i 4 MY LIFE 



Tt is quite really pathetic how much he felt difference of 

 opinion from his friends. I, of course, should have liked to 



have been able to convert him to my views, hut I did not feel 

 it so much as he seemed to do. En letters to Sir Joseph 

 Hooker (in February and August, t88i), he again states his 



view as against mine very strongly ("More Letters," iii. 

 pp. 25 and 27) ; and this, so far as I know, is the last reference 

 lie made to the subject. The last letter T received from him 

 was entirely on literary and political subjects, and, as usual, 

 very kind and friendly. As it makes no reference to our 

 controversies, and touches on questions never introduced 

 before in our correspondence, I think it will be interesting to 

 give it entire. 



" Down, July 12, 1881. 



" My Dear Wallace, 



" I have been heartily glad to get your note and hear 

 some news of you. I will certainly order ' Progress and 

 Poverty,' for the subject is a most interesting one. But I 

 read many years ago some books on political economy, and 

 they produced a disastrous effect on my mind, viz., utterly 

 to distrust my own judgment on the subject, and to doubt 

 much everyone else's judgment ! So I feel pretty sure that 

 Mr. George's book will only make my mind worse confounded 

 than it is at present. I also have just finished a book which 

 has interested me greatly, but whether it would interest any- 

 one else I know not. It is the ' Creed of Science,' by W. 

 Graham, A.M. Who or what he is I know not, but he dis- 

 cusses many great subjects, such as the existence of God, 

 immortality, the moral sense, the progress of society, etc. I 

 think some of his propositions rest on very uncertain founda- 

 tions, and I could get no clear idea of his notions about God. 

 Notwithstanding this and other blemishes, the book has inter- 

 ested me extremely. Perhaps I have been to some ex- 

 tent deluded, as he manifestly ranks too high what I have 

 done. 



" I am delighted to hear that you spend so much time 

 out-of-doors and in your garden. From Newman's old book 



