Personality of Darwin.--The personality of Darwin is extremely interesting. Of his numerous portraits, the one shown in Fig. 119 is less commonly known than those showing him with a beard and a much furrowed forehead. This portrait represents him in middle life, about the time of the publication of his _Origin of Species_. It shows a rather typical British face, of marked individuality. Steadiness, sincerity, and urbanity are all depicted here. His bluish-gray eyes were overshadowed by a projecting ridge and very prominent, bushy eyebrows that make his portrait, once seen, easily recognized thereafter. In the full-length portraits representing him seated, every line in his body shows the quiet, philosophical temper for which he was notable. An intimate account of his life is contained in the _Life and Letters of Charles Darwin_ (1887) and in _More Letters of Darwin_ (1903), both of which are illustrated by portraits and other pictures. The books about Darwin and his work are numerous, but the reader is referred in particular to the two mentioned as giving the best conception of the great naturalist and of his personal characteristics. [Illustration: Fig. 119.--Charles Darwin, 1809-1882.] He is described as being about six feet high, but with a stoop of the shoulders which diminished his apparent height; "of active habits, but with no natural grace or neatness of movement." "In manner he was bright, animated, and cheerful; a delightfully considerate host, a man of never-failing courtesy, leading him to reply at length to letters from anybody, and sometimes of a most foolish kind." His Home Life.--"Darwin was a man greatly loved and respected by all who knew him. There was a peculiar charm about his manner, a constant deference to others, and a faculty for seeing the best side of everything and everybody." He was most affectionate and considerate at home. The picture of Darwin's life with his children gives a glimpse of the tenderness and deep affection of his nature, and the reverent regard with which he was held in the family circle is very touching. One of his daughters writes: "My first remembrances of my father are of the delights of his playing with us. He was passionately attached to his own children, although he was not an indiscriminate child-lover. To all of us he was the most delightful playfellow, and the most perfect sympathizer. Indeed, it is impossible adequately to describe how delightful a relation his was to his family, whether as children or in their later life. "It is a proof of the terms on which we were, and also of how much he was valued as a playfellow, that one of his sons, when about four years old, tried to bribe him with a sixpence to come and play in working hours. We all knew the sacredness of working time, but that any one should resist sixpence seemed an impossibility."