l8o EVOLUTION, OLD AND NEW. 



youthfiil hand," but the description of Mr. Day's por- 

 trait cannot be omitted. 



"In the course of the year 1770, Mr. Day stood 

 for a full-length picture to Mr. Wright, of Derby. 

 A strong likeness and a dignified portrait were the 

 result. Drawn in the open air, the surrounding sky is 

 tempestuous, lurid, dark. He stands leaning his left 

 arm against a column inscribed to Hambden (sia). Mr. 

 Day looks upwards, as enthusiastically meditating on 

 the contents of a book held in his dropped right hand. 

 The open leaf is the oration of that virtuous patriot 

 ;in the senate, against the grant of ship money, de- 

 manded by King Charles I. A flash of lightning plays 

 in Mr. Day's hair, and illuminates the contents of the 

 volume. The poetic fancy and what were th&n the 

 politics of the original, appear in the choice of subject 

 and attitude. Dr. Darwin sat to Mr. Wright about the 

 same period. That was a simply contemplative portrait, 

 of the most perfect resemblance." * 



" In the year 1768, Dr. Darwin met with an accident 

 of irretrievable injury to the human frame. His pro- 

 pensity to mechanics had unfortunately led him to con- 

 struct a very singular carriage. It was a platform with 

 a seat fixed upon a very high pair of wheels, and sup- 

 ported in the front upon the back of the horse, by 

 means of a kind of proboscis which, forming an arch, 

 reached over the hind-quarters of the horse, and passed 

 through a ring, placed on an upright piece of iron, 

 which worked in a socket fixed in the saddle. The 



• ' MemoiiB,' &o., p. 21. 



