Robin McKie reviewed the book for The Observer and stated that the book contained a mixture of touching essays and "the good, old knockabout stuff at which Dawkins excels".4
This was written in 1856 as Darwin worked towards the publication of his theory, and has been related to his memories of his time at university when an "Infidel home missionary tour" by the Reverend Robert Taylor warned Darwin of the dangers of dissent from church doctrine. While Taylor was subsequently nicknamed "the devil's chaplain," the term goes back further, and Geoffrey Chaucer has his Parson say "Flatereres been the develes chapelleyns, that syngen evere placebo" in a reference to Placebo (at funeral)." /wiki/Publication_of_Darwin%27s_theory#Struggle_for_existence ↩
Darwin, Charles (13 July 1856). "Letter to J D Hooker". Darwin Project, University of Cambridge. Retrieved 8 January 2021. https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/DCP-LETT-1924.xml ↩
"Darwin's child", profile by Simon Hattenstone, The Guardian, 10 February 2003. http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/scienceandnature/story/0,6000,892495,00.html ↩
McKie, Robin (9 March 2003). "Dawkins versus the priests and New Age shamans? No contest". The Observer. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/mar/09/scienceandnature.highereducation ↩