Erasmus Alvey Darwin: Encyclopedia II - Erasmus Alvey Darwin - Miss Martineau

Erasmus Alvey Darwin - Miss Martineau

In May 1834 Charles got a letter from his sisters recommending Poor Laws and Paupers Illustrated in pamphlet sized parts by the fiercely independent literary Whig Miss Harriet Martineau, and telling him that "Erasmus knows her & is a very great admirer & every body reads her little books & if you have a dull hour you can, and then throw them overboard, that they may not take up your precious room."

In October 1836 after Charles returned from the voyage he stayed with his brother in a bustling London, where Erasmus enjoyed a life of literary leisure, his week revolving around intellectual dinner parties, spending his days "driving out Miss Martineau". Their father was concerned that her radicalism made her unsuitable as a daughter-in-law, and possibly a bad influence on his boys. Charles wrote that "Our only protection from so admirable a sister-in-law is in her working [Eras] too hard. He is beginning to perceive.. he shall be not much better than her 'nigger'. – imagine poor Eras a nigger to so philosophical & energetic a lady... She already takes him to task about his idleness." Charles called on Miss Martineau and remarked that "She was very agreeable, and managed to talk on a most wonderful number of subjects, considering the limited time... I was astonished to find how ugly she is... she is overwhelmed with her own projects, he own thoughts and abilities", though "Erasmus palliated all this, by maintaining one ought not to look at her as a woman."

Eras had a cosmopolitan circle of friends including his relative Hensleigh Wedgwood as well as Miss Martineau, and arranged intimate dinner parties with guests such as Charles Lyell, Charles Babbage and Thomas Carlyle. Radical and dissenting "heterodoxy was the norm". In the Spring of 1837 Charles moved to nearby lodgings where he could readily visit and attend Eras's dinner parties. In April 1838 Charles sent his parents the gossip that Miss Martineau had been "as frisky lately as the Rhinoceros. – Erasmus has been with her noon, morning & night: – if her character is not as secure, as a mountain in the polar regions she would certainly lose it".

Before marrying at the start of 1839 Charles moved to Gower Street, London, astounding Erasmus with the amount of his luggage. In the summer of that year Miss Martineau's health broke down during a visit to the Continent and, fearing a tumour she retired to solitary lodgings in Tynemouth near her brother. She and Erasmus remained on good terms, writing to each other. Erasmus's social circle drifted apart, while "[Eras] sticks to his opium with many groans." (opium was a common medicine at this time).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Miss Martineau", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki