RECORD: Darwin, C. R. 1875. Mr. Thomas Carlyle. The Standard, (6 December): 5.

REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua. RN1

NOTE: See record in the Freeman Bibliographical Database, enter its Identifier here. This co-signed letter by Darwin was widely reproduced in British newspapers of the time as was normal practice for a prominent figure like the Scottish author Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881).


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On Saturday, Mr. Carlyle's eightieth birth-day, the following address was forwarded to him:-

"TO THOMAS CARLYLE.

                   "December 4, 1875.

"Sir, We beg leave, on this interesting and memorable anniversary, to tender you the expression of our respectful good wishes.

"Not a few of the voices which it would have been dearest to you to hear to-day are silent in death. There may perhaps, be some compensation in the assurance of the reverent sympathy and affectionate gratitude of many thousands of living men and women, throughout the British islands and elsewhere, who have derived delight and inspiration from the noble series of your writings, and who have noted also how powerfully the world has been influenced by your great personal example. A whole generation has elapsed since you described for us the hero as a man of Letters. We congratulate you and ourselves on the spacious fulness of years which has enabled you to sustain this rare dignity among mankind in all its possible splendour and completeness. It is a matter for general rejoicing that a teacher whose genius and achievements have lent radiance to his time still dwells amidst us, and our hope is that you may yet long continue in fair health, to feel how much you are loved and honoured, and to rest in the retrospect of a brave and illustrious life.

"We request you to do us the honour to accept the accompanying copy of a medal, designed by Mr. J. E. Boehm, which has been struck in commemoration of the day.

"We remain, Sir, yours with deep respect -

"Thomas Aird, William Allingham, Alex Bain, Thos. S. Baynes, John S. Blackie, J. E. Boehm, W. Boxall, William Brodie, R.S.A., John Brown, M.D., Robert Browning, John Caird, Edward Caird, H. Calderwood, Lewis Campbell, Robert Carruthers, Edwin Chadwick, Fred. Chapman, Henry Cole, Thomas Constable, Archibald Constable Henry Cowper, George Lillie Craik, D.M. Craik, Francis Cunningham, Charles Darwin, Erasmus Darwin, J. Llewelyn, Davies, James Donaldson, David Douglas, Edward Dowden, George Eliot, Edward Fitzgerald, Percy Fitzgerald, Robert Flint, John Forster, W. E. Forster, Robert Were Fox, A. C. Fraser, Richard Garnett, Ad. Gifford, John Gordon, A. Grant, John Richard Green, Alex B. Grosart, George Grove, William Hanna, R. Palmer Harding, T. Duffus Hardy, Frederic Harrison, Robert Herdman, R.S.A., W.B. Hodgson, Jos D. Hooker, Robert Horn, Thomas Hughes, Thos. H. Huxley, Alexander Ireland, William Jack, R. C. Jebb, David Laing, Samuel Lawrence, Arthur Lawrenson, W. E. H. Lecky, G. H. Lewes, J. Norman Lockyer, John Lubbock, E. L. Lushington, Godfrey Lushington, Vernon Lushington, Lyttelton, E. J. J. Mackay, Alexander Macmillan, Henry S. Maine, Theodore Martin, Helena Faucit Martin, Harriet Martineau, David mason, William Stirling Maxwell, Henry Morley, John Morley, Chas. Edward Mudie, F Max Müller, Charles Neaves, M.O. W. Oliphant, Eliza Andrews Orme, Richard Owen, Noel Paton, W. F. Pollock, Richard Quain, M.D., Henry Reeve, Mary Rich, Alex. Russel, J. R. Seeley, W. Y. Sellar, Henry Sidgwick, Samuel Spalding, James Spedding, W. Spottiswoode, Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, J. F. Stephen, Leslie Stephen, J. Hutchison Stirling, Susan Stirling, Patrick D. Swan, Tom Taylor, W. Cowper Temple, A. Tennyson, Anne Isabella Thackeray, W. H. Thompson, George Otto Trevelyan, Anthony Trollope, John Tulloch, John Tyndall, J. Veitch, G. S. Venables, A. W. Ward, Hensleigh Wedgwood, F. E. Hensleigh Wedgwood, W. Aldis Wright.

 

The medal mentioned in the address has been engraved by Mr. George Morgan, and bears on one of its faces a medallion of Mr. Carlyle, by Mr. Boehm, and on the obverse the words

 

"In commemoration; December 4, 1875."

Silver and bronze copies are struck for the use of the subscribers, with a view for presentation to public institutions. The copy Mr. Carlyle was requested to accept is in gold.

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Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)

File last updated 29 October, 2023