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Darwin Correspondence Project

From Victor Marshall   [after 4 November 1879]1

9— Petersham Terrace | S.W.

Dear Mr Darwin

I never wrote to say that the oak had arrived safely, which was very ungrateful. I planted it in a place where it will be conspicuous & ornamental   when it grows up we shall always value it very much & are very much obliged to you for letting us have it2

Yours very truly | Victor Marshall

I send the following ribald verses because the author has made free with your name.

The Rank Imposter

Sir I am an artful designer,

And this my design, to succeed.

I survey from Peru to far China,

And fashion mankind to my need.

My dad was a sugar refiner,

He left me no cash which was hard,

Therefore I’m a penny a liner,

Art critic, philosopher, bard.

I condemn the sonata C. minor,

Approve the Caprice in F. sharp,

I declare the trombone is diviner

Than the banjo, the bones, & the harp.

I maintain that peagreen is intenser

Than azure so modest & chaste,

I deplore that our good Herbert Spenser3

Has written so sadly to waste.

Other critics of intellect denser

Opprobrium attach to my name,

I care not, for I’m the dispenser

Judicious of praises & blame

I believe that Burne Jones is supremer

Than Leighton, than Watts, than Millais,

That Swinbourne’s a heavenly dreamer,

Old Tennyson in a bad way

That Ruskin’s a safe man to trust in

Regarding the plant and the bird,

While Darwin is simply disgusting,

And what is more highly absurd.4

Enough! to recount my sucesses

Would take the best part of a week.

I’ve got into some shocking messes

And out of them too—by my cheek

Alas! though my cheek be unbounded,

Ah me! though my brow be of brass,

I may be shown up & confounded

Some day—and exposed as an ass

The bolts of ill-fortune may hurtle

Around me— The low magazines

Refuse me— For me no more turtle

No venison, but bacon & greens.

Then shall I the memory foster

Of this present season too blest,

When I range a successful imposter

Lie softly, & drink of the best.

Footnotes

The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to Victor Marshall, 4 November [1879].
Marshall wanted to plant a tree as a memorial of CD’s visit to Coniston (see letter from Victor Marshall, 7 September 1879, and letter to Victor Marshall, 4 November [1879]). CD has asked Joseph Dalton Hooker to send Marshall a young oak tree (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 4 November [1879] and n. 2).

Summary

Sends some doggerel verse about a literary dandy who is critical of Darwin and Spencer and approves of Ruskin.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-12390
From
Victor Alexander Ernest Garth (Victor) Marshall
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
London, Petersham Terrace, 9
Source of text
DAR 171: 44
Physical description
ALS 4pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12390,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12390.xml

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