CAMBRIDGE. ^LTAT. 19-22. 



What determined the choice of this college for his brother 

 Erasmus and himself I have no means of knowing. Erasmus 

 the elder, their grandfather, had been at St. John's, and this 

 college might have been reasonably selected for them, being 

 connected with Shrewsbury School. But the life of an under- 

 graduate at St. John's seems, in those days, to have been a 

 troubled one, if I may judge from the fact that a relative of 

 mine migrated thence to Christ's to escape the harassing dis- 

 cipline of the place. A story told by Mr. Herbert * illustrates 

 the same state of things : 



"In the beginning of the October Term of 1830, an inci- 

 dent occurred which was attended with somewhat disagree- 

 able, though ludicrous consequences to myself. Darwin asked 

 me to take a long walk with him in the Fens, to search for 

 some natural objects he was desirous of having. After a 

 very long, fatiguing day's work, we dined together, late in the 

 evening, at his rooms in Christ's College ; and as soon as our 

 dinner was over we threw ourselves into easy chairs and fell 

 sound asleep. I was the first to awake, about three in the 

 morning, when, having looked at my watch, and knowing the 

 strict rule of St. John's, which required men in statu pupillari 

 to come into college before midnight, I rushed homeward at 

 the utmost speed, in fear of the consequences, but hoping 

 that the Dean would accept the excuse as sufficient when I 

 told him the real facts. He, however, was inexorable, and 

 refused to receive my explanations, or any evidence I could 

 bring; and although during my undergraduateship I had 

 never been reported for coming late into College, now, when 

 I was a hard-working B. A., and had five or six pupils, he 

 sentenced me to confinement to the College walls for the rest 

 of the term. Darwin's indignation knew no bounds, and the 

 stupid injustice and tyranny of the Dean raised not only a per- 

 fect ferment among my friends, but was the subject of expostu- 

 lation from some of the leading members of the University." 



My father seems to have found no difficulty in living at 



* See p. 42. 



