1829.] SHOOTING. 151 



cabinet is more magnificent than the most zealous entomolo- 

 gist could dream of; he appears to be a very good-humoured 

 pleasant little man. Whilst in town I went to the Royal 

 Institution, Linnean Society, and Zoological Gardens, and 

 many other places where naturalists are gregarious. If you 

 had been with me, I think London w^ould be a very delightful 

 place ; as things v/ere, it was much pleasanter than I could 

 have supposed such a dreary wilderness of houses to be. 



I shot whilst in Shrewsbury a Dundiver (female Goo- 

 sander, as I suppose you know). Shaw has stuffed it, and 

 when I have an opportunity I will send it to Osmaston. 

 There have been shot also five Waxen Chatterers, three of 

 which Shaw has for sale ; would you like to purchase a 

 specimen? I have not yet thanked you for your last very 

 long and agreeable letter. It would have been still more 

 agreeable had it contained the joyful intelligence that you 

 were coming up here ; my two solitary breakfasts have already 

 made me aware how very very much I shall miss you. 



* * tV * * 



Believe me, 



My dear old Fox, 



Most sincerely yours, 



C. Darwin. 



[Later on in the Lent terra he writes to Fox : — 



" I am leading a quiet everyday sort of a life ; a little of 

 Gibbon's History in the morning, and a good deal of Van 

 John in the evening; this, with an occasional ride wath Sim- 

 cox and constitutional with Whitley, makes up the regular 

 routine of my days. I see a good deal both of Herbert and 

 Whitley, and the more I see of them increases every day the 

 respect I have for their excellent understandings and disposi- 

 tions. They have been giving some very gay parties, nearly 

 sixty men there both evenings."] 



