Affection for his Children. 135 



patience and example of loving-kindness to all, in its 

 exhibition of gentleness. His married life was perfect 

 in its tender realisation of all that can come from the 

 mingling of well-adapted natures. To his children 

 Darwin was indulgent and kind, tender and sympa- 

 thetic ; he early gained their full love and confidence, 

 and always retained it. That he made them the 

 objects of his scientific investigations is shown by 

 his great work, " The Expression of the Emotions " ; 

 yet that he had all the love and affection of the un- 

 scientific parent is seen in the following extract 

 from a letter written to a friend : " He {i.e., the baby) 

 is so charming that I cannot pretend to any mod- 

 esty. I defy anybody to flatter us on our baby, 

 for I defy anyone to say anything in its praise of 

 which we are not fully conscious. ... I had not 

 the smallest conception there was so much in a 

 five-months baby. You will perceive by this that 

 I have a fine degree of paternal fervour." His son 

 Francis states that he does not remember ever hear- 

 ing his father speak an angry word, yet the children 

 never thought of disobeying him. " I well remem- 

 ber," says his son, " one occasion when my father 

 reproved me for a piece of carelessness ; and I can 

 still recall the feeling of depression which came over 

 me, and the care which he took to disperse it by 

 speaking to me soon afterwards with especial kind- 

 ness. He kept up his delightful, affectionate man- 

 ner towards us all his life. I sometimes wonder 

 that he could do so, with such an undemonstrative 

 race as we are ; but I hope he knew how much we 

 delighted in his loving words and manner. How 



