Memoirs of Erasmns Darivin, M. D. 129 



P. S. Should you think this worthy of insertion in your 

 excellent miscellany, and the subject require further dis- 

 cussion, I shall be glad to meet the opinions of your cor- 

 respoiKlents. From the collision of sentiments it may hap- 

 pen that ideas may be suggested, by which the smallest 

 general subscription library may become interesting even to 

 a subscriber to the larajest. 



XXII. Memoirs of the late Erasmus Darwin, M. D. 



[Continued from p. 48.] 



W E have to behold Dr. Darwin, for the sake of domestic 

 happiness, quitting his old established connections, and a 

 circle of the most sincere and attached friends, to settle at 

 Derby, where he could be only known by reputation. A mind 

 less elevated than his might have trembled at such a change, 

 unless he had aspired to place his residence in London, 

 where he was invited by several noble families, and which 

 would have been a fit sphere for such extraordinary mental 

 endowments. Confidence soon followed him at Derby ; 

 and it is certain, wherever he had chosen to settle himself, 

 there any opposition would have been vain, and his esta- 

 blishment certain. His bride had a good jointure of her 

 own ; and added to Dr. Darwin's acquisitions in the prac- 

 tice of physic, his fortune was princclv, and ujen of the first 

 talents were ever at his table : yet he never relaxed the 

 least in his medical excrti(nis, and a letter was whimsically 

 once addressed "To Doctor Darwin, on the road." He 

 had such powers of mind, that the carriage became his 

 study, and his travelling companions were books for studv y 

 he also contrived a writing-desk in his chaise; and it is said 

 that most part of his performances were composed when 

 travelling. His medical work, which occupied his chief at- 

 tention, and which he calls Zoonomia, or The Laws of Or- 

 ganic Life, he laboured incessantly at for twenty years, ani 

 then, not as the poet recommends, 



nonum prcmatur in annum — 



Hen. 



Vol. ey. No. 114. Kvv. 1807. I but 



