CHAPTER IX. 



LIFE AT DOWN, 

 1842-1854. 



" My life goes on like clockwork, and I am fixed on the spot where I 



shall end it." 



Letter to Captain Fitz-Roy, October, 1846. 



[With the view of giving in the following chapters a con- 

 nected account of the growth of the ' Origin of Species,' I 

 have taken the more important letters bearing on that subject 

 out of their proper chronological position here, and placed 

 them with the rest of the correspondence bearing on the same 

 subject ; so that in the present group of letters we only get 

 occasional hints of the growth of my father's views, and we 

 may suppose ourselves to be looking at his life, as it might 

 have been looked at by those who had no knowledge of 

 the quiet development of his theory of evolution during this 

 period. 



On Sept. 14, 1842, my father left London with his family 

 and settled at Down.* In the Autobiographical chapter, his 

 motives for taking this step in the country are briefly given. 

 He speaks of the attendance at scientific societies, and ordi- 

 nary social duties, as suiting his health so " badly that we 



* I must not omit to mention a member of the household who accom- 

 panied him. This was his butler, Joseph Parslow, who remained in the 

 family, a valued friend and servant, for forty years, and became, as Sir 

 Joseph Hooker once remarked to me, " an integral part of the family, and 

 felt to be such by all visitors at the house," 



