VICTORY AND REST 173 



valleys, and the prime cause of the very existence of 

 that cloak of greensward that clothes our lawns, our 

 fields, and our pleasure-grounds. 



It was his last work. Persistent ill-health and 

 equally persistent study for seventy-three years had 

 broken down a constitution never really strong, and 

 consumed from within by the ceaseless fires of its own 

 overpowering and undying energy. On Tuesday, April 

 the 18th, 1882, he was seized at midnight by violent 

 pains, and at four o'clock on Wednesday afternoon he 

 died suddenly in his son's arms, after a very short but 

 painful illness. So retired was the family life at Down 

 that the news of the great biologist's death was not 

 actually known in London itself till two days after 

 he had breathed his last. 



The universal regret and grief expressed at the loss 

 in all civilised countries was the best measure of the 

 immense change of front which had slowly come over 

 the whole educated community, in the twenty-three 

 years since the first publication of the ' Origin of 

 Species.' No sooner was Darwin's death announced 

 than all lands and all classes vied with one another in 

 their eagerness to honour the name and memory of the 

 great biologist. Indeed, the spontaneous and immediate 

 nature of the outburst of regret and affectionate regard 

 which followed hard upon the news of Darwin's death, 

 astonished even those who had watched closely the 

 extraordinary revolution the man himself had brought 

 so well to its final consummation. In England, it was 

 felt instinctively on every side that the great naturalist's 

 proper place was in the aisles of Westminster, hard by 

 the tomb of Newton, his immortal predecessor. To 

 16 



