18 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. [ch. ii. 



truth of every word in the Bible, I soon persuaded myself 

 that our Creed must be fully accepted. 



Considering how fiercely I have been attacked by the 

 orthodox, it seems ludicrous that I once intended to be a 

 clergyman. Nor was this intention and my father's wish 

 ever formally given up, but died a natural death when, on 

 leaving Cambridge, I joined the Beagle as naturalist. If 

 the phrenologists are to be trusted, I was well fitted in one 

 respect to be a clergyman. A few years ago the secretaries 

 of a German psychological society asked me earnestly by 

 letter for a photograph of myself; and some time after- 

 wards I received the proceedings of one of the meetings, 

 in which it seemed that the shape of my head had been 

 the subject of a public discussion, and one of the speakers 

 declared that I had the bump of reverence developed enough 

 for ten priests. 



As it was decided that I should be a clergyman, it was 

 necessary that I should go to one of the English univer- 

 sities and take a degree ; but as I had never opened a 

 classical book since leaving school, I found to my dismay, 

 that in the two intervening years, I had actually forgot- 

 ten, incredible as it may appear, almost everything which 

 I had learnt, even to some few of the Greek letters. I did 

 not therefore proceed to Cambridge at the usual time in 

 October, but worked with a private tutor in Shrewsbury, 

 and went to Cambridge after the Christmas vacation, early 

 in 1828. I soon recovered my school standard of knowl- 

 edge, and could translate easy Greek books, such as Homer 

 and the Greek Testament, with moderate facility. 



During the three years which I spent at Cambridge my 

 time was wasted, as far as the academical studies were con- 

 cerned, as completely as at Edinburgh and at school. I 

 attempted mathematics, and even went during the summer 

 of 1828 with a private tutor to Barmouth, but I got on 

 very slowly. The work was repugnant to me, chiefly from 

 my not being able to see any meaning in the early steps in 

 algebra. This impatience was very foolish, and in after 

 years I have deeply regretted that I did not proceed far 

 enough at least to understand something of the great lead- 

 ing principles of mathematics, for men thus endowed seem 

 to have an extra sense. But I do not believe that I should 

 ever have succeeded beyond a very low grade. With re- 

 spect to Classics I did nothing except attend a few compul- 

 sory college lectures, and the attendance was almost nomi- 



