264 OBITUARY X 



and a little shooting were by no .means held, 

 at that time, to be incompatible with the 

 conscientious performance of the duties of a 

 country clergyman. But it is characteristic of the 

 man, that he asked time for consideration, in 

 order that he might satisfy himself that he could 

 sign the Thirty-nine Articles with a clear con 

 science. However, the study of &quot; Pearson on the 

 Creeds &quot; and a few other books of divinity soon 

 assured him that his religious opinions left 

 nothing to be desired on the score of orthodoxy, 

 and he acceded to his father s proposition. 



The English University selected was Cambridge; 

 but an unexpected obstacle arose from the fact 

 that, within the two years which had elapsed, 

 since the young man who had enjoyed seven 

 years of the benefit of a strictly classical education 

 had left school, he had forgotten almost every 

 thing he had learned there, &quot; even to some few of 

 the Greek letters.&quot; (I. p. 46.) Three months 

 with a tutor, however, brought him back to the 

 point of translating Homer and the Greek Testa 

 ment &quot; with moderate facility,&quot; and Charles 

 Darwin commenced the third educational experi 

 ment of which he was the subject, and was en 

 tered on the books of Christ s College in October 

 1827. So far as the direct results of the academic 

 training thus received are concerned, the English 

 University was not more successful than the 

 Scottish. &quot; During the three years which I spent 



