PART VII
Characteristics
"There is a point of view so lofty or so peculiar that from it we are able to discern in men and women something more than and apart from creed and profession and formulated principle; which indeed directs and colours this creed and principle as decisively as it is in its turn acted on by them, and this is their character or humanity."—LORD MORLEY.
"As sets the sun in fine autumnal calm
So dost thou leave us. Thou not least but last
Link with that rare and gallant little band
Of seekers after truth, whose days, though past,
Shed lustre on the hist'ry of their land.
And thine, O Wallace, thine the added charm
Of modesty, thy mem'ry to embalm."—Anonymous.
(Received with a bunch of lilies-of-the-valley, a few days after Dr. Wallace's death.)
Addison somewhere says that modesty sets off every talent which a man can be possessed of. This was manifestly true of Alfred Russel Wallace. When, for instance, honours were bestowed upon him, he accepted or rejected them with the same good-humour and unspoilable modesty. To Prof. E.B. Poulton, whose invitation for the forthcoming Encæmia had been conveyed in Prof. Bartholomew Price's letter, he wrote:
Godalming. May 28, 1889.
My dear Mr. Poulton,—I have just received from Prof. B. Price the totally unexpected offer of the honorary degree of D.C.L. at the coming Commemoration, and you will probably be surprised and disgusted to hear that I have declined it. I have to thank you for your kind offer of hospitality during the ceremony, but the fact is, I have at all times a profound distaste of all public ceremonials, [pg 218] and at this particular time that distaste is stronger than ever. I have never recovered from the severe illness I had a year and a half ago, and it is in hopes of restoring my health that I have let my cottage here and have taken another at Parkstone, Dorset, into which I have arranged to move on Midsummer Day. To add to my difficulties, I have work at examination papers for the next two or three weeks, and also a meeting (annual) of our Land Nationalisation Society, so that the work of packing my books and other things and looking after the plants which I have to move from my garden will have to be done in a very short time. Under these circumstances it would be almost impossible for me to rush away to Oxford except under absolute compulsion, and to do so would be to render a ceremony which at any time would be a trial, a positive punishment.