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Darwin Correspondence Project

From J. D. Hooker   [24 February 1875]1

Kew

Wednesday

Dear old Darwin

I feel Lyell’s loss most keenly, he was father & brother to me; & except yourself, no one took that lively generous hearty deep & warm interest in my welfare that he did.—2 I cannot tell you how lonely I begin to feel, how desolate, & how heavily the days, & worse still, the nights, hang on my mind & body.— Well! it is all for the best, i.e. the best that man is born to, poor lot as that may be it is one that no one really wishes to exchange for an unknown one: & we are hence logically driven to the conclusion that the sum of life is more happiness than the reverse. Assuredly the sum of happiness derived from having known & loved Lyell is greatly in excess of the pain felt at his loss: the gap he filled has to be compared with the chink his mere absence for the rest of lives opens.

I have arranged for his burial at Westminster Abbey. On Monday I got up a petition signed by some 50 Fellows of the Royal, Geological, & Linnean & at Stanley’s suggestion & promise that it should be attended to, (communicated to Spottiswode), I sent it in yesterday.3 It was by mere accident I went to town on the Monday to vote at the Athenæum, heard of Lyell’s death & was enabled to secure so many voters to sign the petition). which had to be sent to the Dean last night!4

Yesterday I saw the family, who were pleased with the prospect. Lyell had left no instructions as to his burial; & Lady Lyell5 had hinted hopes that her husband might be thought deserving of the Abbey. The expence will be about £300: the funeral will in so far be private, that there will be no public procession from the House. I have suggested that the invited persons all meet at the Jerusalem Chamber not in Harley Street.—6

As to any other testimonial, I think that this is so incomparably beyond any other that none need be thought of— any other would in my eyes dim the lustre of his memory— his Principles must live for ever—7 they will no more be forgotten than Plato’s, or Faradays8 works; they will always be classical: The idea of a testimonial being in any way required seems to me rather an underrating of the durability his works.

Then too there is immense force in what you say of such testimonials only succeeding in cases of strong personal attachment, which Lyell did not succeed in obtaining. Even in Falconers case it took a huge pull to get the money, & his brother’s share was not the least!9 Lyell leaves no family connection to pull at people’s purse-strings.

I do not yet know when the funeral is to be, but hope to hear today— if before I close this I will let you know

I have arranged I hope to send Harriet to Algiers straight I hope early next month to stay with Mrs Playfair till I come, which will be about middle of April, after the R. S. Selection of Candidates— I must be back on 26 May for “Reception”— at B. House.10 Harriet is far from well & I am ordered to send her abroad. I shall be glad to get away too. for I have a frequent load on the chest just underneath the sternum— I suppose dyspepsia. it comes on when I get anxious I find, & then remains. I am of course worried—& am now again complaining of “my Lord”— he has received a petition to open the Garden in the forenoon, from this neighbourhood & appointed tomorrow to receive a deputation on the subject, & never told me of one or the other!11 I do not suppose he will sanction it; if he does I must resign— As it is I am sending him a vigorous remonstrance & shall Report his conduct privately to the Treasury.12 I have stood 5 years of this worry & am sick of it.—

Mitford & I pull together—. My Lord has cut him, does all business (as he calls it) through the 2d. Secy, & commands the latter never to mention Mitford by name in his presence! Ayrton is at the bottom of it all, & chuckling over it.13 Galton of course supports my Lord, I am told by the 2d Secretary, who is a staunch friend to me that Galton has pooh-poohed the idea of a Secretary for me;14 but as nothing is too bad to be attributed to Galton, I will not quite believe so bad of him on an Enemys Evidence—

The Royal Socy is my “great consolation” everything there is smooth & pleasant so far.15

Ever yr affec | J D Hooker.

Footnotes

The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to J. D. Hooker, 23 February 1875. In 1875, the Wednesday following 23 February was 24 February.
Hooker refers to the Royal Society of London, the Geological Society of London, and the Linnean Society of London. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley was the dean of Westminster Abbey; William Spottiswoode was treasurer of the Royal Society (ODNB).
The Athenaeum Club, a social club for leading literary, scientific, and artistic men, voted periodically to elect new members from a waiting-list of applicants. CD, Hooker, Stanley, and Spottiswoode were all members (Waugh [1888]).
The Jerusalem Chamber is a room in Westminster Abbey where bodies were sometimes laid before burial (www.westminster-abbey.org, accessed 22 August 2013). Lyell’s residence was at 73 Harley Street, London (Post Office London directory).
Lyell’s major work Principles of geology (C. Lyell 1830–3) had gone through several editions; the twelfth edition was published after Lyell’s death at the end of 1875 (C. Lyell 1875; Publishers’ circular, 18 January 1876, p. 13).
For more on the testimonial for Hugh Falconer, see the letter to J. D. Hooker, 23 February 1875 and n. 2. Falconer’s brother was Charles Falconer.
Hooker had already mentioned his plan to send his daughter Harriet Anne Hooker to Algeria, where she would stay with Agnes Playfair. Hooker himself had to be present at the Royal Society annual soirée in April (see letter from J. D. Hooker, [7 February 1875] and nn. 10 and 11). Burlington House in London was the headquarters of the Royal Society at this time.
Henry Gordon-Lennox, first commissioner of works, had jurisdiction over the running of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
The Office of Works was part of the Treasury department. Hooker had already spoken to the financial secretary of the Treasury, William Henry Smith, and received support from Stafford Northcote, the chancellor of the Exchequer (see letter from J. D. Hooker, 14 January 1875).
The first secretary at the Office of Works was Algernon Bertram Mitford and the assistant secretary was Robert John Callandar. Hooker’s disputes with the Office of Works began with Gordon-Lennox’s predecessor, Acton Smee Ayrton, in 1871 (see Correspondence vols. 19–21).
Douglas Strutt Galton was director of public works and buildings in the Office of Works; he retired in August 1875 (DNB).
Hooker had become president of the Royal Society in 1873 (Record of the Royal Society of London).

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

DNB: Dictionary of national biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. 63 vols. and 2 supplements (6 vols.). London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1912. Dictionary of national biography 1912–90. Edited by H. W. C. Davis et al. 9 vols. London: Oxford University Press. 1927–96.

Lyell, Charles. 1830–3. Principles of geology, being an attempt to explain the former changes of the earth’s surface, by reference to causes now in operation. 3 vols. London: John Murray.

Lyell, Charles. 1875. Principles of geology: or, the modern changes of the earth and its inhabitants considered as illustrative of geology. 12th edition. 2 vols. London: John Murray.

ODNB: Oxford dictionary of national biography: from the earliest times to the year 2000. (Revised edition.) Edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. and index. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004.

Post Office London directory: Post-Office annual directory. … A list of the principal merchants, traders of eminence, &c. in the cities of London and Westminster, the borough of Southwark, and parts adjacent … general and special information relating to the Post Office. Post Office London directory. London: His Majesty’s Postmaster-General [and others]. 1802–1967.

Record of the Royal Society of London: The record of the Royal Society of London for the promotion of natural knowledge. 4th edition. London: Royal Society. 1940.

Waugh, Francis Gledstanes. [1888.] Members of the Athenæum Club, 1824 to 1887. N.p.: privately printed.

Summary

On Lyell’s death; JDH has arranged for burial in Westminster Abbey. His thoughts on a testimonial.

More trouble with Lord Henry Lennox.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-9869
From
Joseph Dalton Hooker
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Kew
Source of text
DAR 104: 16–19
Physical description
ALS 8pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9869,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9869.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 23

letter