2 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



correspondence has been published in the " Life and Letters " 

 (1887), and especially in "More Letters" (1903); while 

 several of the more interesting of these were contained in the 

 one-volume life, entitled " Charles Darwin," which appeared in 

 1892. As many of my readers, however, may not have these 

 works to refer to, I will here give a few of his letters to 

 myself which have not yet been published, together with 

 some of my own, and also occasional extracts from some of 

 Darwin's that have already appeared, in order to make clear 

 the nature of our discussions, and also, perhaps, to throw a 

 little light upon our respective characters. 



In a letter entirely without date, but which was evidently 

 written in 1863, he gives me some information for which I 

 had asked about reviews of the " Origin of Species." 



"Down, Bromley, Kent (1863). 



"My dear Mr. Wallace, 



" I write one line to thank you for your note, and 

 to say that the B. of Oxford wrote the Quarterly R. (paid 

 £6o)y aided by Owen. In the Edinburgh^ Owen no doubt 

 praised himself. Mr. Maw's review in Zoologist is one of the 

 best, and staggered me in parts, for I did not see the sophistry 

 of (those) parts. I could lend you any which you might wish 

 to see, but you would soon be tired. Hopkins in Fraser and 

 Pictet are two of the best. 



" I am glad you like the little orchid book ; but it has not 

 been worth the ten months it has cost me : it was a hobby- 

 horse, and so beguiled me. 



" How puzzled you must be to know what to begin at ! 

 You will do grand work, I do not doubt. My health is, and 

 always will be, very poor: I am that miserable animal, a 

 regular valetudinarian. 



" Yours very sincerely, 



" C. Darwin." 



In March, 1 864, he wrote me from Malvern Wells that he 

 had been very ill at home, having fits of vomiting every day 

 for two months, and been able to do nothing. These attacks 



