106 J. HOPKINSON AJ^NITEESAET ABDEESS : 



after his early boyhood. His mother died in July, 1817, when he 

 was but little over eight years of age, and his school days had but 

 just commenced, for it was in the spring of this year that he first 

 went to a day-school, kept by the Rev. G. Case, minister of the 

 Unitarian Chapel he attended. From this time his life may be 

 divided into four well-marked periods: — (1) at school and college, 

 1817-31 ; (2) at sea in his voyage round the world, 1832-36 ; (3) 

 in London, 1836-42 ; and (4) at Down in Kent, 1842-82. 



In the ' Life and Letters of Charles Darwin,' a work in three 

 volumes, edited by his son Francis, is an Autobiography, written 

 near the close of his life for the perusal of his wife and children, 

 without any thought that it would ever be published. In the 

 following brief account of Darwin's career, free use has been made 

 of this Autobiography. 



A naturalist from his earliest school days, Charles Darwin, like 

 many a schoolboy, has a strong passion for collecting, — an innate 

 taste, he is convinced, as neither his brother nor any of his sisters 

 ever had it. He collects with avidity " all sorts of things," but he 

 has more consideration for the feelings of animals than most 

 schoolboys have, taking only a single egg out of a bird's nest, 

 and for long never killing an insect, being content to collect only 

 dead ones. A keen sportsman very early in life, one thing only 

 interferes with his full enjoyment of sport — his tenderness of 

 heart. In angling with worms, he takes care to kill them with 

 salt and water before putting them on the hook, at the want of 

 some success. But he modestly attributes his humanity to the 

 instruction and example of his sisters, and doubts whether 

 humanity is an innate quality. Passionately fond of dogs, they 

 soon find it out, so that he is " an adept in robbing their love from 

 their masters." Long and solitary walks have a great attraction 

 for him, and he often became absorbed in thought, once, when 

 thus absorbed, falling off the foot-path on the old fortifications 

 which surround Shrewsbury. 



He attends Mr. Case's school only for a year, and in 1818 goes 

 as a boarder to the Shrewsbury Grammar School, where he is 

 under the tuition of Dr. Samuel Butler, afterwards Bishop of 

 Lichfield. This school being strictly classical, he believes that 

 nothing could have been worse for the education of his mind, for 

 during his whole life he was " singularly incapable of mastering 

 any language." During his school days the only qualities which 

 promise well for the future are his strong and diversified tastes, 

 great zeal for whatever interests him, and keen pleasure in under- 

 standing any complex subject. The clear geometrical proofs of 



