2 THE DARW1NS. [Oh. L 



whom he came in contact. He was fond of society, and enter- 

 tained a good deal, and with his large practice and many 

 friends, the life at Shrewsbury must have been a stirring and 

 varied one — very different in this respect to the later home of 

 his son at Down.* 



We have a miniature of his wife, Susannah, with a remarkably 

 sweet and happy face, bearing some resemblance to the portrait 

 of her father painted by Sir Joshua Eeynolds ; a countenance 

 expressive of the gentle and sympathetic nature which Miss 

 Meteyard ascribes to her.")" She died July 15, 1817, thirty-two 

 years before her husband, whose death occurred on Novem- 

 ber 13, 1848. Dr. Darwin lived before his marriage for two or 

 three years on St. John's Hill, afterwards at the Crescent, 

 where his eldest daughter Marianne was born, lastly at the 

 " Mount," in the part of Shrewsbury known as Frankwell, 

 where the other children were born. This house was built by 

 Dr. Darwin about 1800, it is now in the possession of Mr. 

 Spencer PLillips, and has undergone but little alteration. It 

 is a large, plain, square, red-brick house, of which the most 

 attractive feature is the pretty green-house, opening out of the 

 morning-room. 



The house is charmingly placed, on the top of a steep bank 

 leading down to the Severn. The terraced bank is traversed 

 by a long walk, leading from end to end, still called " the 

 Doctor's Walk." At one point in this walk grows a Spanish 

 chestnut, the branches of which bend back parallel to them- 

 selves in a curious manner, and this was Charles Darwin's 

 favourite tree as a boy, where he and his sister Catharine had 

 each tbeir special seat. 



The Doctor took great pleasure in his garden, planting it 

 with ornamental trees and shrubs, and being especially suc- 

 cessful with fruit trees ; and this love of plants was, I think, 

 the only taste kindred to natural history which he possessed. 



Charles Darwin had the strongest feeling of love and respect 

 for his father's memory. His recollection of everything that 

 was connected with him was peculiarly distinct, and he spoke 

 of him frequently, generally prefacing an anecdote with some 

 such phrase as, " My father, who was the wisest man I ever 

 knew," &c. It was astonishing how clearly he remembered his 

 father's opinions, so that he was able to quote some maxim or 

 hint of his in many cases of illness. As a rule he put small 



* The above passage is, by permission of Messrs. Smith & Elder, taken 

 from my article Cliarles Darwin, in the Dictionary of National Biography. 



* A Group of Englishmen, by Miss Meteyard, 1871. 



