From Victor Marshall [after 4 November 1879]1
9— Petersham Terrace | S.W.
Dear Mr Darwin
I never wrote to say that the oak had arrived safely, which was very ungrateful. I planted it in a place where it will be conspicuous & ornamental when it grows up we shall always value it very much & are very much obliged to you for letting us have it2
Yours very truly | Victor Marshall
I send the following ribald verses because the author has made free with your name.
The Rank Imposter
Sir I am an artful designer,
And this my design, to succeed.
I survey from Peru to far China,
And fashion mankind to my need.
My dad was a sugar refiner,
He left me no cash which was hard,
Therefore I’m a penny a liner,
Art critic, philosopher, bard.
I condemn the sonata C. minor,
Approve the Caprice in F. sharp,
I declare the trombone is diviner
Than the banjo, the bones, & the harp.
I maintain that peagreen is intenser
Than azure so modest & chaste,
I deplore that our good Herbert Spenser3
Has written so sadly to waste.
Other critics of intellect denser
Opprobrium attach to my name,
I care not, for I’m the dispenser
Judicious of praises & blame
I believe that Burne Jones is supremer
Than Leighton, than Watts, than Millais,
That Swinbourne’s a heavenly dreamer,
Old Tennyson in a bad way
That Ruskin’s a safe man to trust in
Regarding the plant and the bird,
While Darwin is simply disgusting,
And what is more highly absurd.4
Enough! to recount my sucesses
Would take the best part of a week.
I’ve got into some shocking messes
And out of them too—by my cheek
Alas! though my cheek be unbounded,
Ah me! though my brow be of brass,
I may be shown up & confounded
Some day—and exposed as an ass
The bolts of ill-fortune may hurtle
Around me— The low magazines
Refuse me— For me no more turtle
No venison, but bacon & greens.
Then shall I the memory foster
Of this present season too blest,
When I range a successful imposter
Lie softly, & drink of the best.
Footnotes
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to Victor Marshall, 4 November [1879].
Marshall wanted to plant a tree as a memorial of CD’s visit to Coniston (see letter from Victor Marshall, 7 September 1879, and letter to Victor Marshall, 4 November [1879]). CD has asked Joseph Dalton Hooker to send Marshall a young oak tree (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 4 November [1879] and n. 2).
Summary
Sends some doggerel verse about a literary dandy who is critical of Darwin and Spencer and approves of Ruskin.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-12390
- From
- Victor Alexander Ernest Garth (Victor) Marshall
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, Petersham Terrace, 9
- Source of text
- DAR 171: 44
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12390,” accessed on
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 27
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