8 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK OT . 



capacities. Six of the children mentioned in 

 the preceding " pedigree " were at that time 

 living, and the age of John, the eldest, is entered 

 as 7J. The following brief character-sketch is 

 appended to his name : "A very sensible Boy, 

 with an over - sensitive and timid disposition, 

 and requiring great care in his education and 

 management, and more like what I conceive 

 I was at his age than any child I ever saw 

 (I ought not, however, to call myself c very 

 sensitive ')." 



The mother whose nature is thus, with charm- 

 ing unconsciousness, revealed, did not realise 

 that in this modest disclaimer, within the 

 brackets, she is affording yet further testimony 

 to the essential likeness between herself and 

 this eldest child, for of his many remarkable 

 characteristics the self - depreciating modesty 

 which these words discover was one of the 

 most striking. 



His intelligent mind soon began to prompt 

 him to ask some of those theological questions 

 which parents find so much difficulty in answer- 

 ing. " We were talking," Lady Lubbock writes, 

 " about resisting the Devil, and what that 

 meant, and John said, ' Mama, do you think 

 it's right in us to hate the Devil ? I don't. I 

 thought we ought to hate no one ? ' I said, 

 ' Very true, dear, but the Devil is the personifica- 

 tion of Sin, and we must hate Sin.' ' True, 

 Mama, but the Devil was once an Angel, so I 

 think we ought to wish he may some day grow 

 good again, instead of hating him.' The excessive 

 beauty and originality of this remark struck me 



