CHAPTER 1.IV.
CAMBRIDGE LIFE.
[My father's Cambridge life comprises the time between the Lent Term, 1828,
when he came up as a Freshman, and the end of the May Term, 1831, when he
took his degree and left the University.
It appears from the College books, that my father "admissus est
pensionarius minor sub Magistro Shaw" on October 15, 1827. He did not come
into residence till the Lent Term, 1828, so that, although he passed his
examination in due season, he was unable to take his degree at the usual
time,--the beginning of the Lent Term, 1831. In such a case a man usually
took his degree before Ash-Wednesday, when he was called "Baccalaureus ad
Diem Cinerum," and ranked with the B.A.'s of the year. My father's name,
however, occurs in the list of Bachelors "ad Baptistam," or those admitted
between Ash-Wednesday and St. John Baptist's Day (June 24th); ("On Tuesday
last Charles Darwin, of Christ's College, was admitted B.A."--"Cambridge
Chronicle", Friday, April 29, 1831.) he therefore took rank among the
Bachelors of 1832.
He "kept" for a term or two in lodgings, over Bacon the tobacconist's; not,
however, over the shop in the Market Place, now so well known to Cambridge
men, but in Sidney Street. For the rest of his time he had pleasant rooms
on the south side of the first court of Christ's. (The rooms are on the
first floor, on the west side of the middle staircase. A medallion (given
by my brother) has recently been let into the wall of the sitting-room.)
What determined the choice of this college for his brother Erasmus and
himself I have no means of knowing. Erasmus the elder, their grandfather,
had been at St. John's, and this college might have been reasonably
selected for them, being connected with Shrewsbury School. But the life of
an under-graduate at St. John's seems, in those days, to have been a
troubled one, if I may judge from the fact that a relative of mine migrated
thence to Christ's to escape the harassing discipline of the place. A
story told by Mr. Herbert illustrates the same state of things:--
"In the beginning of the October Term of 1830, an incident occurred which
was attended with somewhat disagreeable, though ludicrous consequences to
myself. Darwin asked me to take a long walk with him in the Fens, to
search for some natural objects he was desirous of having. After a very
long, fatiguing day's work, we dined together, late in the evening, at his
rooms in Christ's College; and as soon as our dinner was over we threw
ourselves into easy chairs and fell sound asleep. I was first to awake,
about three in the morning, when, having looked at my watch, and knowing
the strict rule of St. John's, which required men in statu pupillari to
come into college before midnight, I rushed homeward at the utmost speed,
in fear of the consequences, but hoping that the Dean would accept the
excuse as sufficient when I told him the real facts. He, however, was
inexorable, and refused to receive my explanations, or any evidence I could
bring; and although during my undergraduateship I had never been reported
for coming late into College, now, when I was a hard-working B.A., and had
five or six pupils, he sentenced me to confinement to the College walls for
the rest of the term. Darwin's indignation knew no bounds, and the stupid
injustice and tyranny of the Dean raised not only a perfect ferment among
my friends, but was the subject of expostulation from some of the leading
members of the University."
My father seems to have found no difficulty in living at peace with all men
in and out of office at Lady Margaret's other foundation. The impression
of a contemporary of my father's is that Christ's in their day was a
pleasant, fairly quiet college, with some tendency towards "horsiness";
many of the men made a custom of going to Newmarket during the races,
though betting was not a regular practice. In this they were by no means
discouraged by the Senior Tutor, Mr. Shaw, who was himself generally to be
seen on the Heath on these occasions. There was a somewhat high proportion
of Fellow-Commoners,--eight or nine, to sixty or seventy Pensioners, and
this would indicate that it was not an unpleasant college for men with
money to spend and with no great love of strict discipline.
The way in which the service was conducted in chapel shows that the Dean,
at least, was not over zealous. I have heard my father tell how at evening
chapel the Dean used to read alternate verses of the Psalms, without making
even a pretence of waiting for the congregation to take their share. And
when the Lesson was a lengthy one, he would rise and go on with the
Canticles after the scholar had read fifteen or twenty verses.
It is curious that my father often spoke of his Cambridge life as if it had
been so much time wasted, forgetting that, although the set studies of the
place were barren enough for him, he yet gained in the highest degree the
best advantages of a University life--the contact with men and an
opportunity for his mind to grow vigorously. It is true that he valued at
its highest the advantages which he gained from associating with Professor
Henslow and some others, but he seemed to consider this as a chance outcome
of his life at Cambridge, not an advantage for which Alma Mater could claim
any credit. One of my father's Cambridge friends was the late Mr. J.M.
Herbert, County Court Judge for South Wales, from whom I was fortunate
enough to obtain some notes which help us to gain an idea of how my father
impressed his contemporaries. Mr. Herbert writes: "I think it was in the
spring of 1828 that I first met Darwin, either at my cousin Whitley's rooms
in St. John's, or at the rooms of some other of his old Shrewsbury
schoolfellows, with many of whom I was on terms of great intimacy. But it
certainly was in the summer of that year that our acquaintance ripened into
intimacy, when we happened to be together at Barmouth, for the Long
Vacation, reading with private tutors,--he with Batterton of St. John's,
his Classical and Mathematical Tutor, and I with Yate of St. John's."
The intercourse between them practically ceased in 1831, when my father
said goodbye to Herbert at Cambridge, on starting on his "Beagle" voyage.
I once met Mr. Herbert, then almost an old man, and I was much struck by
the evident warmth and freshness of the affection with which he remembered
my father. The notes from which I quote end with this warm-hearted
eulogium: "It would be idle for me to speak of his vast intellectual
powers...but I cannot end this cursory and rambling sketch without
testifying, and I doubt not all his surviving college friends would concur
with me, that he was the most genial, warm-hearted, generous, and
affectionate of friends; that his sympathies were with all that was good
and true; and that he had a cordial hatred for everything false, or vile,
or cruel, or mean, or dishonourable. He was not only great, but pre-
eminently good, and just, and loveable."
Two anecdotes told by Mr. Herbert show that my father's feeling for
suffering, whether of man or beast, was as strong in him as a young man as
it was in later years: "Before he left Cambridge he told me that he had
made up his mind not to shoot any more; that he had had two days' shooting
at his friend's, Mr. Owen of Woodhouse; and that on the second day, when
going over some of the ground they had beaten on the day before, he picked
up a bird not quite dead, but lingering from a shot it had received on the
previous day; and that it had made and left such a painful impression on
his mind, that he could not reconcile it to his conscience to continue to
derive pleasure from a sport which inflicted such cruel suffering."
To realise the strength of the feeling that led to this resolve, we must
remember how passionate was his love of sport. We must recall the boy
shooting his first snipe ('Recollections.'), and trembling with excitement
so that he could hardly reload his gun. Or think of such a sentence as,
"Upon my soul, it is only about a fortnight to the 'First,' then if there
is a bliss on earth that is it." (Letter from C. Darwin to W.D. Fox.)
Another anecdote told by Mr. Herbert illustrates again his tenderness of
heart:--
"When at Barmouth he and I went to an exhibition of 'learned dogs.' In the
middle of the entertainment one of the dogs failed in performing the trick
his master told him to do. On the man reproving him, the dog put on a most
piteous expression, as if in fear of the whip. Darwin seeing it, asked me
to leave with him, saying, 'Come along, I can't stand this any longer; how
those poor dogs must have been licked.'"
It is curious that the same feeling recurred to my father more than fifty
years afterwards, on seeing some performing dogs at the Westminster
Aquarium; on this occasion he was reassured by the manager telling him that
the dogs were taught more by reward than by punishment. Mr. Herbert goes
on:--"It stirred one's inmost depth of feeling to hear him descant upon,
and groan over, the horrors of the slave-trade, or the cruelties to which
the suffering Poles were subjected at Warsaw...These, and other like proofs
have left on my mind the conviction that a more humane or tender-hearted
man never lived."
His old college friends agree in speaking with affectionate warmth of his
pleasant, genial temper as a young man. From what they have been able to
tell me, I gain the impression of a young man overflowing with animal
spirits--leading a varied healthy life--not over-industrious in the set of
studies of the place, but full of other pursuits, which were followed with
a rejoicing enthusiasm. Entomology, riding, shooting in the fens, suppers
and card-playing, music at King's Chapel, engravings at the Fitzwilliam
Museum, walks with Professor Henslow--all combined to fill up a happy life.
He seems to have infected others with his enthusiasm. Mr. Herbert relates
how, during the same Barmouth summer, he was pressed into the service of
"the science"--as my father called collecting beetles. They took their
daily walks together among the hills behind Barmouth, or boated in the
Mawddach estuary, or sailed to Sarn Badrig to land there at low water, or
went fly-fishing in the Cors-y-gedol lakes. "On these occasions Darwin
entomologized most industriously, picking up creatures as he walked along,
and bagging everything which seemed worthy of being pursued, or of further
examination. And very soon he armed me with a bottle of alcohol, in which
I had to drop any beetle which struck me as not of a common kind. I
performed this duty with some diligence in my constitutional walks; but
alas! my powers of discrimination seldom enabled me to secure a prize--the
usual result, on his examining the contents of my bottle, being an
exclamation, 'Well, old Cherbury' (No doubt in allusion to the title of
Lord Herbert of Cherbury.) (the nickname he gave me, and by which he
usually addressed me), 'none of these will do.'" Again, the Rev. T.
Butler, who was one of the Barmouth reading-party in 1828, says: "He
inoculated me with a taste for Botany which has stuck by me all my life."
Archdeacon Watkins, another old college friend of my father's, remembers
him unearthing beetles in the willows between Cambridge and Grantchester,
and speaks of a certain beetle the remembrance of whose name is "Crux
major." (Panagaeus crux-major.) How enthusiastically must my father have
exulted over this beetle to have impressed its name on a companion so that
he remembers it after half a century! Archdeacon Watkins goes on: "I do
not forget the long and very interesting conversations that we had about
Brazilian scenery and tropical vegetation of all sorts. Nor do I forget
the way and the vehemence with which he rubbed his chin when he got excited
on such subjects, and discoursed eloquently of lianas, orchids, etc."
He became intimate with Henslow, the Professor of Botany, and through him
with some other older members of the University. "But," Mr. Herbert
writes, "he always kept up the closest connection with the friends of his
own standing; and at our frequent social gatherings--at breakfast, wine or
supper parties--he was ever one of the most cheerful, the most popular, and
the most welcome."
My father formed one of a club for dining once a week, called the Gourmet
(Mr. Herbert mentions the name as 'The Glutton Club.') Club, the members,
besides himself and Mr. Herbert (from whom I quote), being Whitley of St.
John's, now Honorary Canon of Durham (Formerly Reader in Natural Philosophy
at Durham University.); Heaviside of Sidney, now Canon of Norwich; Lovett
Cameron of Trinity, now vicar of Shoreham; Blane of Trinity, who held a
high post during the Crimean war; H. Lowe (Brother of Lord Sherbrooke.)
(Now Sherbrooke) of Trinity Hall; and Watkins of Emmanuel, now Archdeacon
of York. The origin of the club's name seems already to have become
involved in obscurity. Mr. Herbert says that it was chosen in derision of
another "set of men who called themselves by a long Greek name signifying
'fond of dainties,' but who falsified their claim to such a designation by
their weekly practice of dining at some roadside inn, six miles from
Cambridge, on mutton chops or beans and bacon." Another old member of the
club tells me that the name arose because the members were given to making
experiments on "birds and beasts which were before unknown to human
palate." He says that hawk and bittern were tried, and that their zeal
broke down over an old brown owl, "which was indescribable." At any rate,
the meetings seemed to have been successful, and to have ended with "a game
of mild vingt-et-un."
Mr. Herbert gives an amusing account of the musical examinations described
by my father in his 'Recollections." Mr. Herbert speaks strongly of his
love of music, and adds, "What gave him the greatest delight was some grand
symphony or overture of Mozart's or Beethoven's, with their full
harmonies.' On one occasion Herbert remembers "accompanying him to the
afternoon service at King's, when we heard a very beautiful anthem. At the
end of one of the parts, which was exceedingly impressive, he turned round
to me and said, with a deep sigh, 'How's your backbone?'" He often spoke
of a feeling of coldness or shivering in his back on hearing beautiful
music.
Besides a love of music, he had certainly at this time a love of fine
literature; and Mr. Cameron tells me that he used to read Shakespeare to my
father in his rooms at Christ's, who took much pleasure in it. He also
speaks of his "great liking for first-class line engravings, especially
those of Raphael Morghen and Muller; and he spent hours in the Fitzwilliam
Museum in looking over the prints in that collection."
My father's letters to Fox show how sorely oppressed he felt by the reading
of an examination: "I am reading very hard, and have spirits for nothing.
I actually have not stuck a beetle this term." His despair over
mathematics must have been profound, when he expressed a hope that Fox's
silence is due to "your being ten fathoms deep in the Mathematics; and if
you are, God help you, for so am I, only with this difference, I stick fast
in the mud at the bottom, and there I shall remain." Mr. Herbert says:
"He had, I imagine, no natural turn for mathematics, and he gave up his
mathematical reading before he had mastered the first part of Algebra,
having had a special quarrel with Surds and the Binomial Theorem."
We get some evidence from his letters to Fox of my father's intention of
going into the Church. "I am glad," he writes (March 18, 1829.), "to hear
that you are reading divinity. I should like to know what books you are
reading, and your opinions about them; you need not be afraid of preaching
to me prematurely." Mr. Herbert's sketch shows how doubts arose in my
father's mind as to the possibility of his taking Orders. He writes, "We
had an earnest conversation about going into Holy Orders; and I remember
his asking me, with reference to the question put by the Bishop in the
ordination service, 'Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy
Spirit, etc.,' whether I could answer in the affirmative, and on my saying
I could not, he said, 'Neither can I, and therefore I cannot take orders.'"
This conversation appears to have taken place in 1829, and if so, the
doubts here expressed must have been quieted, for in May 1830, he speaks of
having some thoughts of reading divinity with Henslow.
The greater number of the following letters are addressed by my father to
his cousin, William Darwin Fox. Mr. Fox's relationship to my father is
shown in the pedigree given in Chapter I. The degree of kinship appears to
have remained a problem to my father, as he signs himself in one letter
"cousin/n to the power 2." Their friendship was, in fact, due to their
being undergraduates together. My father's letters show clearly enough how
genuine the friendship was. In after years, distance, large families, and
ill-health on both sides, checked the intercourse; but a warm feeling of
friendship remained. The correspondence was never quite dropped and
continued till Mr. Fox's death in 1880. Mr. Fox took orders, and worked as
a country clergyman until forced by ill-health to leave his living in
Delamare Forest. His love of natural history remained strong, and he
became a skilled fancier of many kinds of birds, etc. The index to
'Animals and Plants,' and my father's later correspondence, show how much
help he received from his old College friend.]
CHARLES DARWIN TO J.M. HERBERT.
Saturday Evening
[September 14, 1828]. (The postmark being Derby seems to show that the
letter was written from his cousin, W.D. Fox's house, Osmaston, near
Derby.)
My dear old Cherbury,
I am about to fulfil my promise of writing to you, but I am sorry to add
there is a very selfish motive at the bottom. I am going to ask you a
great favour, and you cannot imagine how much you will oblige me by
procuring some more specimens of some insects which I dare say I can
describe. In the first place, I must inform you that I have taken some of
the rarest of the British Insects, and their being found near Barmouth, is
quite unknown to the Entomological world: I think I shall write and inform
some of the crack entomologists.
But now for business. SEVERAL more specimens, if you can procure them
without much trouble, of the following insects:--The violet-black coloured
beetle, found on Craig Storm (The top of the hill immediately behind
Barmouth was called Craig-Storm, a hybrid Cambro-English word.), under
stones, also a large smooth black one very like it; a bluish metallic-
coloured dung-beetle, which is VERY common on the hill-sides; also, if you
WOULD be so very kind as to cross the ferry, and you will find a great
number under the stones on the waste land of a long, smooth, jet-black
beetle (a great many of these); also, in the same situation, a very small
pinkish insect, with black spots, with a curved thorax projecting beyond
the head; also, upon the marshy land over the ferry, near the sea, under
old sea-weed, stones, etc., you will find a small yellowish transparent
beetle, with two or four blackish marks on the back. Under these stones
there are two sorts, one much darker than the other; the lighter-coloured
is that which I want. These last two insects are EXCESSIVELY RARE, and you
will really EXTREMELY oblige me by taking all this trouble pretty soon.
remember me most kindly to Butler, tell him of my success, and I dare say
both of you will easily recognise these insects. I hope his caterpillars
go on well. I think many of the Chrysalises are well worth keeping. I
really am quite ashamed [of] so long a letter all about my own concerns;
but do return good for evil, and send me a long account of all your
proceedings.
In the first week I killed seventy-five head of game--a very contemptible
number--but there are very few birds. I killed, however, a brace of black
game. Since then I have been staying at the Fox's, near Derby; it is a
very pleasant house, and the music meeting went off very well. I want to
hear how Yates likes his gun, and what use he has made of it.
If the bottle is not large you can buy another for me, and when you pass
through Shrewsbury you can leave these treasures, and I hope, if you
possibly can, you will stay a day or two with me, as I hope I need not say
how glad I shall be to see you again. Fox remarked what deuced good-
natured fellows your friends at Barmouth must be; and if I did not know how
you and Butler were so, I would not think of giving you so much trouble.
Believe me, my dear Herbert,
Yours, most sincerely,
CHARLES DARWIN.
Remember me to all friends.
[In the following January we find him looking forward with pleasure to the
beginning of another year of his Cambridge life: he writes to Fox--
"I waited till to-day for the chance of a letter, but I will wait no
longer. I must most sincerely and cordially congratulate you on having
finished all your labours. I think your place a VERY GOOD one considering
by how much you have beaten many men who had the start of you in reading.
I do so wish I were now in Cambridge (a very selfish wish, however, as I
was not with you in all your troubles and misery), to join in all the glory
and happiness, which dangers gone by can give. How we would talk, walk,
and entomologise! Sappho should be the best of bitches, and Dash, of dogs:
then should be 'peace on earth, good will to men,'--which, by the way, I
always think the most perfect description of happiness that words can
give."]
CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX.
Cambridge, Thursday [February 26, 1829].
My dear Fox,
When I arrived here on Tuesday I found to my great grief and surprise, a
letter on my table which I had written to you about a fortnight ago, the
stupid porter never took the trouble of getting the letter forwarded. I
suppose you have been abusing me for a most ungrateful wretch; but I am
sure you will pity me now, as nothing is so vexatious as having written a
letter in vain.
Last Thursday I left Shrewsbury for London, and stayed there till Tuesday,
on which I came down here by the 'Times.' The first two days I spent
entirely with Mr. Hope (Founder of the Chair of Zoology at Oxford.), and
did little else but talk about and look at insects; his collection is most
magnificent, and he himself is the most generous of entomologists; he has
given me about 160 new species, and actually often wanted to give me the
rarest insects of which he had only two specimens. He made many civil
speeches, and hoped you will call on him some time with me, whenever we
should happen to be in London. He greatly compliments our exertions in
Entomology, and says we have taken a wonderfully great number of good
insects. On Sunday I spent the day with Holland, who lent me a horse to
ride in the Park with.
On Monday evening I drank tea with Stephens (J.F. Stephens, author of 'A
Manual of British Coleoptera,' 1839, and other works.); his cabinet is more
magnificent than the most zealous entomologist could dream of; he appears
to be a very good-humoured pleasant little man. Whilst in town I went to
the Royal Institution, Linnean Society, and Zoological Gardens, and many
other places where naturalists are gregarious. If you had been with me, I
think London would be a very delightful place; as things were, it was much
pleasanter than I could have supposed such a dreary wilderness of houses to
be.
I shot whilst in Shrewsbury a Dundiver (female Goosander, as I suppose you
know). Shaw has stuffed it, and when I have an opportunity I will send it
to Osmaston. There have been shot also five Waxen Chatterers, three of
which Shaw has for sale; would you like to purchase a specimen? I have not
yet thanked you for your last very long and agreeable letter. It would
have been still more agreeable had it contained the joyful intelligence
that you were coming up here; my two solitary breakfasts have already made
me aware how very very much I shall miss you.
...
Believe me,
My dear old Fox,
Most sincerely yours,
C. DARWIN.
[Later on in the Lent term he writes to Fox:--
"I am leading a quiet everyday sort of a life; a little of Gibbon's History
in the morning, and a good deal of "Van John" in the evening; this, with an
occasional ride with Simcox and constitutional with Whitley, makes up the
regular routine of my days. I see a good deal both of Herbert and Whitley,
and the more I see of them increases every day the respect I have for their
excellent understandings and dispositions. They have been giving some very
gay parties, nearly sixty men there both evenings."]
CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX.
Christ's College [Cambridge], April 1 [1829].
My dear Fox,
In your letter to Holden you are pleased to observe "that of all the
blackguards you ever met with I am the greatest." Upon this observation I
shall make no remarks, excepting that I must give you all due credit for
acting on it most rigidly. And now I should like to know in what one
particular are you less of a blackguard than I am? You idle old wretch,
why have you not answered my last letter, which I am sure I forwarded to
Clifton nearly three weeks ago? If I was not really very anxious to hear
what you are doing, I should have allowed you to remain till you thought it
worth while to treat me like a gentleman. And now having vented my spleen
in scolding you, and having told you, what you must know, how very much and
how anxiously I want to hear how you and your family are getting on at
Clifton, the purport of this letter is finished. If you did but know how
often I think of you, and how often I regret your absence, I am sure I
should have heard from you long enough ago.
I find Cambridge rather stupid, and as I know scarcely any one that walks,
and this joined with my lips not being quite so well, has reduced me to a
sort of hybernation...I have caught Mr. Harbour letting -- have the first
pick of the beetles; accordingly we have made our final adieus, my part in
the affecting scene consisted in telling him he was a d--d rascal, and
signifying I should kick him down the stairs if ever he appeared in my
rooms again. It seemed altogether mightily to surprise the young
gentleman. I have no news to tell you; indeed, when a correspondence has
been broken off like ours has been, it is difficult to make the first start
again. Last night there was a terrible fire at Linton, eleven miles from
Cambridge. Seeing the reflection so plainly in the sky, Hall, Woodyeare,
Turner, and myself thought we would ride and see it. We set out at half-
past nine, and rode like incarnate devils there, and did not return till
two in the morning. Altogether it was a most awful sight. I cannot
conclude without telling you, that of all the blackguards I ever met with,
you are the greatest and the best.
C. DARWIN.
CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX.
[Cambridge, Thursday, April 23, 1829.]
My dear Fox,
I have delayed answering your last letter for these few days, as I thought
that under such melancholy circumstances my writing to you would be
probably only giving you trouble. This morning I received a letter from
Catherine informing me of that event (The death of Fox's sister, Mrs.
Bristowe.), which, indeed, from your letter, I had hardly dared to hope
would have happened otherwise. I feel most sincerely and deeply for you
and all your family; but at the same time, as far as any one can, by his
own good principles and religion, be supported under such a misfortune,
you, I am assured, will know where to look for such support. And after so
pure and holy a comfort as the Bible affords, I am equally assured how
useless the sympathy of all friends must appear, although it be as
heartfelt and sincere, as I hope you believe me capable of feeling. At
such a time of deep distress I will say nothing more, excepting that I
trust your father and Mrs. Fox bear this blow as well as, under such
circumstances, can be hoped for.
I am afraid it will be a long time, my dear Fox, before we meet; till then,
believe me at all times,
Yours most affectionately,
CHARLES DARWIN.
CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX.
Shrewsbury, Friday [July 4, 1829].
My dear Fox,
I should have written to you before only that whilst our expedition lasted
I was too much engaged, and the conclusion was so unfortunate, that I was
too unhappy to write to you till this week's quiet at home. The thoughts
of Woodhouse next week has at last given me courage to relate my
unfortunate case.
I started from this place about a fortnight ago to take an entomological
trip with Mr. Hope through all North Wales; and Barmouth was our first
destination. The two first days I went on pretty well, taking several good
insects; but for the rest of that week my lips became suddenly so bad
(Probably with eczema, from which he often suffered.), and I myself not
very well, that I was unable to leave the room, and on the Monday I
retreated with grief and sorrow back again to Shrewsbury. The first two
days I took some good insects...But the days that I was unable to go out,
Mr. Hope did wonders...and to-day I have received another parcel of insects
from him, such Colymbetes, such Carabi, and such magnificent Elaters (two
species of the bright scarlet sort). I am sure you will properly
sympathise with my unfortunate situation: I am determined I will go over
the same ground that he does before autumn comes, and if working hard will
procure insects I will bring home a glorious stock.
...
My dear Fox,
Yours most sincerely,
CHAS. DARWIN.
CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX.
Shrewsbury, July 18, 1829.
I am going to Maer next week in order to entomologise, and shall stay there
a week, and for the rest of this summer I intend to lead a perfectly idle
and wandering life...You see I am much in the same state that you are, with
this difference, you make good resolutions and never keep them; I never
make them, so cannot keep them; it is all very well writing in this manner,
but I must read for my Little-go. Graham smiled and bowed so very civilly,
when he told me that he was one of the six appointed to make the
examination stricter, and that they were determined this would make it a
very different thing from any previous examination, that from all this I am
sure it will be the very devil to pay amongst all idle men and
entomologists. Erasmus, we expect home in a few weeks' time: he intends
passing next winter in Paris. Be sure you order the two lists of insects
published by Stephens, one printed on both sides, and the other only on
one; you will find them very useful in many points of view.
Dear old Fox, yours,
C. DARWIN.
CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX.
Christ's College, Thursday [October 16, 1829].
My dear Fox,
I am afraid you will be very angry with me for not having written during
the Music Meeting, but really I was worked so hard that I had no time; I
arrived here on Monday and found my rooms in dreadful confusion, as they
have been taking up the floor, and you may suppose that I have had plenty
to do for these two days. The Music Meeting (At Birmingham.) was the most
glorious thing I ever experienced; and as for Malibran, words cannot praise
her enough, she is quite the most charming person I ever saw. We had
extracts out of several of the best operas, acted in character, and you
cannot imagine how very superior it made the concerts to any I ever heard
before. J. de Begnis (De Begnis's Christian name was Giuseppe.) acted 'Il
Fanatico' in character; being dressed up an extraordinary figure gives a
much greater effect to his acting. He kept the whole theatre in roars of
laughter. I liked Madame Blasis very much, but nothing will do after
Malibran, who sung some comic songs, and [a] person's heart must have been
made of stone not to have lost it to her. I lodged very near the
Wedgwoods, and lived entirely with them, which was very pleasant, and had
you been there it would have been quite perfect. It knocked me up most
dreadfully, and I will never attempt again to do two things the same day.
...
CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX.
[Cambridge] Thursday [March, 1830].
My dear Fox,
I am through my Little-Go!!! I am too much exalted to humble myself by
apologising for not having written before. But I assure you before I went
in, and when my nerves were in a shattered and weak condition, your injured
person often rose before my eyes and taunted me with my idleness. But I am
through, through, through. I could write the whole sheet full with this
delightful word. I went in yesterday, and have just heard the joyful news.
I shall not know for a week which class I am in. The whole examination is
carried on in a different system. It has one grand advantage--being over
in one day. They are rather strict, and ask a wonderful number of
questions.
And now I want to know something about your plans; of course you intend
coming up here: what fun we will have together; what beetles we will
catch; it will do my heart good to go once more together to some of our old
haunts. I have two very promising pupils in Entomology, and we will make
regular campaigns into the Fens. Heaven protect the beetles and Mr.
Jenyns, for we won't leave him a pair in the whole country. My new Cabinet
is come down, and a gay little affair it is.
And now for the time--I think I shall go for a few days to town to hear an
opera and see Mr. Hope; not to mention my brother also, whom I should have
no objection to see. If I go pretty soon, you can come afterwards, but if
you will settle your plans definitely, I will arrange mine, so send me a
letter by return of post. And I charge you let it be favourable--that is
to say, come directly. Holden has been ordained, and drove the Coach out
on the Monday. I do not think he is looking very well. Chapman wants you
and myself to pay him a visit when you come up, and begs to be remembered
to you. You must excuse this short letter, as I have no end more to send
off by this day's post. I long to see you again, and till then,
My dear good old Fox,
Yours most sincerely,
CHARLES DARWIN.
[In August he was in North Wales and wrote to Fox:--
"I have been intending to write every hour for the last fortnight, but
REALLY have had no time. I left Shrewsbury this day fortnight ago, and
have since that time been working from morning to night in catching fish or
beetles. This is literally the first idle day I have had to myself; for on
the rainy days I go fishing, on the good ones entomologising. You may
recollect that for the fortnight previous to all this, you told me not to
write, so that I hope I have made out some sort of defence for not having
sooner answered your two long and very agreeable letters."]
CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX.
[Cambridge, November 5, 1830.]
My dear Fox,
I have so little time at present, and am so disgusted by reading that I
have not the heart to write to anybody. I have only written once home
since I came up. This must excuse me for not having answered your three
letters, for which I am really very much obliged...
I have not stuck an insect this term, and scarcely opened a case. If I had
time I would have sent you the insects which I have so long promised; but
really I have not spirits or time to do anything. Reading makes me quite
desperate; the plague of getting up all my subjects is next thing to
intolerable. Henslow is my tutor, and a most ADMIRABLE one he makes; the
hour with him is the pleasantest in the whole day. I think he is quite the
most perfect man I ever met with. I have been to some very pleasant
parties there this term. His good-nature is unbounded.
I am sure you will be sorry to hear poor old Whitley's father is dead. In
a worldly point of view it is of great consequence to him, as it will
prevent him going to the Bar for some time.--(Be sure answer this:) What
did you pay for the iron hoop you had made in Shrewsbury? Because I do not
mean to pay the whole of the Cambridge man's bill. You need not trouble
yourself about the Phallus, as I have bought up both species. I have heard
men say that Henslow has some curious religious opinions. I never
perceived anything of it, have you? I am very glad to hear, after all your
delays, you have heard of a curacy where you may read all the commandments
without endangering your throat. I am also still more glad to hear that
your mother continues steadily to improve. I do trust that you will have
no further cause for uneasiness. With every wish for your happiness, my
dear old Fox,
Believe me yours most sincerely,
CHARLES DARWIN.
CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX.
Cambridge, Sunday, January 23, 1831.
My dear Fox,
I do hope you will excuse my not writing before I took my degree. I felt a
quite inexplicable aversion to write to anybody. But now I do most
heartily congratulate you upon passing your examination, and hope you find
your curacy comfortable. If it is my last shilling (I have not many), I
will come and pay you a visit.
I do not know why the degree should make one so miserable, both before and
afterwards. I recollect you were sufficiently wretched before, and I can
assure [you] I am now, and what makes it the more ridiculous is, I know not
what about. I believe it is a beautiful provision of nature to make one
regret the less leaving so pleasant a place as Cambridge; and amongst all
its pleasures--I say it for once and for all--none so great as my
friendship with you. I sent you a newspaper yesterday, in which you will
see what a good place [10th] I have got in the Poll. As for Christ's, did
you ever see such a college for producing Captains and Apostles? (The
"Captain" is at the head of the "Poll": the "Apostles" are the last twelve
in the Mathematical Tripos.) There are no men either at Emmanuel or
Christ's plucked. Cameron is gulfed, together with other three Trinity
scholars! My plans are not at all settled. I think I shall keep this
term, and then go and economise at Shrewsbury, return and take my degree.
A man may be excused for writing so much about himself when he has just
passed the examination; so you must excuse [me]. And on the same principle
do you write a letter brimful of yourself and plans. I want to know
something about your examination. Tell me about the state of your nerves;
what books you got up, and how perfect. I take an interest about that sort
of thing, as the time will come when I must suffer. Your tutor, Thompson,
begged to be remembered to you, and so does Whitley. If you will answer
this, I will send as many stupid answers as you can desire.
Believe me, dear Fox,
CHAS. DARWIN.
