SIR CHARLES LYELL. 247 



Lyell, who was destined not only to make geology 

 as fascinating to the world as a novel, but to 

 prove more fully and conclusively than any one 

 had previously done that the world is not only six 

 thousand years old, but perhaps six thousand mil- 

 lion years old ; and that man has lived here not 

 for a few centuries only, but for thousands of 

 centuries. Lyell knew and felt what the Christian 

 world has come to feel, that truth must and will 

 stand, and that there is no real conflict between 

 science and religion. 



Charles Lyell, the eldest of ten children, having 

 two brothers and seven sisters, was born November 

 14, 1797. He had the early training of an educated 

 and refined father, a man who had devoted himself 

 to the study of botany, and written several works 

 on Dante. The mother was a woman of practical 

 common-sense, and from her, doubtless, Charles 

 inherited that good judgment which characterized 

 all his work and life. 



At seven the child was sent to Ringwood, to a 

 school kept by Rev. E. S. Davies. Here, being the 

 youngest, and one of the gentlest, he was spared 

 the roughness too often found in boys' schools. 

 At ten he and his brother Tom were sent to a 

 school in Salisbury, sixteen miles from Bartley 

 Lodge, whither the family had moved from Kin- 

 nordy. 



Though they missed their favorite sport of hay- 

 making, they enjoyed walks to Old Saruin, a 

 famous camp of Roman times. Here the boys 



