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, 

 1 841, he writes to Lyell : " My father scarcely seems to ex- 

 pect that I shall become strong for some years ; it has been 

 a bitter mortification for me to digest the conclusion 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 profes- 

 sion after his return from the voyage, and early in 1840 he 

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

 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 passion- 

 ate 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 



