en. ii.] CAMBRIDGE. 19 



nal. In my second year I had to work for a month or two 

 to pass the Little-Go, which I did easily. Again, in my last 

 year I worked with some earnestness for my final degree of 

 B.A., and brushed up my Classics, together with a little 

 Algebra and Euclid, which latter gave me much pleasure, 

 as it did at school. In order to pass the B.A. examination, 

 it was also necessary to get up Paley's Evidences of Chris- 

 tianity, and his Moral Philosophy. This was done in a 

 thorough manner, and I am convinced that I could have 

 written out the whole of the Evidences with perfect cor- 

 rectness, but not of course in the clear language of Paley. 

 The logic of this book and, as I may add, of his Natural 

 Theology, gave me as much delight as did Euclid. The 

 careful study of these works, without attempting to learn 

 any part by rote, was the only part of the academical course 

 which, as I then felt, and as I still believe, was of the least 

 use to me in the education of my mind. I did not at that 

 time trouble myself about Paley's premises; and taking 

 these on trust, I was charmed and convinced by the long 

 line of argumentation. By answering well the examination 

 questions in Paley, by doing Euclid well, and by not fail- 

 ing miserably in Classics, I gained a good place among the 

 ol 7roXXol or crowd of men who do not go in for honours. 

 Oddly enough, I cannot remember how high I stood, and 

 my memory fluctuates between the fifth, tenth, or twelfth, 

 name on the list.* 



Public lectures on several branches were given in the 

 University, attendance being quite voluntary ; but I was so 

 sickened with lectures at Edinburgh that I did not even at- 

 tend Sedgwick's eloquent and interesting lectures. Had I 

 done so I should probably have become a geologist earlier 

 than I did. I attended, however, Henslow's lectures on Bot- 

 any, and liked them much for their extreme clearness, and 

 the admirable illustrations ; but I did not study botany. 

 Henslow used to take his pupils, including several of the 

 older members of the University, field excursions, on foot 

 or in coaches, to distant places, or in a barge down the river, 

 and lectured on the rarer plants and animals which were ob- 

 served. These excursions were delightful. 



Although, as we shall presently see, there were some re- 

 deeming features in my life at Cambridge, my time w T as 

 sadly wasted there, and worse than wasted. From my pas- 



* Tenth in the list of January 1831. 



