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.