270 LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. ^TAT. 30. [1839, 



ness there is a grandeur about its smoky fogs, and the dull 

 distant sounds of cabs and coaches ; in fact you may per- 

 ceive I am becoming a thorough-paced Cockney, and I 

 glory in thoughts that I shall be here for the next six 

 months." 



The entries of ill health in the Diary increase in number 

 during these years, and as a consequence the holidays be- 

 come longer and more frequent. From April 26 to May 13, 

 1839, he was at Maer and Shrewsbury. Again, from August 

 23 to October 2 he was away from London at Maer, Shrews- 

 bury, and at Birmingham for the meeting of the British 

 Association. 



The entry under August 1839 is: "During my visit to 

 Maer, read a little, was much unwell and scandalously idle. 

 I have derived this much good, that nothing is so intolerable 

 as idleness." 



At the end of 1839 his eldest child was born, and it was 

 then that he began his observations ultimately published in 

 the 'Expression of the Emotions.' His book on this subject, 

 and the short paper published in 'Mind,'* show how closely 

 he observed his child. He seems to have been surprised at 

 his own feelings for a young baby, for he wrote to Fox (July 

 1840) : " He [/. e. the baby] is so charming that I cannot pre- 

 tend to any modesty. I defy anybody to flatter us on our 

 baby, for I defy any one to say anything in its praise of 

 which we are not fully conscious. ... I had not the smallest 

 conception there was so much in a five-month baby. You 

 will perceive by this that I have a fine degree of paternal 

 fervour." 



During these years he worked intermittently at 'Coral 

 Reefs,' being constantly interrupted by ill health. Thus he 

 speaks of "recommencing" the subject in February 1839, 

 and again in the October of the same year, and once more in 

 July 1841, "after more than thirteen months' interval." His 

 other scientific work consisted of a contribution to the Geo- 



* July 1877. 



