Mr. Darwin and " Evolution," etc. 49 



that it did not occur to Mr. Darwin to state that the 

 article had been modified since it was written — this would 

 have been bad enough under the circumstances — but 

 that it did occur to him to go out of his way to say what 

 was not true. There was no necessity for him to have 

 said anything about my book. It appeared, moreover, 

 inadequate to tell me that if a reprint of the English Life 

 was wanted (which might or might not be the case, and 

 if it was not the case, why, a shrug of the shoulders, and 

 I must make the best of it), Mr. Darwin might perhaps 

 silently omit his note about my book, as he omitted his 

 misrepresentation of the author of the " Vestiges of 

 Creation," and put the words " revised and corrected by 

 the author " on his title-page. 



No matter how high a writer may stand, nor what 

 services he may have unquestionably rendered, it cannot 

 be for the general well-being that he should be allowed to 

 set aside the fundamental principles of straightforwardness 

 and fair play. When I thought of Buff on, of Dr. Erasmus 

 Darwin, of Lamarck, and even of the author of the " Ves- 

 tiges of Creation," to all of whom Mr. Darwin had dealt 

 the same measure which he was now dealing to myself ; 

 when I thought of these great men, now dumb, who had 

 borne the burden and heat of the day, and whose laurels 

 had been filched from them ; of the manner, too, in 

 which Mr. Darwin had been abetted by those who should 

 have been the first to detect the fallacy which had misled 

 him ; of the hotbed of intrigue which science has now 

 become ; of the disrepute into which we English must fall 

 as a nation if such practices as Mr. Darwin had attempted 

 in this case were to be tolerated ; — when I thought of all 

 this, I felt that though prayers for the repose of dead 

 men's souls might be unavailing, yet a defence of their 

 work and memory, no matter against what odds, might 

 avail the living, and resolved that I would do my utmost 

 to make my countrymen aware of the spirit now ruling 

 among those whom they delight to honour. 



