LAST YEARS 133 



Germany, in which his views were unreservedly adopted ; 

 and they are now taught in every zoological laboratory, 

 though their importance as regards the general evolution 

 of the Echinoderm type is not yet fully recognized. 



Thus, his interests were still keen and clear ; and 

 though the times were long past when he could punctually 

 turn out the same amount of " copy " day after day with 

 the utmost precision, and he would sit for a whole morning 

 pen in hand gazing at the paper, unable to put down a 

 word, every now and then some public or private event 

 roused the old force. In the summer of 1884 he had 

 given an address to a meeting of Unitarian ministers on 

 the " Relation of the Argument from Design in the Organic 

 World to the Doctrine of Evolution," and this was (with 

 some difficulty) enlarged from the reporter's notes, and 

 published in the October number of the Modern Review* 

 It was the final utterance of his reasoned faith. A few 

 weeks later he shared the universal regret at the death of 

 Mr. Fawcett, as well as the universal curiosity and ex- 

 pectation as to the probable attitude of the Opposition and 

 the House of Lords on the Franchise and Redistribution 

 Bills. References to politics were very rare in his corre- 

 spondence, though his conversation often dealt largely 

 with them. The following letter contains a characteristic 

 illustration from Bristol memories : — 



To the Rev. R. L. Carpenter. 



London, November 9, 1S84. 

 Although I did not often come across him (Mr. Fawcett), 

 we were very good friends when we met ; and I greatly ad- 

 mired the pluck with which he had made so good a position 

 in the House, notwithstanding his bUndness. My own impres- 

 sion, indeed, is that his accident was really the making of him, 



* See below, p. 409. 



