344 LIFE AT DOWN. /ETAT. 33-4$. [1845. 



there. He is an amusing strange fellow ; at our early dinner, 

 our party consisted of two Catholic priests and two Mulat- 

 tresses ! He is past sixty years old, and the day before ran 

 down and caught a leveret in a turnip-field. It is a fine old 

 house, and the lake swarms with water-fowl. I then saw 

 Chatsworth, and was in transport with the great hothouse ; 

 it is a perfect fragment of a tropical forest, and the sight 

 made me think with delight of old recollections. My little 

 ten-day tour made me feel wonderfully strong at the time, 

 but the good effects did not last. My wife, I am sorry to 

 say, does not get very strong, and the children are the hope 

 of the family, for they are all happy, life, and spirits. I have 

 been much interested with Sedgwick's review ; * though I 

 find it is far from popular with our scientific readers. I think 

 some few passages savour of the dogmatism of the pulpit, rather 

 than of the philosophy of the Professor's Chair ; and some of 



the wit strikes me as only worthy of in the ' Quarterly.' 



Nevertheless, it is a grand piece of argument against muta- 

 bility of species, and I read it with fear and trembling, but 

 was well pleased to find that I had not overlooked any of the 

 arguments, though I had put them to myself as feebly as 

 milk and water. Have you read ' Cosmos ' yet ? The English 

 translation is wretched, and the semi-metaphysico-politico 

 descriptions in the first part are barely intelligible ; but I 

 think the volcanic discussion well worth your attention, it 

 has astonished me by its vigour and information. I grieve to 

 find Humboldt an adorer of Von Buch, with his classification 

 of volcanos, craters of elevation, &c. &c., and carbonic acid 

 gas atmosphere. He is indeed a wonderful man. 



I hope to get home in a fortnight and stick to my weary- 

 ful South America till I finish it. I shall be very anxious to 

 hear how you get on from the Homers, but you must not think 

 of wasting your time by writing to me. We shall miss, indeed, 



* Sedgwick's review of the ' Vestiges of Creation' in the ' Edinburgh 

 Review,' July 1845. 



