196 WRITING OF THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. [Ch. XL 



You ask about Lyell's frame of mind. I think he is some- 

 what staggered, but does not give in, and speaks with horror, 

 often to me, of what a thing it would be, and what a job it 

 would be for the next edition of The Principles, if he were 

 " perverted." But he is most candid and honest, and I think 

 will end by being perverted. Dr. Hooker has become almost 

 as heterodox as you or I, and I look at Hooker as by far the 

 most capable judge in Europe. 



Most cordially do I wish you health and entire success in 

 all your pursuits, and, God knows, if admirable zeal and 

 energy deserve success, most amply do you deserve it. I look 

 at my own career as nearly run out. If I can publish my 

 Abstract and perhaps my greater work on the same subject, 

 I shall look at my course as done. 



Believe me, my dear Sir, yours very sincerely. 



In March 1859 the work was telling heavily on him. He 

 wrote to Fox : — 



" I can see daylight through my work, and am now finally 

 correcting my chapters for the press ; and I hope in a month 

 or six weeks to have proof-sheets. I am weary of my work. 

 It is a very odd thing that I have no sensation that I overwork 

 my brain ; but facts compel me to conclude that my brain was 

 never formed for much thinking. We are resolved to go for 

 two or three months, when I have finished, to Ilkley, or some 

 such place, to see if I can anyhow give my health a good start, 

 for it certainly has been wretched of late, and has incapacitated 

 me for everything. You do me injustice when you think that 

 I work for fame ; I value it to a certain extent ; but, if I know 

 myself, I work from a sort of instinct to try to make out 

 truth." 



C. D. to C. Lyell. Down, March 28th [1859]. 



My dear Lyell, — If I keep decently well, I hope to be able 

 to go to press with my volume early in May. This being so, 

 I want much to beg a little advice from you. From an ex- 

 pression in Lady Ly ell's note, I fancy that you have spoken to 

 Murray. Is it so ? And is he willing to publish my Ab- 

 stract ? * If you will tell me whether anything, and what has 

 passed, I will then write to him. Does he know at all of tho 

 subject of the book ? Secondly, can you advise me whether I 

 had better state what terms of publication I should prefer, or 

 * The Origin of Specie$. 



