Ca. VI.] 1831—1836. 137 



of some use. It seems only to have gradually occurred to him 

 that he would ever be more than a collector of specimens and 

 facts, of which the great men were to make use. And even as 

 to the value of his collections he seems to have had much 

 doubt, for he wrote to Henslow in 1834 : " I really began to 

 think that my collections were so poor that you were puzzled 

 what to say ; the case is now quite on the opposite tack, for 

 you are guilty of exciting all my vain feelings to a most com- 

 fortable pitch ; if hard work will atone for these thoughts, I vow 

 it shall not be spared." 



Again, to his sister Susan in August, 1836 : — 



" Both your letters were full of good news ; especially the 

 expressions which you tell me Professor Sedgwick* used about 

 my collections. I confess they are deeply gratifying — I trust 

 one part at least will turn out true, and that I shall act as I 

 now think — as a man who dares to waste one hour of time has 

 not discovered the value of life. Professor Sedgwick men- 

 tioning my name at all gives me hopes that he will assist me 

 with his advice, of which, in my geological questions, I stand 

 much in need." 



Occasional allusions to slavery show us that his feeling on 

 this subject was at this time as strong as in later lifef : — 



" The Captain does everything in his power to assist me, and 

 we get on vt3ry well, but I thank my better fortune he has not 

 made me a renegade to Whig principles. I would not be a 



* Sedgwick wrote (November 7, 1835) to Dr. Butler, the head master of 

 Shrewsbury School: — "He is doing admirable "work in South America, 

 and has already sent home a collection above all price. It was the best 

 thing in the world for him that he went out on the voyage of discovery. 

 There was some risk of his turning out an idle man, but his character 

 will now be fixed, and if God spares his life he will have a great name 

 among the naturalists of Europe. . ." — I am indebted to my friend 

 Mr. J. W. Clark, the biographer of Sedgwick, for the above extract. 



t Compare the following passage from a letter (Aug. 25, 1845) addressed 

 to Lyell, who had touched on slavery in his Travels in North America. 

 ** I was delighted with your letter in which you touch on Slavery ; I wish 

 the same feelings had been apparent in your published discussion. But I 

 will not write on this subject, I should perhaps annoy you, and most 

 certainly myself. I have exhaled myself with a paragraph or two in my 

 Journal on the sin of Brazilian slavery ; you perhaps will think that it is 

 in answer to you ; but such is not the case. I have remarked on nothing 

 which I did not hear on the coast of South America. My few sentences, 

 however, are merely an explosion of feeling. How could you relate so 

 placidly that .atrocious sentiment about separating children from their 

 parents ; and in the next page speak of being distressed at the whites not 

 having prospered ; I assure you the contrast made me exclaim out. But 

 I have broken my intention, and so no more on this odious deadly 

 subject." It is fair to add that the "atrocious sentiments*' were not 

 Lyell's but those of a planter. 



