Ch. VII.] 1830 — 1842. 143 



Marlborough Street ; and except for a " short visit to Shrews- 

 bury " in June, he worked on till September, being almost 

 entirely employed on his Journal, of which he wrote (March) : — 



" In your last letter you urge me to get ready the book. I 

 am now hard at work and give up everything else for it. Our 

 plan is as follows : Capt. Fitz-Koy writes two volumes out of 

 the materials collected during the last voyage under Capt. 

 King to Tierra del Fuego, and during our circumnavigation. 

 I am to have tho third volume, in which I intend giving a kind 

 of journal of a naturalist, not following, however, always the 

 order of time, but rather the order of position." 



A letter to Fox (July) gives an account of the progress of 

 his work : — 



" I gavo myself a holiday and a visit to Shrewsbury [in 

 June], as 1 had finished my Journal. I shall now be very 

 busy in filling up gaps and getting it quito ready for the press 

 by the first of August. I shall always feel respect for every 

 one who has written a book, let it be what it may, for I had no 

 idea of tho trouble which trying to write common English 

 could cost one. And, alas, there yet remains the worst part 

 of all, correcting the press. As soon as ever that is done I 

 must put my shoulder to the wheel and commence at the 

 Geology. I have read some short papers to the Geological 

 Society, and they were favourably received by the great guns, 

 and this gives me much confidence, and I hope not a very 

 great deal of vanity, though I confess I feel too often like a 

 peacock admiring his tail. I never expected that my Geology 

 would ever have been worth the consideration of such men as 

 Lyell, who has been to me, since my return, a most active 

 friend. My life is a very busy one at present, and I hope may 

 ever remain so ; though Heaven knows there are many serious 

 drawbacks to such a life, and chief amongst them is the little 

 timo it allows one for seeing one's natural friends. For tho 

 last three years, I have been longing and longing to bo living 

 at Shrewsbury, and after all now in the course of several 

 months, I see my good dear people at Shrewsbury for a week. 

 Susan and Catherine have, however, been staying with my 



made in money, but are, like the fines, paid in wine. The bet which 

 my father made and lost is thus recorded : — 



M Feb. 23, 1837. — Mr. Darwin v. Mr. Baines, that the combination-room 

 measures from the ceiling to the floor more than x feet. 



■ 1 Bottle paid same day." 



The bets are usually recorded in such a way as not to preclude future 

 speculation on a subject which has proved itself capable of supplying a 

 discussion (and a bottle) to the Room, hence the * in the above quotation. 



