THE DEATH OF DARWIN 185 



Such a friend as Sir John Lubbock had, and 

 lost, in Charles Darwin, is given to few men 

 indeed. We may recall his whimsical disappoint- 

 ment when as a boy his father had said to him, 

 " a very fortunate thing for you has come to 

 Down," and he guessed it might be a " pony," 

 only to be told that it was Mr. Darwin who had 

 come to reside there. How many times he must 

 have remembered that guess and that pang of 

 disappointment as he reflected over all that 

 Darwin's friendship and example had meant 

 to him. That Darwin was his " father in science " 

 he never for a moment disguised, nor the immense 

 debt that he owed him in the way of most profit- 

 ably directing his scientific energies. Nor is it 

 on the intellectual side alone that the counsel 

 and the example of the great Darwin counted 

 for much with him. He was immensely indebted, 

 too, to the example of his fine and serene char- 

 acter — cheerful, uncomplaining, courageous in 

 the midst of the attacks of ill health, and of 

 enemies who were unable to appreciate his work 

 and who misunderstood its tendency. 



This moment, when Sir John was still in the 

 first pain of his loss, seems a fitting one for the 

 consideration of his own attitude towards the 

 whole movement of thought with which the 

 name of Darwin is most prominently connected. 

 It was rather a remarkable attitude. We have 

 seen him taking his active part in support of 

 the freedom of the new thought. We have to 

 remember that it was a moment when the new 

 reading of the geological record by Lyell, followed 

 by the more extended inferences of Darwin, had 



