THE DEATH OF DARWIN 187 



in his attitude. He was ever reticent as to his 

 mental outlook on the great mysteries, but I 

 believe that he had arrived at the conclusion, with 

 which most men of science were to wait the best 

 part of half a century before they came into any 

 agreement, that there was some room, after all, 

 among the atoms for the spirits, that the human 

 intellect did rightly and according to the intention 

 of its Maker in reading as accurately as may be 

 the story which Lyell found in the rocks, and 

 Wallace and Darwin in the whole life history of 

 the globe, but that besides these records there was, 

 as man's special gift, through his evolutionary 

 development, that religious sense or intuition, 

 or whatever term you please to give it, which 

 was of other stuff than to be subject to the test 

 of human reason. That I believe to have been 

 his attitude, though I do not claim to have 

 heard him explicit in regard to it. It was at 

 least the attitude with which his life -long 

 practice appears in strict conformity. 



An occurrence infinitely more tragic than the 

 death of Darwin, though of less close personal 

 grief to him, happened later in the same year — 

 the murder, by the assassin's dagger, of Lord 

 Frederick Cavendish in the Phoenix Park at 

 Dublin. It may be remembered that, as later 

 evidence went to show, the murderous assault 

 was probably intended rather for Lord Frederick's 

 companion than for himself, but this was not 

 known at the time, nor, even so, does it 

 mitigate the horror. He was a man universally 

 respected and loved. Sir John has the note in 

 his diary that Lord Frederick had been dining 



