Charles Darwin

Abstract

TO write a biography is a task which is almost a proverb for difficulty. It is no easier for a relative than for a stranger, because, if a more intimate knowledge of the details lightens the labour, affection is apt to warp the judgment, and checks perfect freedom of expression. I n the biography, however, of Charles Darwin, there was no temptation to reticence, no need for firmness. His was a life, simple, noble, blameless. Still, this very simplicity and unostentatious rectitude presented their own difficul ties. After the long and interesting voyage in early man hood, it was a life singularly uneventful, a life of patient labour, one long struggle against sickness. Thus its record when written might readily have been unexceptionable, but dull.

The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, including an Autobiographical Chapter.

Edited by his Son, Francis Darwin. In Three Volumes. (London: John Murray, 1887.)