SIR CHARLES LTELL. 273 



cles, he said, " were the ablest, and, on the whole, 

 grappling with the subject, both as a naturalist and 

 metaphysician, better than any one else on either 

 side of the Atlantic." 



Lyell believed ever in " an infinite and eternal 

 Being." He said, " In whatever direction we pursue 

 our researches, whether in time or space, we dis- 

 cover everywhere the clear proofs of a Creative in- 

 telligence, and of his foresight, wisdom, and power." 



He used to quote Professor Agassiz, who said, 

 " Whenever a new and startling fact is brought to 

 light in science, people first say, ' It is not true/ 

 then that 'it is contrary to religion/ and lastly 

 that ' everybody knew it before. 7 " 



For the last ten years of his life, unable to use 

 his eyes to any great extent, Lyell had the assist- 

 ance, as secretary, of the able author of the " Fairy 

 Land of Science," Miss Arabella Buckley, now 

 Mrs. Fisher. And yet he accomplished more than 

 most people with the best of eyes. 



Two years after his wife's death, while at work 

 on the twelfth edition of the "Principles," the 

 end came, February 22, 1875. He was buried in 

 Westminster Abbey, beside his friend Sir John 

 Herschel, the Duke of Argyll, Professor Huxley, 

 and other noted men acting as pall-bearers. Said 

 the Dean of Westminster, in the funeral sermon 

 preached in the Abbey, " He followed truth with 

 a zeal as sanctified as ever fired the soul of a mis- 

 sionary, and with a humility as child-like as ever 

 subdued the mind of a simple scholar. . . . From 



18 



