CHARLES DARWIN. 77 



improvement society . quite as much as Dr. Thomas 

 Brown -' himself. Attending the meetings of the various 

 societies had a good effect on him, he owns, in stimulating 

 his zeal and giving him " new congenial acquaintances " 

 several young men, namely, " fond of natural science." 

 As he did learn at school conscientiously the irksome 

 classics without a crib, so here in Edinburgh he was 

 not so foolish as to allow mere feeling to interfere with 

 his regular attendance at the hospital. His summer 

 vacations at this time, he says, were given up to amuse- 

 ments, "though," he adds, and the addition is very much 

 in the same " good " direction, " I always had some b*ook 

 in hand." Here again we have the excellent, well- 

 conducted lad who knew Thomson's Seasons and the 

 recent poems of Byron and Scott, and who sat for hours 

 reading the historical plays of Shakespeare. One gets 

 struck with the patience and tenacity here patience 

 and tenacity despite of an entire want of congeniality 

 and taste. For one can see, like the masters, and like 

 the father, so far not an ordinary boy, not by any 

 means an ordinary boy in the reality of his life but 

 still an ordinary boy, and a boy, " rather below the 

 common standard in intellect," if that standard were 

 alone to be referred to one's place and appearance in 

 class. It is precisely this same good young man who 

 will always have an improving book in hand (Milton in 

 his pocket when he went ashore on the voyage even), 

 and creditable acquaintances around him, of whom, at 

 Maer in 1827, Sir J. Mackintosh opines, "There is 

 something in that young man that interests me ; " for, 

 says Mr. Darwin, " this must have been chiefly due to 

 his perceiving that I listened with much interest to 

 everything which he said ! " And, surely, we have a 

 right, as concerns this " much interest," to put it in 

 collation with the propriety and perseverance of the 



