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CHAPTER VIII. 



LIFE AT DOWN. 

 1842-1S54. 



" My life goes on like clockwork, and I am fixed on the spot where I 

 shall end it." 



Letter to Captain Fitz-Roy, October, 184G. 



Certain letters which, chronologically considered, belong to 

 the period 1845-54 have been utilised in a later chapter where 

 the growth of the Origin of Species is described. In the 

 present chapter we only get occasional hints of the growth of 

 my father's views, and we may snpposo ourselves to bo seeing 

 his life, as it might have appeared to those who had no know- 

 ledge of the quiet development of his theory of evolution 

 during this period. 



On Sept. 14, 1842, my father left London with his family 

 and settled at Down.* In the Autobiographical chapter, his 

 motives for moving into the country are briefly given. He 

 speaks of the attendance at scientific societies and ordinary 

 social duties as suiting his health so " badly that we resolved 

 to live in the country, which we both preferred and have 

 never repented of." His intention of keeping up with scientific 

 life in London is expressed in a letter to Fox (Dec, 1842) : — 



" I hope by going up to town for a night every fortnight or 

 three weeks, to keep up my communication with scientific men 

 and my own zeal, and so not to turn into a complete Kentish 

 tog." 



Visits to London of this kind were kept up for some years 

 at the cost of much exertion on his part. I have often heard 

 him speak of the wearisome drives of ten miles to or from 

 Croydon or Sydenham — the nearest stations — with an old 

 gardener acting as coachman, who drove with great caution 

 and slowness up and down the many hills. In later years, 



* I must not omit to mention a member of the household who 

 accompanied him. This was his butler, Joseph Parslow, who remained 

 in the family, a valued friend and servant, for forty years, and became, as 

 Sir Joseph Hooker once remarked to me, " an integral part of the family, 

 and felt to be such by all visitors at the house." 



