W. D. FOX. 



147 



like to know what books you are reading, and your opinions 

 about them ; you need not be afraid of preaching to me pre- 

 maturely." Mr. Herbert's sketch shows how doubts arose in 

 my father's mind as to the possibility of his taking Orders. 

 He writes, " We had an earnest conversation about going into 

 Holy Orders ; and I remember his asking me, with reference 

 to the question put by the Bishop in the ordination service, 

 * Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy 

 Spirit, &c.,' whether I could answer in the affirmative, and on 

 my saying I could not, he said, ' Neither can I, and therefore 

 I cannot take orders.' " This conversation appears to have 

 taken place in 1829, and if so, the doubts here expressed 

 must have been quieted, for in May 1830, he speaks of having 

 some thoughts of reading divinity with Henslow. 



The greater number of the following letters are addressed 

 by my father to his cousin, William Darwin Fox. Mr. Fox's 

 relationship to my father is shown in the pedigree given in 

 Chapter I. The degree of kinship appears to have remained 

 a problem to my father, as he signs himself in one letter 



" ^ — " Their friendship was, in fact, due to their being 



n 



undergraduates together. My father's letters show clearly 

 enough how genuine the friendship was. In after years, dis- 

 tance, large families, and ill-health on both sides, checked the 

 intercourse ; but a warm feeling of friendship remained. The 

 correspondence was never quite dropped and continued till 

 Mr. Fox's death in 1880. Mr. Fox took orders, and worked 

 as a country clergyman until forced by ill-health to leave 

 his living in Delamere Forest. His love of natural history 

 remained strong, and he became a skilled fancier of many 

 kinds of birds, &c. The index to * Animals and Plants,' and 

 my father's later correspondence, show how much help he 

 received from his old College friend.] 



