4 THE DARWIN FAMILY. 



" It is suspected that the third line may be accounted for 

 by his wife, the mother of Erasmus, having been a very learned 

 lady. The eldest son of Robert, christened Robert Waring, 

 succeeded to the estate of Elston, and died there at the age 

 of ninety-two, a bachelor. He had a strong taste for poetry, 

 like his youngest brother Erasmus. Robert also cultivated 

 botany, and, when an oldish man, he published his ^ Principia 

 Botanica.' This book in MS. was beautifully written, and 

 my father [Dr. R. W. Darwin] declared that he believed it 

 was published because his old uncle could not endure that 

 such fine caligraphy should be wasted. But this was hardly 

 just, as the work contains many curious notes on biology — a 

 subject wholly neglected in England in the last century. The 

 public, moreover, appreciated the book, as the copy in my 

 possession is the third edition." 



The second son, William Alvey, inherited Elston, and 

 transmitted it to his granddaughter, the late Mrs. Darwin, of 

 Elston and Creskeld. A third* son, John, became rector of 

 Elston, the living being in the gift of the family. The fourth 

 son, and youngest child, was Erasmus Darwin, the poet and 

 philosopher. 



The table on page 5 shows Charles Darwin's descent from 

 Robert, and his relationship to some other members of the 

 family, whose names occur in his correspondence. Among 

 these are included William Darwin Fox, one of his earliest 

 correspondents, and Francis Galton, with whom he main- 

 tained a warm friendship for many years. Here also occurs 

 the name of Francis Sacheverel Darwin, who inherited a love 

 of natural history from Erasmus, and transmitted it to his son 

 Edward Darwin, author (under the name of " High Elms ") 

 of a 'Gamekeeper's Manual' (4th Edit. 1863), which shows 

 keen observation of the habits of various animals. 



It is always interesting to see how far a man's personal 

 characteristics can be traced in his forefathers. Charles Dar- 

 win inherited the tall stature, but not the bulky figure of 

 Erasmus ; but in his features there is no traceable resem- 

 blance to those of his grandfather. Nor, it appears, had 



