Zomer 2009 no. 67
NATURAL SELECTION
(een negentiende eeuws commentaar)
ALL THE YEAR ROUND.
The Dutch Dickensian Volume XXIX 52
In i860 verscheen er in All The Year Round
een artikel over de evolutieleer van Charles
Darwin. Dickens leidde dit blad en besliste
als zodanig wat de inhoud was. We mogen
dus aannemen dat het betreffende artikel
door hem gelezen is en dat hij de inhoud
goed genoeg vond om in zijn blad te pub
liceren. Of hij zich helemaal met de inhoud
kon verenigen is natuurlijk een ander ver
haal. Wat opvalt is de "beschaafde toon" van
het verhaal en dat we te maken hebben met
een schrijver die zowaar zijn mening onder
steunt argumenten. Dat horen we sinds het
bestaan van radio-programma's als
Standpunt.nl niet vaak meer.
Soms, heel soms zou ik daarom willen dat ik
in de negentiende eeuw leefde!
Guus de Landtsheer
~l
'Mis Story of ow X&vst from Yoar to Y<s«r.>,—-8uxns&-ziivs.
St «Mxrfcïji ^journal.
crouwcm» ïty
CHARLES DICKENS.
WITH WB2ÖH IS. I2iTGQBïi0Itó3CEI>:HOUSHHOIJ) WORDS.
VOLUME ni.
Feoït A?2Xü 14 oco OC2XXK6R <3> 1S60.
.ïneludbicf ifc>. 51 io JTo. 76,
LONDON:
N°- 26, WELLINGTON STEEET.
I860.
Then, young Mr. Wansborough is a lawyer
01' course lie is, sirA lawyer in High-
strect, Knowlesburythe old offices that his
father had before him. The number of times
I've swept those offices out, and seen the old
gentleman come trotting in on his white pony,
looking right- and left all down the street, and
nodding to everybody Bless you, he was a po
pular character he'd have done in London
How far is it to Knowlesbury from here
A long stretch, sir," said the clerk, with
that exaggerated idea of distances and that,
vivid perception of difficulties in getting from
place to place, peculiar to country people. Nigh
on five mile, I can tell you 1"
It was still early in the forenoon. There was
plenty of time for a walk to Knowlesbury and
backagain to Welminghamand there was no
person probably in the town who was fitter to
assist my inquiries about the character and po
sition of Sir Pcrcival's mother, before her mar
riage, than the local solicitor. I resolved to go
at once to Knowlesbury on foot.
Tlvank you kindly, sir," said the clerk, as I
slipped my little present into his hand. "Are
you really going to walk all the way to Knowles-
Wy and back Wellyou're strong 011 your
legs, tooand what a blessing that is, isn't it P
There's the road; you can't miss it. 1 wish I
was going your wayit's pleasant to meet with
NATURAL SELECTION.
It is well for Mr. Charles Darwin, and a com
fort to his friends, that he is living now, instead
of having lived in the sixteenth centuryit is
even well that he is a British subject, and not a
native of Austria, Naples, or Rome. Men have
been kept for long years in durance, and even
put to the rack and the stake, for the commis
sion of offences minor to the publication of ideas
less in opposition to the notions held by the
powers that be.
But we have come upon more tolerant times.
If a man can calmly support his heresy by rea-
sons, the -heresy will he listened toand, in the
end, will be either received or refuted, or simply
neglected and forgotten. Mr. Darwin also en.
joys the benefit of the bygone heresies of pre-
vious heretics; one heresy prepares the way for,
and weakens the shock occasioned by, another.
Astronomical and geological innovations render
possible the acceptance of doctrines that would
have made people's hair stand 011 end three cen
turies ago. This is an enormous progress for
what are three or four centuries in the history
of the human race What, in the history of the
world P Truth is a bugbear which is fast losing
its terrorswe are getting more and more ac
customed to it, and are less and less afraid to
