond my tether." 



The publication of the ' Life of Erasmus Darwin ' led to an 

 attack by Mr. Samuel Butler, which amounted to a charge 

 of falsehood against my father. After consulting his friends, 

 he came to the determination to leave the charge unanswered, 

 as being unworthy of his notice.* Those who wish to know 

 more of the matter, may gather the facts of the case from Ernst 

 Krause's ' Charles Darwin/ and they will find Mr. Butler's 

 statement of his grievance in the Athenceum^ January 31, 1880, 

 and in the St. James's Gazette, December 8, 1880. The affair 

 gave my father much pain, but the warm sympathy of those 

 whose opinion he respected soon helped him to let it pass into 

 a well-merited oblivion. 



The following letter refers to M. J. H. Fabre's ' Souvenirs 

 Entomologiques.' It may find a place here, as it contains 

 a defence of Erasmus Darwin on a small point. The post- 

 script is interesting, as an example of one of my father's 

 bold ideas both as to experiment and theory :] 



C. Darwin to J. H. Fabre. 



Down, January 31, 1880. 



My DEAR Sir, — I hope that you will permit me to have 

 the satisfaction of thanking you cordially for the lively 

 pleasure which I have derived from reading your book. 

 Never have the wonderful habits of insects been more vividly 

 described, and it is almost as good to read about them as to 



* He had, in a letter to Mr. oversight which caused so much 

 Butler, expressed his regret at the offence. 



