388 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF 



clover and the falling rain " were the true miracles. 

 Napoleon gazing at the stars, and gravelling his sa- 

 vants with the question : " Gentlemen, who made all 

 that ? " commended itself to their common sympathy. 

 It was the illegitimate science which, in its claims, 

 overstepped its warrant professing to explain every- 

 thing, and to sweep the universe clear of mystery that 

 was really repugnant to Carlyle. 



Here a personal recollection comes into view which, 

 as it throws a pleasant light on the relations of Carlyle 

 and Darwin, may be worth recording. Like many other 

 noble ladies, Lady Derby was a warm friend of 

 Carlyle; and once, during an entire summer, Keston 

 Lodge was placed by Lord Derby at Carlyle's disposal. 

 From the seat of our common friend, Sir John Lubbock, 

 where we had been staying, the much-mourned William 

 Spottiswoode and myself once walked over to the Lodge 

 to see Carlyle. He was absent; but as we returned 

 we met him and his niece, the present Mrs. Alexander 

 Carlyle,* driving home in a pony-carriage. I had often 

 expressed to him the wish that he and Darwin might 

 meet ; for it could not be doubted that the nobly candid 

 character of the great naturalist would make its due 

 impression. The wish was fulfilled. He met us with 

 the exclamation: "Well, I have been to see Darwin." 

 He paused, and I expressed my delight. "Yes," he 

 added, " I have been to see him, and a more charming 

 man I have never met in my life." 



The sad years rolled on, and I began at length to 

 notice a lowering of his power of conversation, and a 

 tendency to somnolence, which contrasted strongly 



* To whom he was indebted not only for her affectionate care 

 of his health, but occasionally, in later years, for wise counsel 

 where his own faltering judgment might have led him wrong. 



