212 PUBLICATION OP THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. [Ch. XII. 



just pass. How different the book reads from the MS. I see 

 I shall have much to talk over with you. Those lazy 

 printers have not finished my luckless Essay : which, beside 

 your book, will look like a ragged handkerchief beside a Royal 

 Standard. . . . 



C. D. to J. D. Hooker. [November, 1859.] 



My deab Hookeb, — I cannot help it, I must thank you for 

 your affectionate and most kind note. My head will be turned. 

 By Jove, I must try and get a bit modest. I was a little 



chagrined by the review.* I hope it was not . As 



advocate, he might think himself justified in giving the 

 argument only on one side. But the manner in which he 

 drags in immortality, and sets the priests at me, and leaves 

 me to their mercies, is base. He would, on no account, burn 

 me, but he will get the wood ready, and tell the black beasts 

 how to catch me. ... It would be unspeakably grand if 

 Huxley were to lecture on the subject, but I can see this is a 

 mere chance ; Faraday might think it too unorthodox. 



... I had a letter from [Huxley] with such tremendous 

 praise of my book, that modesty (as I am trying to cultivate 

 that difficult herb) prevents me sending it to you, which I 

 should have liked to have done, as he is very modest about 

 himself. 



You have cockered me up to that extent, that I now feel I 

 can face a score of savage reviewers. I suppose you are still 

 with the Lyells. Give my kindest remembrance to them. I 

 triumph to hear that he continues to approve. 



Believe me, your would-be modest friend. 



The following passage from a letter to Lyell shows how 

 strongly he felt on the subject of Lyell's adherence : — " I 

 rejoice profoundly that you intend admitting the doctrine of 

 modification in your new edition ; f nothing, I am convinced, 

 could be more important for its success. I honour you most 

 sincerely. To have maintained in the position of a master, 



* This refers to the review in the Athenseum, Nov. 19th, 1859, where 

 the reviewer, after touching on the theological aspects of the book, leaves 

 the author to " the mercies of the Divinity Hall, the College, the Lecture 

 Room, and the Museum." 



t It appears from Sir Charles Lyell's published letters that he 

 intended to admit the doctrine of evolution in a new edition of the 

 Manual, but this was not published till 1865. He was, however, at work 

 on the Antiquity of Man in 1860, and had already determined to discuss 

 the Origin at the end of the book. 



