12 MR. W. E. DARWIN. 



once took up the matter, and though he was ill and weak and 

 it was most painful to attack a near neighbour, he went round 

 the whole parish, collected all the evidence himself, and had 

 the case brought before the magistrates, and as far as I can 

 recollect he got the man convicted. This, I remember, 

 as a boy impressed me immensely ; he took it so seriously 

 and devoted himself to it, though his health was in such 

 a bad state. The next case is a personal matter, if you 

 will excuse my referring to myself, At the time of the trial 

 of Governor Eyre I had come from Southampton, where there 

 had lately been held a public meeting in favour of Governor 

 Eyre. One day at Down I made some flippant and derogatory 

 remarks about the Committee which was prosecuting him. 

 My father instantly turned on me in a fury of indignation and 

 told me I had better go back to Southampton. The next 

 morning at seven o'clock he came to my bedside and said how 

 sorry he was that he had been so angry, and that he had not 

 been able to sleep ; and with a few kind words he left me. 



What especially impressed me was his hatred of slavery. 

 I remember his talking with horror of his sleepless nights 

 when he could not keep out of his mind some incidents from 

 Olmsted's Journeys in the Slave States, a book he had lateiy 

 been reading; and in many of his letters to Professor Asa 

 Gray he alludes to slavery with the utmost detestation, 



I will not detain you with any recollections of his political 

 opinions except to say that he was an ardent Liberal, and had 

 a very great admiration for John Stuart Mill and Mr. 

 Gladstone ; at the same time he often deplored the almost 

 total lack of interest in science in the House of Commons. 



I should like, if I may be allowed, to refer to my child- 

 hood. I think when I was a child my father's health was, 

 perhaps, at its worst, and there is no doubt that it threw a 

 certain air of sadness over the life at Down, but whenever he 

 was a trifle better his natural joyousness and gaiety flowed 

 out, and what we very vividly remember is the delightful 

 playmate he made for us as children. In later life he 

 always treated us with entire trust and freedom, and all our 

 opinions or views or desires he would discuss and consider 

 almost as if we were his equals ; and it is touching to recall, 



