Intimacies Formed. 15 



Darwin was an indefatigable collector, and having 

 an ample allowance was enabled to give full bent to 

 his tastes and inclinations. He collected in a most 

 systematic manner, following methods of his own 

 devising. He employed a workman, who spent his 

 time during the winter in scraping the decayed moss 

 from trees and in collecting suitable material from 

 various sources, all of which was placed in a bag and 

 brought to the young naturalist, who in this way 

 found many rare and choice specimens. 



Of the delights of this study Darwin was fond of 

 talking, and in his Autobiography he wrote : " No 

 poet ever felt more delighted at seeing his first poem 

 published than I did at seeing, in Stephen's ' Illus- 

 trations of British Insects,' the magic words, ' captured 

 by C. Darwin, Esq.' " 



Our hero had as a companion during his college 

 days a cousin, W. D. Fox, a Christ's-College man, 

 who encouraged him in his studies and introduced 

 him to a number of well-known naturalists. Here 

 he met Albert Way of Trinity, who in after years be- 

 came a distinguished archaeologist. He was intimate 

 with Whitley, Senior Wrangler, afterwards Hon. 

 Canon of Durham, who, being a man of refined and 

 cultivated tastes, influenced the young man for the 

 best and inculcated in him a love for the beautiful 

 in art, as well as nature. Whitley became his guide 

 and censor to a certain extent, and trips were made 

 together to the various art galleries, where Darwin, 

 through observation and talks with his friend and 

 the curator, acquired a good knowledge of the 

 standard and various schools of art. This taste, he 

 tells us, was not a natural one, and was perhaps in 



