152 AN EPISCOPAL TRILOGY IV 



save Mr. Darwin's credit and to preserve some 

 reputation for infallibility, which no one ever 

 heard of, then I have no hesitation in declaring 

 that his adviser was profoundly dishonest, as well 

 as extremely foolish ; arid that, if he is a man of 

 science, he has disgraced his calling. 



But, after all, this supposed scientific Achitophel 

 has not yet made good the primary fact of his ex- 

 istence. Until the 'needful proof is forthcoming, I 

 think I am justified in suspending my judgment as 

 to whether he is much more than an anti-scientific 

 myth. I leave it to the Duke of Argyll to judge 

 of the extent of the obligation under which, for 

 his own sake, he may lie to produce the evidence 

 on which his aspersions of the honour of scientific 

 men are based. I cannot pretend that we are 

 seriously disturbed by charges which every one 

 who is acquainted with the truth of the matter 

 knows to be ridiculous ; but mud has a habit of 

 staining if it lies too long, and it is as well to have 

 it brushed off as soon as may be. 



So much for the " Great Lesson." It is followed 

 by a " Little Lesson," apparently directed against 

 my infallibility a doctrine about which I should 

 be inclined to paraphrase Wilkes's remark to 

 George the Third, when he declared that he, at 

 any rate, was not a Wilkite. But I really should 

 be glad to think that there are people who need 

 the warning, because then it will be obvious that 

 this raking up of an old story cannot have beeD 



