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TITLE: LIFE AND LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN, VOLUME I
AUTHOR: FRANCIS DARWIN (SON OF CHARLES DARWIN)
EBOOK: E00221 (O'Briens Book Cellar)

THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN

INCLUDING AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL CHAPTER

EDITED BY HIS SON

FRANCIS DARWIN

VOLUME I

PREFACE

In choosing letters for publication I have been largely guided by the wish
to illustrate my father's personal character.  But his life was so
essentially one of work, that a history of the man could not be written
without following closely the career of the author.  Thus it comes about
that the chief part of the book falls into chapters whose titles correspond
to the names of his books.

In arranging the letters I have adhered as far as possible to chronological
sequence, but the character and variety of his researches make a strictly
chronological order an impossibility.  It was his habit to work more or
less simultaneously at several subjects.  Experimental work was often
carried on as a refreshment or variety, while books entailing reasoning and
the marshalling of large bodies of facts were being written.  Moreover,
many of his researches were allowed to drop, and only resumed after an
interval of years.  Thus a rigidly chronological series of letters would
present a patchwork of subjects, each of which would be difficult to
follow.  The Table of Contents will show in what way I have attempted to
avoid this result.

In printing the letters I have followed (except in a few cases) the usual
plan of indicating the existence of omissions or insertions.  My father's
letters give frequent evidence of having been written when he was tired or
hurried, and they bear the marks of this circumstance.  In writing to a
friend, or to one of his family, he frequently omitted the articles:  these
have been inserted without the usual indications, except in a few
instances, where it is of special interest to preserve intact the hurried
character of the letter.  Other small words, such as "of", "to", etc., have
been inserted usually within brackets.  I have not followed the originals
as regards the spelling of names, the use of capitals, or in the matter of
punctuation.  My father underlined many words in his letters; these have
not always been given in italics,--a rendering which would unfairly
exaggerate their effect.

The Diary or Pocket-book, from which quotations occur in the following
pages, has been of value as supplying a frame-work of facts round which
letters may be grouped.  It is unfortunately written with great brevity,
the history of a year being compressed into a page or less; and contains
little more than the dates of the principal events of his life, together
with entries as to his work, and as to the duration of his more serious
illnesses.  He rarely dated his letters, so that but for the Diary it would
have been all but impossible to unravel the history of his books.  It has
also enabled me to assign dates to many letters which would otherwise have
been shorn of half their value.

Of letters addressed to my father I have not made much use.  It was his
custom to file all letters received, and when his slender stock of files
("spits" as he called them) was exhausted, he would burn the letters of
several years, in order that he might make use of the liberated "spits." 
This process, carried on for years, destroyed nearly all letters received
before 1862.  After that date he was persuaded to keep the more interesting
letters, and these are preserved in an accessible form.

I have attempted to give, in Chapter III., some account of his manner of
working.  During the last eight years of his life I acted as his assistant,
and thus had an opportunity of knowing something of his habits and methods.

I have received much help from my friends in the course of my work.  To
some I am indebted for reminiscences of my father, to others for
information, criticisms, and advice.  To all these kind coadjutors I gladly
acknowledge my indebtedness.  The names of some occur in connection with
their contributions, but I do not name those to whom I am indebted for
criticisms or corrections, because I should wish to bear alone the load of
my short-comings, rather than to let any of it fall on those who have done
their best to lighten it.

It will be seen how largely I am indebted to Sir Joseph Hooker for the
means of illustrating my father's life.  The readers of these pages will, I
think, be grateful to Sir Joseph for the care with which he has preserved
his valuable collection of letters, and I should wish to add my
acknowledgment of the generosity with which he has placed it at my
disposal, and for the kindly encouragement given throughout my work.

To Mr. Huxley I owe a debt of thanks, not only for much kind help, but for
his willing compliance with my request that he should contribute a chapter
on the reception of the 'Origin of Species.'

Finally, it is a pleasure to acknowledge the courtesy of the publishers of
the 'Century Magazine' who have freely given me the use of their
illustrations.  To Messrs. Maull and Fox and Messrs. Elliott and Fry I am
also indebted for their kindness in allowing me the use of reproductions of
their photographs.

FRANCIS DARWIN.

Cambridge,
October, 1887.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

VOLUME I.

CHAPTER 1.I.--The Darwin Family.

CHAPTER 1.II.--Autobiography.

CHAPTER 1.III.--Reminiscences.

LETTERS.

CHAPTER 1.IV.--Cambridge Life--1828-1831.

CHAPTER 1.V.--The Appointment to the 'Beagle'--1831.

CHAPTER 1.VI.--The Voyage--1831-1836.

CHAPTER 1.VII.--London and Cambridge--1836-1842.

CHAPTER 1.VIII.--Religion.

CHAPTER 1.IX.--Life at Down--1842-1854.

CHAPTER 1.X.--The Growth of the 'Origin of Species.'

CHAPTER 1.XI.--The Growth of the 'Origin of Species'--Letters--1843-1856.

CHAPTER 1.XII.--The Unfinished Book--May 1856-June 1858.

CHAPTER 1.XIII.--The Writing of the 'Origin of Species'--June 18, 1858-
November 1859.

CHAPTER 1.XIV.--Professor Huxley on the Reception of the 'Origin of
Species.'

LIFE AND LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN.

VOLUME I.

CHAPTER 1.I.

THE DARWIN FAMILY.

The earliest records of the family show the Darwins to have been
substantial yeomen residing on the northern borders of Lincolnshire, close
to Yorkshire.  The name is now very unusual in England, but I believe that
it is not unknown in the neighbourhood of Sheffield and in Lancashire. 
Down to the year 1600 we find the name spelt in a variety of ways--Derwent,
Darwen, Darwynne, etc.  It is possible, therefore, that the family migrated
at some unknown date from Yorkshire, Cumberland, or Derbyshire, where
Derwent occurs as the name of a river.

The first ancestor of whom we know was one William Darwin, who lived, about
the year 1500, at Marton, near Gainsborough.  His great grandson, Richard
Darwyn, inherited land at Marton and elsewhere, and in his will, dated
1584, "bequeathed the sum of 3s. 4d. towards the settynge up of the
Queene's Majestie's armes over the quearie (choir) doore in the parishe
churche of Marton."  (We owe a knowledge of these earlier members of the
family to researches amongst the wills at Lincoln, made by the well-known
genealogist, Colonel Chester.)

The son of this Richard, named William Darwin, and described as
"gentleman," appears to have been a successful man.  Whilst retaining his
ancestral land at Marton, he acquired through his wife and by purchase an
estate at Cleatham, in the parish of Manton, near Kirton Lindsey, and fixed
his residence there.  This estate remained in the family down to the year
1760.  A cottage with thick walls, some fish-ponds and old trees, now alone
show where the "Old Hall" once stood, and a field is still locally known as
the "Darwin Charity," from being subject to a charge in favour of the poor
of Marton.  William Darwin must, at least in part, have owed his rise in
station to his appointment in 1613 by James I. to the post of Yeoman of the
Royal Armoury of Greenwich.  The office appears to have been worth only 33
pounds a year, and the duties were probably almost nominal; he held the
post down to his death during the Civil Wars.

The fact that this William was a royal servant may explain why his son,
also named William, served when almost a boy for the King, as "Captain-
Lieutenant" in Sir William Pelham's troop of horse.  On the partial
dispersion of the royal armies, and the retreat of the remainder to
Scotland, the boy's estates were sequestrated by the Parliament, but they
were redeemed on his signing the Solemn League and Covenant, and on his
paying a fine which must have struck his finances severely; for in a
petition to Charles II. he speaks of his almost utter ruin from having
adhered to the royal cause.

During the Commonwealth, William Darwin became a barrister of Lincoln's
Inn, and this circumstance probably led to his marriage with the daughter
of Erasmus Earle, serjeant-at-law; hence his great-grandson, Erasmus
Darwin, the Poet, derived his Christian name.  He ultimately became
Recorder of the city of Lincoln.

The eldest son of the Recorder, again called William, was born in 1655, and
married the heiress of Robert Waring, a member of a good Staffordshire
family.  This lady inherited from the family of Lassells, or Lascelles, the
manor and hall of Elston, near Newark, which has remained ever since in the
family.  (Captain Lassells, or Lascelles, of Elston was military secretary
to Monk, Duke of Albemarle, during the Civil Wars.  A large volume of

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