( HO ) 



CHAPTER VII. 



LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. 



1836-1842. 



The period illustrated in the present chapter includes the 

 years between Darwin's return from the voyage of the Beagle 

 and his settling at Down. It is marked by the gradual 

 appearance of that weakness of health which ultimately forced 

 him to leave London and take up his abode for the rest of his 

 life in a quiet country house. 



There is no evidence of any intention of entering a pro- 

 fession after his return from the voyage, and early in 1840 

 he wrote to Fitz-Roy : " I have nothing to wish for, excepting 

 stronger health to go on with the subjects to which I have 

 joyfully determined to devote my life." 



These two conditions — permanent ill-health and a passionate 

 love of scientific work for its own sake — determined thus early 

 in his career, the character of his whole future life. They 

 impelled him to lead a retired life of constant labour, carried 

 on to the utmost limits of his physical power, a life which 

 signally falsified his melancholy prophecy : — " It has been a 

 bitter mortification for me to digest the conclusion that the 

 * race is for the strong,' and that I shall probably do little 

 more, but be content to admire the strides others make in 

 science." 



The end of the last chapter saw my father safely arrived at 

 Shrewsbury on October 4, 1836, " after an absence of five years 

 and two days." He wrote to Fox : " You cannot imagine 

 how gloriously delightful my first visit was at home ; it was 

 worth the banishment." But it was a pleasure that he could 

 not long enjoy, for in the last days of October he was at Green- 

 wich unpacking specimens from the Beagle. As to the destina- 

 tion of the collections he writes, somewhat despondingly, to 

 Henslow : — 



"I have not made much progress with the great men. I 

 find, as you told me, that they are all overwhelmed with their 

 own business. Mr. Lyell has entered, in the most good- 



