2 THE DARWINS. fee. i. 



was a man of a quick, vivid temperament, with a lively in- 

 terest in even the smaller details in the lives of those with 

 whom he came in contact. He was fond of society, and 

 entertained a good deal, and with his large practice and 

 many friends, the life at Shrewsbury must have been a stir- 

 ring and varied one very different in this respect to the 

 later home of his son at Down.* 



We have a miniature of his wife, Susannah, with a re- 

 markably sweet and happy face, bearing some resemblance 

 to the portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds of her father; a 

 countenance expressive of the gentle and sympathetic na- 

 ture which Miss Meteyard ascribes to her.f She died July 

 15, 1817, thirty-two years before her husband, whose death 

 occurred on November 13, 1848. Dr. Darwin lived before 

 his marriage for two or three years on St. John's Hill, after- 

 wards at the Crescent, where his eldest daughter Marianne 

 was born, lastly at the " Mount," in the part of Shrewsbury 

 known as JFrankwell, where the other children were born. 

 This house was built by Dr. Darwin about 1800, it is now 

 in the possession of Mr. SjDencer Phillips, and has under- 

 gone but little alteration. It is a large, plain, square, red- 

 brick house, of which the most attractive feature is the 

 pretty green-house, opening out of the morning-room. 



The house is charmingly placed, on the top of a steep 

 bank leading down to the Severn. The terraced bank is 

 traversed by a long walk, leading from end to end, still called 

 " the Doctor's Walk." At one point in this walk grows a 

 Spanish chestnut, the branches of which bend back parallel 

 to themselves in a curious manner, and this was Charles 

 Darwin's favourite tree as a boy, where he and his sister 

 Catharine had each their special seat. 



The Doctor took great pleasure in his garden, planting 

 it with ornamental trees and shrubs, and being especially 

 successful with fruit trees ; and this love of plants was, I 

 think, the only taste kindred to natural history which he 

 possessed. 



Charles Darwin had the strongest feeling of love and 

 respect for his father's memory. His recollection of every- 

 thing that was connected with him was peculiarly distinct, 

 and he spoke of him frequently, generally prefacing an an- 



* The above passage is, by permission of Messrs. Smith & Elder, taken 

 from my article Charles Darwin, in the Dictionary of National Biography. 

 t A Group of Englishmen, by Miss Meteyard, 1871. 



