60 LIFE OF 



Vessels" (1845); and on the "Geology of the Falkland 

 Islands " (1846). A second edition of the two latter parts 

 of " The Geology of the Beagle " was published in one 

 volume in 1876. 



Meanwhile, after spending a few years of his early 

 married life in London, during which he was often in ill- 

 health, Darwin fixed his residence in 1842 at Down House, 

 near Beckenham, Kent. The little village of Down, three 

 or four miles from the Orpington railway station, was near 

 enough to London for convenient access, yet greatly 

 secluded and thoroughly rural. The traveller's roving 

 days were over, and his infirmity of health prevented him 

 from undertaking very fatiguing journeys. After the 

 cessation of his active work for the Geological Society, 

 Darwin's chief public appearance was when he spoke at 

 the Oxford meeting of the British Association, in 1847, 

 when, strange to say, Ruskin was secretary of the Geo- 

 logical Section. 



At Down then, situated some 400 feet above the sea 

 level on a plateau of chalk, interrupted by wavy hollows 

 with beech woods on the slopes, about forty years of 

 Darwin's life were passed. Down House, one of the 

 square red brick mansions of the last century, to which 

 have been since added a gable-fronted wing on one side 

 and a more squarely-built wing and pillared portico on 

 the other, is shut in and almost hidden from the roadway 

 by a high wall and belt of trees. On the south side a 

 walled garden opens into a quiet meadow, bounded by 

 underwood, through which is seen a delightful view of the 

 narrow valley beyond, towards Westerham. 



One of the most admirable chapters of the well-known 



