Ch. VII] 1836—1842. 149 



becoming a thorough-paced Cockney, and I glory in the thought 

 that I shall be hero for the next six months." 



The entries of ill health in the Diary increaso in number 

 during these yoars, and as a consequence the holidays become 

 longer and more frequent. 



The entry under August 1839 is : " 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 first 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 feeling for a young baby, for he wrote to Fox (July 

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

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

 baby, for I defy anyone to say anything in its praise of which 

 we are not fully conscious. ... 1 had not the smallest con- 

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

 perceive by this that 1 have a fine degree of paternal fervour." 



In 1841 some improvement in his health became apparent ; 

 he wrote in September : — 



"I have steadily been gaining ground, and really believe 

 now I shall some day be quite strong. I write daily for a 

 couple of hours on my Coral volume, and take a little walk or 

 ride every day. I grow very tired in the evenings, and am 

 not able to go out at that time, or hardly to receive my nearest 

 relations ; but my life ceases to be burdensome now that I can 

 do something." 



The manuscript of Coral Beefs was at last sent to the 

 printers in January 1842, and the last proof corrected in May. 

 He thus writes of the work in his diary : — 



" I commenced this work three years and seven months ago. 

 Out of this period about twenty months (besides work during 

 Beagle's voyage) has been spent on it, and besides it, I have 

 only compiled the Bird part of Zoology ; Appendix to Journal, 

 paper on Boulders, and corrected papers on Glen Boy and 

 earthquakes, reading on species, and rest all lost by illness." 



The latter part of this year belongs to the period including 

 the settlement at Down, and is therefore dealt with in another 

 chapter. 



* July 1877. 



