Otto 



Darwin, and unwieldy in his appearance, owing to a slight 

 """"V"""' lameness, caused by an incurable weakness, proceeding 

 from an accident which befel him at Lichfield, of break- 

 ing the patella of his knee. He stammered exceeding- 

 ly, and his tongue, seemingly too large for his mouth, 

 made it difficult for any but those who were accustomed 

 to his society to understand him ; and he could not 

 bear to have his words anticipated. But whatever he 

 said, whether gravely or in jest, was always worth wait- 

 ingfor; and the intelligence and benevolence with which 

 his features were lighted up in conversation, did away 

 every unpleasant sensation which might have been ex- 

 cited by any apparent deformity. His great benevo- 

 lence of disposition was peculiarly conspicuous in his 

 care of brute animals, and in the prevention of the ex- 

 ercise of cruelty towards them, and even to insects. 

 His general manners were gentle, his temper cheerful, 

 though sometimes hasty. He expressed his anger with 

 vehemence, especially at any example of inhumanity 

 or injustice. He became, in early life, sore upon oppo- 

 sition, whether in conduct or argument, and always re- 

 venged it by sarcasm of very keen edge. Nor was he 

 less impatient of the sallies of egotism and vanity, and 

 he seldom failed to present their caricature in jocose 

 but wounding irony. No man exacted a less tribute of 

 applause in conversation, though he was perhaps on 

 some occasions too little accommodating to characters 

 and circumstances. He possessed an ardent mind, was 

 fond of admiration, and open to flattery. He was a 

 warm friend to many. Modest merit found in him a 

 -fostering protection • truth and liberty, a strenuous and 

 able advocate. Vice, and war, and oppression, a steady 

 and indignant opposer. 



The doctor carried his scepticism of human truth so 

 far, that he often disregarded the accounts his patients 

 gave of themselves, and rather chose to collect his in- 

 formation by indirect inquiry, and by cross examining 

 them, than from their voluntary testimony. He avow- 

 ed a conviction of the pernicious effects of all vinous 

 fluids on the human system, and totally abstained from 

 malt liquor, wine, and spirits of all sorts ; and by his 

 precepts upon this subject, and his correspondent ex- 

 ample, he so diminished their use, that intemperance 

 was scarcely known in the circle in which he moved 

 during his life, nor since his death has it again pre- 

 vailed. Acid fruits with sugar, all sorts of creams, 

 with butter, were his luxuries, of which he partook in 

 great quantities, and always ate plentifully of animal 

 food. He was not attached to any peculiar profession 

 of faith, or to the dogmas of any particular church. 

 But however sceptical he might be in his religious be- 

 lief, he was a warm friend to liberty of conscience, an 

 indignant enemy to religious persecution, and perhaps 

 on this account be called a deist or an atheist ; but there 

 are many passages in his works, where very fine religi- 

 ous sentiments are expressed. He, however, exhibited 

 in his conduct, what is more beneficial to the world at 

 large, than the tenacious adherence to any speculative 

 opinions, — firm integrity, and a benevolent heart. Pro- 

 fessional generosity distinguished his medical practice. 

 .Diligently did he attend to the health of the poor at 

 Lichfield and Derby, supplied their necessities by food, 

 and every kind of charitable assistance. In each of 

 these towns, Ms was the cheerful board of almost open- 

 h<»use hospitality, without extravagance or parade, ever 

 deeming the first unjust, and the latter unmanly. Ge- 

 nerosity, wit, and science, were his household gods. 



To the many rich endowments which nature bestow- 

 ed upon Dr Darwin, may be added strong passions, and 



DARWIN. 



a lively and highly poetic imagination. He did not 

 come forward very early as an acknowledged poet. The 

 effusions of his early muse, were occasionally sent to 

 one or another of the monthly publications, but with- 

 out his name, conceiving, from the examples of Aken- 

 side and Armstrong, that the reputation he might ac- 

 quire by his poetry, would operate as a bar to his ad- 

 vancement in the practice of medicine. His Botanic 

 Garde??, the first of his poems to which he put his name, 

 was not published until the year 1791, when his medi- 

 cal fame .was so well established, as to make it safe for 

 him to indulge his taste in any way he should chuse. 

 This poem consists of two parts. The first contains the 

 economy of vegetation ; the second the loves of the 

 plants. Each is enriched by a number of philosophi- 

 cal notes, stating a great variety of theories and experi- 

 ments in botany, chemistry, electricity, mechanics, and 

 in the various species of air. They also contain expla- 

 nations of every personified plant, its generic history, 

 its local situation, and the nature of the soil and climate 

 in which it is indigenous, its botanic and its common 

 name. The general strain of this work is flowing and 

 majestic. By an inversion of all custom, Dr Darwin 

 published the second volume of this poem first, giving 

 as a reason in an advertisement, that the appearance of 

 the first part had been deferred till another year, for the 

 purpose of repeating some experiments in vegetation. 

 But the real cause was the consciousness he entertain- 

 ed, that the second part of his work would be more on 

 a level than the first to the comprehension, more con- 

 genial to the taste of the superficial reader, from its be- 

 ing much less abstract and metaphysical, while it posses- 

 sed more than sufficient poetic matter to entertain and 

 charm the enlightened and judicious few. The novel- 

 ty of the design, and the brilliancy of the diction, full 

 of figurative expressions, in which every thing was per- 

 sonified, rendered the poem for some years extremely 

 popular. But the fame which it acquired has in a great 

 degree subsided. Some able critics are unwilling to 

 concede to Dr Darwin the merit of originality in the 

 manner and style of his versification, and maintain, that 

 he closely imitated productions that appeared many 

 years before the Botanic Garde??. The sources from 

 which he is accused of having drawn copiously, are 

 Unive? sal Beauty, a philosophic poem by Henry Brooke, 

 1 735, in 24 vols, folio, and a Latin poem by De la Croix, 

 entitled, Connubia Flo? um. The plan of the Botanic 

 Garden is certainly like that of the latter, and there are 

 many passages in it very similar in their cast and ex- 

 pression to the former. It is possible that Dr Darwin 

 might have seen these works, and that his plan might 

 have been formed in part from them ; but this does not 

 derogate from his merit in producing a poem, in which 

 no writer has so successfully attempted the combination 

 of philosophy with poetry. 



Our author's next work was his Zoonomia, or the 

 Laws of Organic Life, 4to. The first volume was pub- 

 lished in 1794j and the second in 1796. The purpose 

 of this work, the gathered wisdom of three- and-twenty 

 years, was to reform, or entirely new model, the whole 

 system of medicine ; professing no less than to account 

 for the manner in which man, animals, and vegetables 

 are formed. It was his opinion that they all t-ook their 

 origin from living filaments, susceptible of irritation, 

 which is the agent that sets them in motion. Not- 

 withstanding its numerous defects, the Zoonomia is a 

 great w r ork, and the production of a surprising genius. 

 The vast variety of curious experiments which it con- 

 tains, and the uncommon powers of ingenious combira- 



Barwiu. 



