LIFE OF DAR WIN. 147 



in his own and many others' belief was painted by Mr. 

 John Collier, and presented to the Linnean Society, 

 which will always be associated with the first announce- 

 ment of Darwin's main theory, as well as with many 

 others of his scientific discoveries. 



Professor Haeckel has given the following charming 

 description of Darwin and his home surroundings in his 

 later years : "In Darwin's own carriage, which he had 

 thoughtfully sent for my convenience to the railway 

 station, I drove, one sunny morning in October, through 

 the graceful, hilly landscape of Kent, that with the 

 chequered foliage of its woods, with its stretches of 

 purple heath, yellow broom, and evergreen oaks, was 

 arrayed in its fairest autumnal dress. As the carriage 

 drew up in front of Darwin's pleasant country house, 

 clad in a vesture of ivy and embowered in elms, there 

 stepped out to meet me from the shady porch, over- 

 grown with creeping plants, the great naturalist himself, 

 a tall and venerable figure, with the broad shoulders of 

 an Atlas supporting a world of thought, his Jupiter-like 

 forehead highly and broadly arched, as in the case of 

 Goethe, and deeply furrowed with the plough of mental 

 labour ; his kindly, mild eyes looking forth under the 

 shadow of prominent brows ; his amiable mouth sur- 

 rounded by a copious silver-white beard. The cordial, 

 prepossessing expression of the whole face, the gentle, 

 mild voice, the slow, deliberate utterance, the natural 

 and naive train of ideas which marked his conversation, 

 captivated my whole heart in the first hour of our 

 meeting, just as his great work had formerly, on my first 

 reading it, taken my whole understanding by storm. I 



