1^6 APPOINTMENT TO THE 'BEAGLE.' /ETAT. 22. [1831. 



I scarcely thought of going to town, but here I am ; and 

 now for more details, and much more promising ones. Cap- 

 tain Fitz-Roy is [in] town, and I have seen him; it is no use 

 attempting to praise him as much as I feel inclined to do, for 

 you would not believe me. One thing I am certain, nothing 

 could be more open and kind than he was to me. It seems 

 he had promised to take a friend with him, v/ho is in office 

 and cannot go, and he only received the letter five minutes 

 before I came in ; and this makes things much better for me, 

 as want of room was one of Fitz-Roy's greatest objections. 

 He offers me to go share in everything in his cabin if I like to 

 come, and every sort of accommodation that I can have, but 

 they will not be numerous. He says nothing would be so 

 miserable for him as having me with him if I was uncom- 

 fortable, as in a small vessel we must be thrown together, 

 and thought it his duty to state everything in the worst point 

 of view. I think I shall go on Sunday to Plymouth to see the 

 vessel. 



There is something most extremely attractive in his man- 

 ners and way of coming straight to the point. If I live with 

 him, he says I must live poorly — no wine, and the plainest 

 dinners. The scheme is not certainly so good as Peacock 

 describes. Captain Fitz-Roy advises me not [to] make up 

 my mind quite yet, but that, seriously, he thinks it will have 

 much more pleasure than pain for me. The vessel does not 

 sail till the loth of October. It contains sixty men, five or 

 six officers, &c., but is a small vessel. It will probably be out 

 nearly three years. I shall pay to the mess the same as [the] 

 Captain does himself, ;£^o per annum ; and Fitz-Roy says if 

 I spend, including my outfitting, ^500, it will be beyond the 

 extreme. But now for still worse news. The round the 

 world is not certain, but the chance most excellent. Till that 

 point is decided, I will not be so. And you may believe, 

 after the many changes I have made, that nothing but my 

 reason shall decide me. 



Fitz-Roy says the stormy sea is exaggerated ; that if I do 

 not choose to remain with them, I can at any time get home 



