74 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK oh. 



of course, I would not have troubled you. If, in the 

 course of a few weeks, you can inform me, I should be 

 glad, but the point is not very important for me. 



Once again, I do most sincerely congratulate you. — 

 Ever most truly yours, Ch. Darwin. 



From his political opponent, Sir William 

 Hart Dyke, he received a very kindly humorous 

 letter saying that he had been a little surprised 

 at first to hear that there was a chance " of the 

 ' Sensation Drama ' of Lubbock v. Dyke being 

 enacted," but assuring him that neither " during 

 the Performance of the Piece nor after the 

 Curtain dropped " should any ill feeling on Sir 

 William's part enter into the contest. 



It was an assurance that was perfectly 

 fulfilled. 



John Stuart Mill's is one of the distinguished 

 names that appears on Lubbock's committee in 

 his electoral campaign. 



In spite, however, of the fervour with which 

 his speeches were received, and the congratula- 

 tions accorded them, the " forlorn hope " failed, 

 and he was handsomely defeated. The majority 

 against him, odd as it may now seem, was larger 

 than it would otherwise have been in consequence 

 of the opinions on the Antiquity of Man expressed 

 in his Prehistoric Times, which had appeared 

 during the contest. He was urged to keep the 

 book back till after the election, but thought 

 that such a course would be scarcely honourable. 



As a curious illustration of the state of popular 

 opinion at the time, it may be mentioned that 

 at Tonbridge, even as late as 1871, a meeting 

 was held to reply to a lecture he had recently 



