s long canals, and parts the velvet meads;
Winding in lucid lines, the watery mass
Mines the firm rock, or loads the deep morass;'[152]
&c. &c. &c.

. . . . . .

"The mechanism of the pump is next described with curious ingenuity.
Common as is the machine, it is not unworthy a place in this splendid
composition, as being, after the sinking of wells, the earliest of those
inventions, which in situations of exterior aridness gave ready
accession to water. This familiar object is illustrated by a picture of
Maternal Beauty administering sustenance to her infant."[153]

Here we will leave the poetical part of the 'Botanic Garden.' The notes,
however, to which are "still," as Dr. Dowson says, "instructive and
amusing," and contain matter which, at the time they were written, was
for the most part new.

Of the 'Zoonomia' there is no occasion to speak here, as a sufficient
number of extracts from those parts that concern us as bearing upon
evolution will be given presently.

On the 18th of April, 1802, Dr. Darwin had written "one page of a very
sprightly letter to Mr. Edgeworth, describing the Priory and his
purposed alterations there, when the fatal signal was given. He rang the
bell and ordered the servant to send Mrs. Darwin to him. She came
immediately, with his daughter, Miss Emma Darwin. They saw him shivering
and pale. He desired them to send to Derby for his surgeon, Mr. Hadley.
They did so, but all was over before he could arrive.

"It was reported at Lichfield that, perceiving himself growing rapidly
worse, he said to Mrs. Darwin, 'My dear, you must bleed me instantly.'
'Alas! I dare not, lest--' 'Emma, will you? There is no time to be
lost.' 'Yes, my dear father, if you will direct me.' At that moment he
sank into his chair and expired."[154]

Dr. Dowson gives the letter to Mr. Edgeworth, which is as follows:--

"Dear Edgeworth,

"I am glad to find that you still amuse yourself with mechanism, in
spite of the troubles of Ireland.

"The _use_ of turning aside or downwards the claw of a table, I
don't see; as it must then be reared against a wall, for it will
not stand alone. If the use be for carriage, the feet may shut up,
like the usual brass feet of a reflecting telescope.

"We have all been now removed from Derby about a fortnight, to the
Priory, and all of us like our change of situation. We have a
pleasant house, a good garden, p