Co. II.] CAMBBIDGE. 17 



Cambridge, 1828-1831. — After having spent two sessions in 

 Edinburgh, my father perceived, or he heard from my sisters, 

 that I did not like the thought of being a physician, so he 

 proposed that I should become a clergyman. Ho was very 

 properly vehement agaiust my turning into an idle sporting 

 man, which then seemed my probable destination. I asked for 

 some time to consider, as from what little I had heard or 

 thought on the subject I had scruples about declaring my 

 belief in all the dogmas of the Church of England ; though 

 otherwise I liked the thought of being a country clergymun. 

 Accordingly I read with great care Pearson on the Creed, and a 

 fuw other books on divinity ; and as I did not then in the least 

 doubt the strict and literal truth of every word in tho Bible, I 

 soon persuaded myself that our Creed must be fully accepted. 



Considering how fiercely I have been attacked by tho 

 orthodox, it seoms ludicrous that I once intended to be a 

 clergyman. Nor was this intention and my father's wish ever 

 formally given up, but died a natural death when, on leaving 

 Cambridge, I joined the Beagle as naturalist. If the phren- 

 ologists are to be trusted, I was well fitted in one respect to be 

 a clergyman. A few years ago the secretaries of a German 

 psychological society asked me earnestly by letter for a photo- 

 graph of myself; and some time afterwards I received the pro- 

 ceedings of one of the meetings, in which it seemed that tho 

 shape of my head had been the subject of a public discus- 

 sion, and one of the speakers declared that I had the bump of 

 reverence developed enough for ten priests. 



As it was decided that I should be a clergyman, it was 

 necessary that I should go to one of the English universities 

 and take a degree ; but as I had never opened a classical book 

 since leaving school, I found to my dismay, that in tho two 

 intervening years, I had actually forgotten, incredible as it may 

 appear, almost everything which I had learnt, even to some few 

 of the Greek letters. 1 did not therefore proceed to Cambridge 

 at the usual time in October, but worked with a private tutor 

 in Shrewsbury, and went to Cambridge after the Christmas 

 vacation, early in 1828. I soon recovered my school standard 

 of knowledge, and could translate easy Greek books, such as 

 Homer and the Greek Testament, with moderate facility. 



During the three years which I spent at Cambridge my time 

 was wasted, as far as the academical studies were concerned, as 

 completely as at Edinburgh and at school. I attempted 

 mathematics, and even went during the summer of 18*28 with a 

 private tutor to Barmouth, but I got on very slowly. The 

 work was repugnant to me, chiefly from my not being able to 



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