CHAPTER XI. 



LETTERS, 1 843-1 856. 



[The history cf my father's life is told more completely 

 in his correspondence with Sir J. D. Hooker than in any other 

 series of letters ; and this is especially true of the history of 

 the growth of the ' Origin of Species.' This, therefore, seems 

 an appropriate place for the following notes, which Sir Joseph 

 Hooker has kindly given me. They give, moreover, an in- 

 teresting picture of his early friendship with my father : — 



"My first meeting with Mr. Darwin was in 1839, in Tra- 

 falgar Square. I was walking with an officer who had been 

 his shipmate for a short time in the Beagle seven years be- 

 fore, but who had not, I believe, since met him. I was intro- 

 duced ; the interview was of course brief, and the memory of 

 him that I carried away and still retain was that of a rather 

 tall and rather broad-shouldered man, with a slight stoop, 

 an agreeable and animated expression when talking, beetle 

 brows, and a hollow but mellow voice ; and that his greeting 

 of his old acquaintance was sailor-like — that is, delightfully 

 frank and cordial. I observed him well, for I was already 

 aware of his attainments and labours, derived from having 

 read various proof-sheets of his then unpublished ' Journal.' 

 These had been submitted to Mr. (afterwards Sir Charles) 

 Lyell by Mr. Darwin, and by him sent to his father, Ch. Lyell, 

 Esq., of Kinnordy, who (being a very old friend of my father, 

 and taking a kind interest in my projected career as a natu- 



