FIRST DAY'S SITTING. 11 



to the apes and monkeys of the present day, than to the 

 Almighty Creator of all things. I have to complain, my 

 Lord, that this attempt of Mr. Darwin to give me a brutish 

 origin, not only degrades me in my own est ; mation, but is 

 calculated to have an injurious effect on my youthful 

 offspring. Let them but be taught that they are the 

 relatives of apes and monkeys, instead of being the offspring 

 of God, and that their most ancient progenitor was a tadpole 

 and a worm, and it will take away from them one of the 

 most powerful motives to act a rational, worthy, and noble 

 part on the great stage of human life. 



Lord C. As I understand tl.e matter, then, the head and 

 front of Mr. Darwin's offending is, that he affirms you to be 

 descended from a hairy quadiuped, and more remotely 

 from some creature like a tadpole, instead of having been 

 created immediately by the Divine Being. You also com- 

 plain of Mr. Darwin's statements as being not only untrue, 

 but also offensive and libellous, and likely to exert an 

 injurious influence on the youthful portion of your race. 



Homo. Precisely so, my Lord. He affirms that " it is 

 only our natural prejudice, and that arrogance which made 

 our forefathers declare that they were descended from 

 demi-gods, which leads us to demur to this conclusion." 

 (Vol. i. p. 33.) 



Lord C. The conclusion certainly is not a flattering one. 

 But I should like Mr. Darwin himself to state the view re- 

 garding our descent which he is endeavouring to propagate. 



Darwin. My Lord, " I give" to man " a pedigree of pro- 

 digious length," if not " of noble quality." " The most 

 ancient progenitors in the kingdom of the Vertebrata at 

 which we are able to obtain an obscure glance, apparently 

 consisted of a group of marine animals, resembling the 

 larva? of existing Ascidians. These animals probably gave 



B 2 



