154 SIR GEORGE DARWIN 



enough from the house to have for us a romantic 

 character of its own. 



George loved the country round Down, and 

 all its dry chalky valleys of ploughed land, with 

 "shaws," i.e. broad straggling hedges on their 

 crests, bordered by strips of flowery turf. The 

 country is traversed by many foot-paths; these 

 George knew well and used skilfully in our walks, 

 in which he was generally the leader. His love 

 for the house and the neighbourhood was, I think, 

 entangled with his deepest feelings. In later 

 years his children came with their parents to Down, 

 and they vividly remember his excited happiness, 

 and how he enjoyed showing them his ancient 

 haunts. 



In this retired region Charles Darwin's children 

 led a singularly quiet life, practically without friends, 

 and dependent on their brothers and sisters for 

 companionship. George's earliest recollection was 

 of drumming with his spoon and fork on the 

 nursery table because dinner was late, while a 

 barrel-organ played outside. Other memories were 

 less personal ; for instance, the firing of guns when 

 Sebastopol was supposed to have been taken. His 

 diary of 1852 shows a composite interest in 

 current events and in the picturesqueness of 

 Natural History : "The Duke is dead. Dodos are 

 out of the world." 



He perhaps carried rather far the good habit of 

 re-reading one's favourite authors. He told his 

 children that for a year or so he read through every 

 day the story of Jack the Giant Killer, in a little 

 chap-book with coloured pictures. He early showed 



