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Hereditary Genius
209
political intrigue. After D'Alembert had attained fame, it is stated that she for
the first time introduced herself to him as his mother; to whom he replied,
“You are only my step-mother; the glazier's wife is my mother.” The maternal
relatives of D'Alembert formed a curious group. They were—
[u.] Madame Feriol, mother of Font de Veyle and of D'Argental; and
[u.] Countess of Grolee; and the following brothers—
u. Cardinal de Tencin, minister of state and nearly premier.
uS. Pont de Veyle, song-writer and dramatist; full of spirit, but a selfish man. He
was brought up by a pedant, who roused in him a hatred of study.
uS. Argental, Charles Aug. Feriol, Comte de; the confidant and great admirer of
Voltaire, who made him the depositary of his writings. He was a polished
literary critic. Darwin, Dr. Erasmus, physician, physiologist, and poet. His
“Botanic Garden” had an immense reputation at the time it was written; for,
besides its intrinsic merits, it chimed in with the sentiments and mode of
expression of his day. The ingenuity of Dr. Darwin's numerous writings and
theories are truly remarkable. He was a man of great vigour, humour, and
geniality.
[F.] It is said that Dr. Darwin “sprang from a lettered and intellectual race, as his
father was one amongst the earliest members of the Spalding Club.”
S. Charles, student in medicine, died young and full of promise, from the effect of a
wound when dissecting. He obtained the gold medal of Edinburgh University
for a medical essay.
S. Dr. Robert Darwin, of Shrewsbury, was a physician of very large practice, and
of great consideration in other respects.
P. Charles Darwin, the illustrious modern naturalist; author of the “Theory of
Natural Selection.”
[2PS.] One of the sons of the above was second wrangler at Cambridge, 1868, and
another was second in the Woolwich examination of the same year.
The number of individuals in the Darwin family who have followed some branch of
natural history, is very remark
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