DR. ROBERT WARING DARWIN. 61 



any exercise of mind whatever, if beyond mere need, may 

 be caljed by us, like Some things of glass, and wood, and 

 metal, " philosophical." Why, then, should not the mind 

 of a man such as Dr. Darwin, who " loved plants," who, 

 according to his illustrious son, formed a theory for 

 almost everything which occurred," who " was the most 

 acute observer " he ever saw, and who was just on the whole 

 " the wisest man he ever knew " why should not the 

 mind of such a man, " a highly successful physician," have 

 been described as philosophical ? Possibly, in the event 

 of such a compliment, in other circumstances, to his 

 grandfather, Mr. Francis Darwin would not always be 

 minded to be equally fastidious. On the buttons Miss 

 Meteyard is, no doubt, wrong. But, with regard to the 

 goose, it may not be unfair to bear in mind the outdoor 

 habits of Dr. Darwin, as well as the fact that he was, 

 practically, a total abstainer, and could never have had 

 his appetite debauched by alcohol in any form or in any 

 quantity. Nay, when we add to these considerations 

 this, that he is represented by his own son, Charles, as 

 "the largest man he ever saw-/' "about six feet two 

 inches in height, with broad shoulders, and very corpu- 

 lent," " twenty-four stone in weight, when last weighed, 

 but afterwards much heavier" may not we, too, be 

 excused in seeing a certain relevance in the imputed 

 feat, if not as a fact, then as a joke ? 



It would appear, on the whole, then, that there cannot 

 be much that is serious said, even so far as " the few 

 points" are concerned, against Miss Meteyard's state- 

 ments. She describes the man externally very much as 

 the son does. " Dr. Erasmus Darwin of Lichfield and 

 Derby," she says, " was cast in a gigantic mould ; his son 

 (Dr. R. W.) in a still greater." Burly and farmer-looking, 

 he wore invariably a snuff-coloured cloth suit coat, waist- 

 coat, and breeches all of a piece. There were lappets to 



