1802. ] 
BICGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS of THE 
bare De. DARWIN. 
ONCERNING this _ far-celebrated 
C man, whoie death we had the pain- 
ful tafk of announcing in our laft Number, 
we have colleied the following particu- 
Jars :-—Eraimus Darwin, the feventh child 
and fourth ton of Robert Darwin, efq. 
was born at Elfton, near Newark, in Not- 
tinghamfhire, on the 12th of December, 
1731: he réceived his early education at 
Chefterfield ichool, under the Rev. Mr. 
Burrows, of whom he always {poke with 
great re/pect. He was entered, with two 
of his elder brothers, at St. John’s Col- 
lege, Cambridge; and, being intended for 
the praftice of medicine, took the degree 
of M. B. in 1755, defending in his thefs 
an opinion, that the motion of the heart 
and arteries is produced by the immediate 
ftimulus of the blood, During his reti- 
dence at Cambridge, Mr. Darwin was 
elected fo one of Lord Exeter's f{cholar- 
fhips, worth about 16]. per annum, which, 
from the meagrenefs of his father’s in- 
come at thar time, was elteemed a de- 
firable acquifition. After having prepared 
himfelf for bis future profeffion, by an 
attendance on the Leftures of Dr. Hunter, 
in London, and by a fevere courfe of ftu- 
dy at Edinburgh, he contemplated the 
metropolis as the proper theatre for his 
exertions. Deterred, however, by the 
want of an immediate introduction, and 
the tmprobability of obtaining immediate 
patronage, Dr. Darwin thought it alto- 
gether more advifeable to fettle in the 
country: the firft place to which he went, 
in the capacity of a phyfician, was Not- 
tingham, where he was entirely difap- 
pointed in his hopes of practice; he re- 
snoved, therefore, to Litchfield, with Jet- 
ters of introduction to Lady Grefley and 
the Rev. Mr. Seward. Here his great 
capacity and various acquirements were 
more juftly appreciated: he refided at 
Litchfield during a great number of years, 
in the enjoyment of a very extenfive repu- 
tation, and a very profitable practice, the 
foundation of which is faid to have been 
laid by his fuccefs in reftoring to health 
a gentleman of fortune in the neighbour- 
hood, whofe recovery was delpaired of by 
a numerous circle of friends and acquaint- 
ance. 
In the year 1757 Dr. Darwin mar- 
ried Mifs Mary Howard, daughter of 
Charles Howard, efq. by his wife, Eli- 
zabeth Foley: fhe died in 1770. By this 
lady he kad five children, two of whom 
died in their infancy; the eldef{ fon, 
Biographical Memoirs of the late Dr. Darwin. A457 
Charles, he educated to his own profef- 
fion, but he died in the 2oth year of his 
age, very foon after he had finifhed his 
courfe of ftudies at Edinburgh, where he 
gained confiderable reputation, by endea- 
vouring to furnifi a criterion for diftin- 
guifhing pus from mucus.* 
fon, Erafmus, was an attorney, and prac- 
tiled at Derby: about three years fince 
(in 1799) he walked into his garden, at 
dead of night, threw himfelf into the 
Derwent, and was drowned. Dr. Dar- 
win’s third fon, Robert, is a phyfician, 
in very: extenfive praétice, at Shrew/(- 
bury, and married the daughter of the 
late Mr. Wedgewood, of Etruria. 
Soon after the deceafe of his wite, Dr. 
Darwin commenced his laborious work, 
the Zoonomia, which, however, he did not 
think proper to publifh tall about eight 
years fince. 
In 1778 he obtained a leafe of a fic- 
ture{que {pot of ground, about a mile trom 
Litchfeld,where a cold bath was eredted by 
Sir John Flayer, an eminent phytician in 
the beginning of the lait century: there is 
a grotto, furrounded by projecting rocks, 
from the edges of which trickles a perpe- 
tual fhower of water. This place became 
his favourite retreat and amufement : 
here he formed a bocanic-garden, and be- 
gan his poem on the ‘* Loves of the 
Plants,” the fcenery of which, ‘as 
adapted to love-fcenes, and being thence 
a proper refrtence for the modern Goddefs 
of Botany,” is taken from thele fequef- 
tered fhades:— 
¢¢ And if with thee fome haplefs maid hhould 
ftray, 
Difaitrous Love companion of her way, 
Oh lead lier timid fleps to yonder glade, 
Whofe arching cliffs depending alders fhade; 
Thereas meek Evening wakes her temperate 
breeze, 
And moon: beams glimmer through the trem. 
bling trees, 
The riils, that guggle round, fhall foothe 
her ear, 
The weeping rocks fhall number tear for 
Ceaier ss Calecee Canto 1, line 25. 
In the year 1780, Dr. Darwin was called 
to attend Colonel Sacheverel Pole, of Rad - 
bourne-hall, diftant four miles fromDerby, 
and a few months afier the deceafe of the 
* Dr. Darwin edited this pofthumous work 
of his fon Charles, which was publifhed in 
1780, under the title of ‘¢ Experiments, 
eftablifhing a Criterion between mucilaginous 
and purulent Matter: and an Account of the 
retrograde Motions of the abforbent Vefleis 
of Animal Bodies in fome Difeafes,’’ 
Colonel} 
The fecond 
