

Darwin- Wallace Celebration. 57 



I DEEM it a high honour, as it is also a great pleasure, 

 for me to be invited to take any part in this auspicious 

 ceremony, which is so interesting to all lovers of Science, 

 and especially of Natural History. 



After the speeches which we have just heard from such 

 eminent representatives of the Science as Wallace, Hooker, 

 Galton, Strasburger and Lankester, I am disposd to think that 

 my Address might be taken as read ; and at any rate it would 

 be a work of supererogation, and almost an act of impertinence, 

 for me to address you on the scientific aspect of the occasion, 

 and on the memorable paper by Mr. Darwin and Mr. Wallace 

 the reading of which we have met to celebrate. I presume 

 I have been asked to speak because, with the exception of 

 Sir Joseph Hooker, I have been more personally associated 

 with our illustrious Countryman than any one else now living. 

 I first heard his name in 1842 66 years ago, when my father 

 returned one evening from the city, and said he had a great 

 piece of good news for me ; Mr. Darwin was coming to live 

 close to us at Down, which he has rendered so famous. 



Darwin chose Down (happily for us) for the " extreme 

 quietness and rusticity of the place." Huxley has described 

 it as " a solitary hamlet." It is at an elevation of 600 feet, 

 on the uplands as its name denotes. There is a local saying 

 about Down and the next village Cudham, which is quite a 

 large parish, that "Down is the last village in the world, and 

 Cudham is the first one out of it. There never yet has been 

 a lawyer or a doctor or a clergyman or a gentleman or a 

 well, in the parish of Cudham." And yet the Church is only 

 16 miles from London Bridge ! 



In Down Mr. Darwin was much loved. He took an active 

 part in parish work. Our then clergyman was a wise and 

 sensible man. He and Mr. Darwin, though they thought so 

 differently, always worked together, and were firm friends. 

 Mr.. Darwin was no doubt something of a puzzle to the 

 villagers, though he was not, like his grandfather, looked 

 on as a Necromancer. One of his friends once asked 

 Mr. Darwin's gardener about his master's health, and how he 

 had been lately. " Oh ! ", he said, " my poor master has 



