CHAPTER V. 



CAMBRIDGE LIFE. THE APPOINTMENT TO THE ' BEAGLE.' 



My father's Cambridge life comprises the time between 

 the Lent Term, 1828, when he came up to Christ's College 

 as a Freshman, and the end of the May Term, 1831, when 

 he took his degree * and left the University. 



He " kept " for a term or two in lodgings, over Bacon f 

 the tobacconist's; not, however, over the shop in the Market 

 Place, so well known to Cambridge men, but in Sydney Street. 

 For the rest of his time he had pleasant rooms on the south 

 side of the first court of Christ's.]; 



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 undergraduate 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 escai^e 

 the harassing discipline of the place. 



Darwin seems to have found no difficulty in living at 

 peace with all men in and out of office at Lady Margaret's 

 elder 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 



* " On Tuesday last Charles Darwin, of Christ's College, was admitted 

 B.A." Cambridge Chronicle, Friday, April 29th, 18-31. 



t Readers of Calverley (another Christ's man) will remember his tobacco 

 poem ending " Here's to thee, Bacon." 



% The rooms are on the hrst 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. 



(110) 



