aracteristic was his hearty sympathy with the work of other scientific
men... His delight in science was ardent, and he felt the
keenest interest in the future progress of mankind. He was very
kind-hearted... His candour was highly remarkable. He exhibited this by
becoming a convert to the Descent theory, though he had gained much fame
by opposing Lamarck's views, and this after he had grown old."

"THE SCIENCE OF GEOLOGY IS ENORMOUSLY INDEBTED TO LYELL--MORE SO, AS I
BELIEVE, THAN TO ANY OTHER MAN WHO EVER LIVED." ("L.L." I. pages 71-2
(the italics are mine.))

Those who knew Lyell intimately will recognise the truth of the portrait
drawn by his dearest friend, and I believe that posterity will endorse
Darwin's deliberate verdict concerning the value of his labours.

It was my own good fortune, to be brought into close contact with these
two great men during the later years of their life, and I may perhaps be
permitted to put on record the impressions made upon me during friendly
intercourse with both.

In some respects, there was an extraordinary resemblance in their modes
and habits of thought, between Lyell and Darwin; and this likeness was
also seen in their modesty, their deference to the opinion of younger
men, their enthusiasm for science, their freedom from petty jealousies
and their righteous indignation for what was mean and unworthy in
others. But yet there was a difference. Both Lyell and Darwin were
cautious, but perhaps Lyell carried his caution to the verge of
timidity. I think Darwin possessed, and Lyell lacked, what I can only
describe by the theological term, "faith--the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen." Both had been constrained to feel
that the immutability of species could not be maintained. Both,
too, recognised the fact that it would be useless to proclaim this
conviction, unless prepared with a satisfactory alternative to what
Huxley called "the Miltonic hypothesis." But Darwin's conviction was so
far vital and operative that it sustained him while working unceasingly
for twenty-two years in collecting evidence bearing on the question,
till at last he was in the position of being able to justify that
conviction to others.

And yet Lyell's attitude--and that of Hooker, which was very
similar--proved of inestimable service to science, as Darwin often
acknowledged. One of the greatest merits of the "Origin of Species" is
that so many difficulties and objections a