Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 14.djvu/79

 mind nothing but the memory of 'cold breakfastless hours on the properties of rhuharb.' Even in pure science he did not fare much better : the teaching in geology was of such a nature as to make him determme that, whatever else might be his fate, he would not be a geologist. But his time was not wasted ; he became a friend of Br. Grant, afterwards professor of zoology at University College, and was thus induced to attend to the seanshore fauna. He read two papers before the Plinian Society (about 1826) on what was then considered to be the young state of Fucus loreus, and on the so-called ova of Flustra. The society did not publish proceedings, so that he had not the satisfaction of appearing in print as a naturalist till a later date, when he took some of the rarer British beetles. He speaks in one of his letters of the delight given him on this occassion by the words 'captured by C. Darwin,' ; adding that the word 'captured' seemed to convey peculiar distinction. It may be said that Edinburgh gave him, but in a less degree, 'the advantages which Cambridge afterwards supplied, namely, encouragement and instruction of a social rather than an academic kind.'

After two years had been spent at Edinburgh the idea of going on with medicine was abandoned, and the church was suggested, and after some deliberation accepted by Darwin as his future profession. It thus became necessary that he should obtain an English university degree, and if was for this purpose that he entered his name in October 1827 at Christ's College, Cambridge. In the two years since he left school his classics had been largely forgotten, even the Greek alphabet having to be partly re-learned. He therefore stayed at home, reading with a private tutor, and came up in the Lent term of 1828. We gather from his letters, from his recollections, and those of contemporaries, that his life at college was thoroughly happy. He worked, with some repining, through the small amount of classics and mathematics required for the ordinary degree, but without consciously profiting by them. He then felt, and afterwards believed, that ' Paley's Evidences ' and Euclid were the only parts of the academical course the study of which had any effect on his mind. But these things filled only a small part of his life. He seems to have been overflowing with spirits and energy, which spent themselves in a crowd of varied interests. Beetle-collecting, gallops across country, engravings at the Fitzwilliam, vingt-et-un sappers, shooting in the fens, and anthems at King's Chapel, were all enjoyed with a rejoicing enthusiasm. His contemporaries speak especially of his energy, his geniality, his generous sympathy 'with all that was good and true,' and his hatred of what was vile, cruel, or dishonourable. The great feature of his Cambridge life was undoubtedly his friendship with Henslow, the professor of botany in the university. Henslow was a man courteous and placid outwardly, but at the same time unbending and full of vigour where principle was concerned, and fully worthy of the great love and respect that Darwin felt towards him. He was eminently well fitted to be a friend to undergraduates. His varied knowledge, his modest and sympathetic nature, gave him an influence which he used in the best way — by making companions of his pupils, and teaching them perhaps more out of school than in the lecture-room. Darwin seems to have been much with Henslow, often dining with him, or joining him in his 'constitutional,' so that he gained the sobriquet of 'the man who walks with Henslow.'

At Cambridge he read the book which had more influence on him than any other single book, Humboldt's 'Personal Narrative.' It raised in him a burning enthusiasm for natural history and the travels of naturalists, an enthusiasm which he tried to communicate to his friends by vehement preachings on the splendours of Brazilian forests. He attempted to form a party to visit Teneriffe, and took some preliminary steps in inquiring about the journey and beginning to learn Spanish.' It is doubtful how far his proposed companions were in earnest about the Teneriffe scheme, which is chiefly worthy of mention as a dream fulfilled by the Beagle voyage,

After having passed his examination as tenth in the 'poll,' a place which fully satisfied his ambition, he was obliged to return to Cambridge in the Lent term of 1831 to make up the proper time of residence before he could take the B.A. Henslow now persuaded him to begin geology, for he had not previously even attended Sedgwick's lectures. This led to his accompanying the professor on a geological tour in North Wales in August of this year, an experience which was of some use to him afterwards. Leaving Sedgwick, he paid a visit to a Cambridge reading-party at Barmouth, and then returned for partridge shooting, and on reaching home found a letter from Henslow containing the oiler of the appointment to the Beagle. The letter concludes with the words, 'Don't put on any modest doubts or fears about your disqualifications, for I assure you I think you are the very man they are in search of; so conceive yourself to be tapped on the shoulder by your bum-bailiff and affectionate; friend ...' It is clear that if Darwin had been his own master he would at once have accepted the offer, but his father