464 LETTERS TO DARWIN AND OTHERS. [1861, 



What you say of " Essays and Reviews " seems to 

 me most sensible and well considered ; the best thing 

 I have read about the book, viz., that, " with many 

 good and true things in it, it is a reckless book," and 

 that some of the writers had not taken the trouble to 

 clear up their own thoughts and to form orderly and 

 consistent notions before publishing upon such deli- 

 cate topics. 



I have not yet read the book ; have only looked 

 it over, and read some of the criticisms. When I 

 have a few days' leisure in the country, in July, I 

 mean to read it carefully. After the flurry is over, 

 I hope the book will receive the proper kind of han- 

 dling in England, by the proper men. I wish you 

 would think it in your way to write an essay upon 

 some of the points at issue, upon which inconsiderate 

 views are likely to be taken upon either side. 



I confess to a strong dislike of Baden Powell's 

 writings. He seems to have had a coarse, material- 

 istic, non-religious mind ; at least, he is not the sort 

 of man I should select to illustrate the delicate rela- 

 tions between religion and science. 



I am gratified, also, by your apprehending the spirit 

 and object of my essay ^ on Darwin so much better 

 than many who write to me about it. All it pretends 

 to is to warn the reckless and inconsiderate to state 

 the case as it is ; to protest against the folly of those 

 who would, it would seem, go on to fire away the very 

 ramparts of the citadel, in the defense of needless 

 outposts ; and, as you justly remark, to clear the way 

 for a fair discussion of the new theory on its merits 

 and evidence. We must use the theory a while in 

 botany and in zoology, and see how it will work ; in 



1 Reviews of Darwin's Origin of Species — Darwiniana. 



