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CHAPTER VII. 



LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. 

 1836-1842. 



[THE period illustrated by the following letters includes 

 the years between my father's return from the voyage of 

 the Beagle and his settling at Down. It is marked by the 

 gradual appearance of that weakness of health which ulti- 

 mately forced him to leave London and take up his abode 

 for the rest of his life in a quiet country house. In 

 June 1841 he writes to Lyell : "My father scarcely seems 

 to expect that I shall become strong for some years ; it 

 has been a bitter mortification for me to digest the con- 

 clusion that the 'race is for the strong,' and that I shall 

 probably do little more, but be content to admire the strides 

 others make in science." 



There is no evidence of any intention of entering a pro- 

 fession after his return from the voyage, and early in 1840 

 he wrote to Fitz-Roy : " I have nothing to wish for, ex- 

 cepting stronger health to go on with the subjects to which 

 I have joyfully determined to devote my life." 



These two conditions permanent ill-health and a pas- 

 sionate love of scientific work for its own sake determined 

 thus early in his career, the character of his whole future life. 

 They impelled him to lead a retired life of constant labour, 

 carried on to the utmost limits of his physical power, a life 

 which signally falsified his melancholy prophecy. 



The end of the last chapter saw my father safely arrived 

 at Shrewsbury on October 4, 1836, "after an absence of five 



