196 
LIFE OF DEAN BUCK LAND. 
[CH. VIII. 
like his predecessor in the Quarterly , praises Dr. Buckland’s 
“ lofty and impressive eloquence,” and adds : “ We have 
ourselves never perused a work more truly fascinating, or 
more deeply calculated to leave abiding impressions on the 
heart.” 
Other criticisms were not so favourable. In one of the 
few letters which have been preserved of Mrs. Buckland’s, 
she alludes to the attacks that were made upon her husband 
in the press. 
“ A note from Dr. Shuttleworth thanks you for your 
present (of the Bridgewater Treatise), which he considers 
{ to be a valuable addition to the philosophical literature 
of our country, or rather of our planet , as we nowadays 
express ourselves.’ I could not resist opening this as 
well as Drs. FYowd’s and Simmonds’ notes, and I hope 
you will keep your letters of thanks for my perusal. 
Keep the St. James s Chronicles, every one of which has a 
rap at you ; but I beseech you not to lower your dignity 
by noticing newspaper statements. I have not seen the 
Standard nor John Bull ; but I hear they are in the same 
strain.” 
The novelty of many of the conclusions at which Buck- 
land arrived easily accounts for divergencies of opinion as 
to the work. But no one who reads the Treatise can fail 
to be struck with the lucidity of the style. Not even Paley 
in his “Natural Theology” is clearer than Dr. Buckland, 
and the second volume, which consists of plates, makes 
the whole subject intelligible to persons who have never 
had a scientific education. In the chapter on the Fossil 
Vertebrated Animals occurs a passage upon Cuvier, which 
may be quoted as a noble tribute from a distinguished 
man of science to the genius of the great Frenchman. 
