Canterbury Pieces

Transcribed from the 1914 A. C. Fifield edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
By Samuel Butler Author of “Erewhon,” “The Way of All Flesh,” etc.
Edited by R. A. Streatfeild
London : A. C. Fifield 1914
As the following dialogue embodies the earliest fruits of Butler’s study of the works of Charles Darwin , with whose name his own was destined in later years to be so closely connected , and thus possesses an interest apart from its intrinsic merit , a few words as to the circumstances in which it was published will not be out of place .
Butler arrived in New Zealand in October , 1859, and about the same time Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species was published . Shortly afterwards the book came into Butler’s hands . He seems to have read it carefully , and meditated upon it . The result of his meditations took the shape of the following dialogue , which was published on 20 December , 1862, in the Press which had been started in the town of Christ Church in May , 1861. The dialogue did not by any means pass unnoticed . On the 17 th of January , 1863, a leading article ( of course unsigned ) appeared in the Press, under the title “ Barrel-Organs ,” discussing Darwin’s theories , and incidentally referring to Butler’s dialogue . A reply to this article , signed A.M. , appeared on the 21 st of February , and the correspondence was continued until the 22 nd of June , 1863. The dialogue itself , which was unearthed from the early files of the Press, mainly owing to the exertions of Mr. Henry Festing Jones , was reprinted , together with the correspondence that followed its publication , in the Press of June 8 and 15, 1912. Soon after the original appearance of Butler’s dialogue a copy of it fell into the hands of Charles Darwin , possibly sent to him by a friend in New Zealand . Darwin was sufficiently struck by it to forward it to the editor of some magazine , which has not been identified , with the following letter :—
The autograph of this letter was purchased from Mr. Tregaskis by Mr. Festing Jones , and subsequently presented by him to the Museum at Christ Church . The letter cannot be dated with certainty , but since Butler’s dialogue was published in December , 1862, and it is at least probable that the copy of the Press which contained it was sent to Darwin shortly after it appeared , we may conclude with tolerable certainty that the letter was written in March , 1863. Further light is thrown on the controversy by a correspondence which took place between Butler and Darwin in 1865, shortly after Butler’s return to England . During that year Butler had published a pamphlet entitled The Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as given by the Four Evangelists critically examined, of which he afterwards incorporated the substance into The Fair Haven. Butler sent a copy of this pamphlet to Darwin , and in due course received the following reply :—