wrinkled, but in other respects his face was not lined or marked, and his expression gave little evidence of his habitual discomfort. The transparent goodness and simplicity of his nature gave to his manner a vivid personal charm, which has impressed so many of those who came in contact with him. In society he was bright and animated, and had a quiet ease and naturalness arising from a complete absence of pose or pretension. His natural tendency was to express his feelings warmly and frankly ; and on any subject that roused his indignation — such as cruelty — his anger easily broke forth. Conversation was a keen enjoyment to him, and he had in a striking degree the pleasant quality of being a good listener. In the matter of humour he was sympathetic rather than critical, and in his own talk there was commonly a touch of simple humour or of a sunny geniality. He was not quick in verbal argument, and had a curious tendency to entangle himself in parentheses. His manner towards strangers was marked by something of a formal politeness, a habit neightened perhaps by his retired life at Down. Towards those below him in social station he was particularly courteous and considerate. It would be easy to enumerate the striking qualities of Darwin's character, but the true tone or flavour of his nature is peculiarly difficult to seize and set down in words. Yet it was at once recognised and deeply felt by those who came in contact with him. Even the readers of his books and the many strangers who received his letters, seemed to caUm a true image of his personality.
His manner of life was simple and of extreme regularity. His day was parcelled out into a number of short periods of work, interspersed with regular intervals for rest. Thus, in the morning, after some two hours in his study he would appear in the drawing-room, look at his letters, and rest on the sofa while listening to a novel read aloud. Then after another short spell of work he would take his regular midday walk, and in the afternoon would follow a similar alternation of rest and woric His love of novels was not critical, for he has said, 'I like all if moderately good, and if they do not end unhappily.' They were, to quote his words again, 'a wonderful relief and pleasure' to him, so that he would often 'bless all novelists.' His literary taste suffered a decay as he grew older — in his youth he found great delight in the poetry of Milton, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, &c., but in later life all such pleasure was dead, and the same may be said of his early love of engravings and pictures. His lore of music (in spite of an almost total want of ear) was strong, and did not fade in the same way. But his appreciation of scenery was perhaps the only aesthetic taste which remamed quite undimmed.
He attached ^preat value to economy in time, and worked during his short speUs with a kind of restrained eagerness, as if longing to make the utmost of them. He had certain fixed plans of reading and of abstracting what he read, and he was especially careful in classifying his notes and abstracts, which he divided among a large number of portfolios. Thus it was that he had so ready a control over his stores of information, and could at once get together any required set of facts from among the accumulation of a lifetime. His memory, which he has described as 'extensive, yet hazy,' was of a kind most valuable in his work, since it constantly warned him if he had read or observed anything opposed to the conclusion he was inclined to draw. One of the most remarkable qualities of his mind was the power of arresting exceptions, that is, of not allowing them to pass unnoticed. Most people are inclined to pass over a point, apparently slight and unconnected with their present work, with some half-considered explanation which, in fact, is not an explanation at all. It was just these things that he seized on to make a start from. It was as though he was so highly charged with theorising power that any fact, however small, released a stream of thought. Thus it happened that many untenable nypotheses occurred to him only to be condemned, but not condemned unheard, for the most improbable were tested. He has himself allowed that he was perhaps 'superior to the common run of men in noticing things which easily escape attention, and in observing them carefully.' He attempted to analyse impartially the qualities which led to his success, summing them up in these words : 'Therefore my success as a man of science, whatever this may have amounted to, has been determined, as far as I can judge, by complex and diversified mental qualities and conditions. Of these the most important have been the love of science, unbounded patience in long reflecting over any subject, industry in observing and collecting facts, and a fair share of invention as well as of common sense.'
He died at Down on 19 April 1882. He had for some time suffered at intervals from a feeling of pain and uneasiness in the region of the heart, and it was during an attack of this kind that his death occurred. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Darwin's surviving children are : William Erasmus ; Henrietta Emma, married R. B. Litchfield; George Howard, F.R.S., Plumian
