is paper on Darwin,
which had the merit of convincing on one point the philosopher himself,
had indeed been written before this, in London lodgings; but his pen was
not idle at Claygate; and it was here he wrote (among other things) that
review of "Fecundity, Fertility, Sterility, and Allied Topics," which
Dr. Matthews Duncan prefixed by way of introduction to the second
edition of the work. The mere act of writing seems to cheer the vanity
of the most incompetent; but a correction accepted by Darwin, and a
whole review borrowed and reprinted by Matthews Duncan, are compliments
of a rare strain, and to a man still unsuccessful must have been
precious indeed. There was yet a third of the same kind in store for
him; and when Munro himself owned that he had found instruction in the
paper on Lucretius, we may say that Fleeming had been crowned in the
Capitol of reviewing.

Croquet, charades, Christmas magic lanterns for the village children, an
amateur concert or a review article in the evening; plenty of hard work
by day; regular visits to meetings of the British Association, from one
of which I find him characteristically writing: "I cannot say that I
have had any amusement yet, but I am enjoying the dulness and dry bustle
of the whole thing"; occasional visits abroad on business, when he would
find the time to glean (as I have said) gardening hints for himself, and
old folk-songs or new fashions of dress for his wife; and the continual
study and care of his children: these were the chief elements of his
life. Nor were friends wanting. Captain and Mrs. Jenkin, Mr. and Mrs.
Austin, Clerk Maxwell, Miss Bell of Manchester, and others, came to them
on visits. Mr. Hertslet of the Foreign Office, his wife and his
daughter, were neighbours, and proved kind friends; in 1867 the Howitts
came to Claygate and sought the society of "the two bright, clever young
people";[25] and in a house close by Mr. Frederick Ricketts came to live
with his family. Mr. Ricketts was a valued friend during his short life;
and when he was lost, with every circumstance of heroism, in the _La
Plata_, Fleeming mourned him sincerely.

I think I shall give the best idea of Fleeming in this time of his early
married life, by a few sustained extracts from his letters to his wife,
while she was absent on a visit in 1864.

"_Nov. 11._--Sunday was too wet to walk to Isleworth, for which I was
sorry, so I stayed and went to church and thought of you at Ardw