We were to test that promise, and
Darwin's "Beagle," having brought him home from a voyage, was to bear us
on another.'
Sir George already knew Darwin enough to be a frequent caller on him in
London. They discussed evolution, and a host of subjects in which Darwin
manifested an interest. Sir George's vignette of him was that he was one
of the most amiable men it were possible to conceive. He was closely
occupied with his own work, but that did not prevent him from being an
informed observer of other things.
'Of the advantages of association with master intellects,' Sir George
would say, 'I sought to make the best use. The three men who exercised
most influence on me were Archbishop Whately, Sir James Stephen, and
Thomas Carlyle, names which I revere. They denote characters who adorned
the nation, and as for Carlyle, I can only describe him as a profoundly
great figure. When I think of him, I immediately fly to Babbage, the
inventor of the famous calculating machine. And I'm afraid I smile.'
The link lay in certain experiences which befell Carlyle and Babbage in
the streets of London. The coincidence was notable, and, farther, Sir
George thought it strange that each great man should have made him
confidant. But he had delighted in receiving the confidences, proofs of
their friendship, and with a mixture of gravity and amusement he had
consoled the martyrs.
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