374 MISCELLANEA. [1875. 



Lyell * has been saved this terrible blow. His death makes 

 me think of the time when I first saw him, and how full of 

 sympathy and interest he was about what I could tell him of 

 coral reefs and South America. I think that this sympathy 

 with the work of every other naturalist was one of the finest 

 features of his character. How completely he revolutionised 

 Geology : for I can remember something of pre-Lyellian 

 days. 



I never forget that almost everything which I have done 

 in science I owe to the study of his great works. Well, he 

 has had a grand and happy career, and no one ever worked 

 with a truer zeal in a noble cause. It seems strange to me 

 that I shall never again sit with him and Lady Lyell at their 

 breakfast. I am very much obliged to you for having so 

 kindly written to me. 



Pray give our kindest remembrances to Miss Lyell, and I 

 hope that she has not suffered much in health, from fatigue 

 and anxiety. 



Believe me, my dear Miss Buckley, 



Yours very sincerely, 



CHARLES DARWIN. 



C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker. 



Down, February 25 [1875]. 



MY DEAR HOOKER, Your letter so full of feeling has 

 interested me greatly. I cannot say that I felt his [Lyell's] 

 death much, for I fully expected it, and have looked for some 

 little time at his career as finished. 



I dreaded nothing so much as his surviving with impaired 

 mental powers. He was, indeed, a noble man in very many 

 ways ; perhaps in none more than in his warm sympathy with 

 the work of others. How vividly I can recall my first con- 

 versation with him, and how he astonished me by his interest 

 in what I told him. How grand also was his candour and 



* Lady Lyell died in 1873. 



