1 88 SIR GEORGE DARWIN 



Canterbury Tales. He used often to read 

 Shakespeare to himself, I think generally the 

 historical plays ; also Chaucer, Don Quixote in 

 Spanish, and all kind of books like Joinville's 

 Life of St. Louis in the old French. 



I remember the story of the death of 

 Gordon told so that we all cried, I think ; 

 and Gladstone could hardly be mentioned in 

 consequence. All kinds of wars and battles 

 interested him, and I think he liked archery 

 more because it was romantic than because it 

 was a game. 



During his last illness his interest in the 

 Balkan war never failed. Three weeks before 

 his death he was so ill that the doctor thought 

 him dying. Suddenly he rallied from the 

 half-unconscious state in which he had been 

 lying for many hours, and the first words he 

 spoke on opening his eyes were, " Have they 

 got to Constantinople yet ? " This was very 

 characteristic. I often wish he was alive now, 

 because his understanding and appreciation 

 of the glory and tragedy of this war would 

 be like no one else's. 



His daughter Margaret writes : 



He was absolutely unselfconscious, and it 

 never seemed to occur to him to wonder what 

 impression he was making on others. I think 

 it was this simplicity which made him so good 

 with children. He seemed to understand their 

 point of view, and to enjoy with them in a way 

 that is not common with grown-up people. I 

 shall never forget how when our dog had to be 

 killed he seemed to feel the horror of it just 

 as I did, and how this sense of his really sharing 



