184 MR. DARWIN'S CRITICS Vv 
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careful enumeration of all those points upon which, 
during the course of thirteen years of incessant 
labour, Mr. Darwin has modified his opinions. It 
has often and justly been remarked, that what 
strikes a candid student of Mr. Darwin’s works is 
not so much his industry, his knowledge, or even’ 
the surprising fertility of his inventive genius; 
but that unswerving truthfulness and honesty 
which never permit him to hide a weak place, or 
gloss over a difficulty, but lead him, on all occa- 
sions, to point out the weak places in his own 
armour, and even sometimes, it appears to me, : 
make admissions against himself which are quite 
unnecessary. A critic who desires to attack Mr. _ 
Darwin has only to read his works with a desire to 
observe, not their merits, but their defects, and he 
will find, ready to hand, more adverse suggestions 
than are likely ever to have suggested themselves _ 
to his own sharpness, without Mr. Darwin’s self-— 
denying aid. : 4 
Now this quality of scientific candour is not 50° ) 
common that it needs to be discouraged; and it 
appears to me to deserve other treatment than 
that adopted by the Quarterly Reviewer, who deals _ 
with Mr. Darwin as an Old Bailey barrister deals” 
with a man against whom he wishes to obtain a 
conviction, per fas aut nefas, and opens his case 
by endeavouring to create a prejudice against the ~ 
prisoner in the minds of the jury. In his eager- 
ness to carry out this laudable design, the Quarterly 
