164 Charles Darwin. 



by that tribute, and may receive with a certain at- 

 tention the record of a unique and indelible impres- 

 sion, even though it be made only on the hearts of 

 those who cannot bequeath it, and with whom, 

 therefore, it must speedily pass away. They re- 

 member it with the same distinctness as they re- 

 member a creation of genius ; it has in like manner 

 enriched and sweetened life, formed a common meet- 

 ing-point for those who had no other ; and, in its 

 strong fragrance of individuality, enforced that re- 

 spect for the idiosyncrasies of human character, 

 without which moral judgment is always hard and 

 shallow, and often unjust. Carlyle was one to find a 

 peculiar enjoyment in the combination of liveliness 

 and repose which gave his friend's society an in- 

 fluence at once stimulating and soothing, and the 

 warmth of his appreciation was not made known 

 first in its expression ; his letters of anxiety nearly 

 thirty years ago, when the frail life which has been 

 prolonged to old age was threatened by serious ill- 

 ness, are still fresh in my memory. The friendship 

 was equally warm with both husband and wife. I re- 

 member well a pathetic little remonstrance from her, 

 elicited by an avowal from Erasmus Darwin, that he 

 preferred cats to dogs, which she felt a slur on her 

 little ' Nero ' ; and the tones in which she said, ' Oh, 

 but you are fond of dogs ! you are too kind not to 

 be,' spoke of a long vista of small gracious kind- 

 nesses, remembered with a tender gratitude. He 

 was intimate also with a person whose friends, like 

 those of Mr. Carlyle, have not always had cause to 

 congratulate themselves on their place in her gal- 



