24 



THE DARWIN FAxMILY. 



we recall such natures most distinctly, when such a resem- 

 blance .is all that is left of them. The character is not merged 

 in the creation ; and what we lose in the power to communi- 

 cate our impression, we seem to gain in its vividness. Eras- 

 mus Darwin has passed away in old age, yet his memory 

 retains something of a youthful fragrance ; his influence gave 

 much happiness, of a kind usually associated with youth, to 

 many lives besides the illustrious one whose records justify, 

 though certainly they do not inspire, the wish to place this 

 fading chaplet on his grave." 



The foregoing pages give, in a fragmentary manner, as 

 much perhaps as need be told of the family from which 

 Charles Darwin came, and may serve as an introduction to 

 the autobiographical chapter which follows. 



