Ɛpsilon

From E. F. Lubbock   [after 24 February 1871]1

Now that his new book has come out,

I find that dreadful man

Is trying to heap on us

Every insult that he can.

He said we rose from monkeys,

That wasn’t what he meant:

Because he called it “Origin”, And now he says “Descent”.

I do hope the whole Human Race

Will prosecute him for libel.

And as he won’t believe the Duke,2

How can he believe the Bible?

1
The date is established by the reference to Descent, which was published on 24 February 1871 (Freeman 1977).
2
For CD’s views on George Douglas Campbell, the duke of Argyll, see, for example, Correspondence vol. 15, letter to J. D. Hooker, 8 February [1867], and letter to Charles Kingsley, 10 June [1867].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7419,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7419