DR. R. W. DARWIN. 



II 



a pathetic look of regret, '' If I could have been left alone in 

 that green-house for five minutes, I know I should have been 

 able to see my father in his wheel-chair as vividly as if he 

 had been there before me." 



Perhaps this incident shows what I think is the truth, that 

 the memory of his father he loved the best, was that of him 

 as an old man. Mrs. Litchfield has noted down a few words 

 which illustrate well his feeling towards his father. She de- 

 scribes him as saying with the most tender respect, " I think 

 my father was a little unjust to me when I was young, but 

 afterwards I am thankful to think I became a prime favourite 

 with him." She has a vivid recollection of the expression of 

 happy reverie that accompanied these words, as if he were 

 reviewing the whole relation, and the remembrance left a deep 

 sense of peace and gratitude. 



What follows was added by Charles Darwin to his auto- 

 biographical ' Recollections,' and was written about 1877 

 or 1878. 



" I may here add a few pages about my father, who was 

 in many ways a remarkable man. 



" He was about 6 feet 2 inches in height, with broad 

 shoulders, and very corpulent, so that he was the largest 

 man whom I ever saw. When he last weighed himself, he 

 was 24 stone, but afterwards increased much in weight. His 

 chief mental characteristics were his powers of observation 

 and his sympathy, neither of which have I ever seen exceeded 

 or even equalled. His sympathy was not only with the dis- 

 tresses of others, but in a greater degree with the pleasures 

 of all around him. This led him to be always scheming to 

 give pleasure to others, and, though hating extravagance, to 



perform many generous actions. For instance, Mr. B , a 



small manufacturer in Shrewsbury, came to him one day, and 

 said he should be bankrupt unless he could at once borrow 

 ;^i 0,000, but that he was unable to give any legal security. 

 My father heard his reasons for believing that he could ulti- 

 mately repay the money, and from [his] intuitive perception 



