Part 1 (1/2)

The Autobiography of Charles Darwin

by Charles Darwin

[My father's autobiographical recollections, given in the present chapter, ritten for his children,--and written without any thought that they would ever be published To many this may seem an impossibility; but those who knew my father will understand hoas not only possible, but natural The autobiography bears the heading, 'Recollections of the Develop note:--”Aug 3, 1876 This sketch of h Wedgwood's house in Surrey), and since then I have written for nearly an hour on most afternoons” It will easily be understood that, in a narrative of a personal and inties should occur which ht it necessary to indicate where such omissions are made It has been found necessary to make a few corrections of obvious verbal slips, but the number of such alterations has been kept down to thewritten to me for an account of the developraphy, I have thought that the atteht possibly interest my children or their children I know that it would have interested reatly to have read even so short and dull a sketch of the ht and did, and hoorked I have atte account ofback at my own life Nor have I found this difficult, for life is nearly over with

I was born at Shrewsbury on February 12th, 1809, and oes back only to when I was a few ele for sea-bathing, and I recollect some events and places there with some little distinctness

My ht years old, and it is odd that I can re about her except her death-bed, her black velvet gown, and her curiously constructed work-table In the spring of this same year I was sent to a day-school in Shrewsbury, where I stayed a year I have been told that I was er sister Catherine, and I believe that I was in hty boy

By the time I went to this day-school (Kept by Rev G Case, h Street Mrs Daras a Unitarian and attended Mr Case's chapel, and my father as a little boy went there with his elder sisters But both he and his brother were christened and intended to belong to the Church of England; and after his early boyhood he seeone to church and not to Mr Case's It appears (”St James' Gazette”, Dec 15, 1883) that a mural tablet has been erected to his memory in the chapel, which is non as the 'Free Christian Church') my taste for natural history, and , ell developed I tried to hton, as a schoolfellow ofa flower to school and saying that hisat the inside of the blossooes on, ”This greatly roused my attention and curiosity, and I enquired of him repeatedly how this could be done?”--but his lesson was naturally enough not transs, shells, seals, franks, coins, andwhich leads a man to be a syste in me, and was clearly innate, as none of my sisters or brother ever had this taste

One little event during this year has fixed itself very firmly in mybeen afterwards sorely troubled by it; it is curious as showing that apparently I was interested at this early age in the variability of plants! I told another little boy (I believe it was Leighton, who afterwards becaist and botanist), that I could produce variously coloured polyanthuses and pri them with certain coloured fluids, which was of course a monstrous fable, and had never been tried by iven to inventing deliberate falsehoods, and this was always done for the sake of causing exciteathered much valuable fruit from my father's trees and hid it in the shrubbery, and then ran in breathless haste to spread the news that I had discovered a hoard of stolen fruit

I must have been a very simple little fellohen I first went to the school A boy of the naht some cakes for which he did not pay, as the shopman trusted him When we came out I asked him why he did not pay for them, and he instantly answered, ”Why, do you not know that reat sum of ive whatever anted without payment to any one ore his old hat and moved [it] in a particular manner?” and he then showed me hoas moved He then went into another shop where he was trusted, and asked for so his hat in the proper manner, and of course obtained it without payo by yourself into that cake-shop (hoell I remeet whatever you like if you enerous offer, and went in and asked for so out of the shop, when the shopman made a rush at me, so I dropped the cakes and ran for dear life, and was astonished by being greeted with shouts of laughter by my false friend Garnett

I can say in my own favour that I was as a boy humane, but I owed this entirely to the instruction and example of my sisters I doubt indeed whether humanity is a natural or innate quality I was very fond of collecting eggs, but I never tookout of a bird's nest, except on one single occasion, when I took all, not for their value, but fro, and would sit for any nu the float; when at Maer (The house of his uncle, Josiah Wedgwood) I was told that I could kill the worms with salt and water, and froh at the expense probably of some loss of success

Once as a very little boy whilst at the day school, or before that time, I acted cruelly, for I beat a puppy, I believe, si could not have been severe, for the puppy did not howl, of which I feel sure, as the spot was near the house This act lay heavily onthe exact spot where the crime was cos being then, and for a long tis see their love from their masters

I re this year whilst at Mr Case's daily school,--na how clearly I can still see the horse with the man's e over the grave This scene deeply stirred whatever poetic fancy there was in reat school in Shrewsbury, and remained there for seven years still Midsummer 1825, when I was sixteen years old I boarded at this school, so that I had the great advantage of living the life of a true schoolboy; but as the distance was hardly more than a er intervals between the callings over and before locking up at night This, I think, was inup home affections and interests I remember in the early part of my school life that I often had to run very quickly to be in tienerally successful; but when in doubt I prayed earnestly to God to help me, and I well remember that I attributed , and enerally I was aided

I have heardboy, a strong taste for long solitary walks; but what I thought about I know not I often beca to school on the summit of the old fortifications round Shrewsbury, which had been converted into a public foot-path with no parapet on one side, I walked off and fell to the ground, but the height was only seven or eight feet Nevertheless the nu this very short, but sudden and wholly unexpected fall, was astonishi+ng, and seeists have, I believe, proved about each thought requiring quite an appreciable a could have been worse for the development of my mind than Dr Butler's school, as it was strictly classical, nothing else being taught, except a little ancient geography and history The school as aany language Especial attention was paid to verse-, and this I could never do well I had ood collection of old verses, which by patching together, sometimes aided by other boys, I could work into any subject Much attention was paid to learning by heart the lessons of the previous day; this I could effect with great facility, learning forty or fifty lines of Virgil or Ho chapel; but this exercise was utterly useless, for every verse was forgotten in forty-eight hours I was not idle, and with the exception of versification, generally worked conscientiously atcribs The sole pleasure I ever received from such studies, was froreatly

When I left the school I was for h nor low in it; and I believe that I was considered by all my masters and by my father as a very ordinary boy, rather below the common standard in intellect To my deepbut shooting, dogs, and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family” But my father, as the kindest man I ever knew and whose ry and so back as well as I can atmy school life, the only qualities which at this period pro and diversified tastes, much zeal for whatever interestedany coht Euclid by a private tutor, and I distinctly reeoave ht whichthe principle of the vernier of a barometer with respect to diversified tastes, independently of science, I was fond of reading various books, and I used to sit for hours reading the historical plays of Shakespeare, generally in an oldin the thick walls of the school I read also other poetry, such as Thomson's 'Seasons,' and the recently published poems of Byron and Scott I reat regret, all pleasure fro Shakespeare In connection with pleasure froht in scenery was first awakened intour on the borders of Wales, and this has lasted longer than any other aesthetic pleasure

Early in my school days a boy had a copy of the 'Wonders of the World,'

which I often read, and disputed with other boys about the veracity of soave me a wish to travel in ree of the ”Beagle” In the latter part of ; I do not believe that any one could have shownbirds Hoell I rereat that I hadof ood shot When at Caun to lass to see that I threw it up straight Another and better plan was to get a friend to wave about a lighted candle, and then to fire at it with a cap on the nipple, and if the aim was accurate the little puff of air would blow out the candle

The explosion of the cap caused a sharp crack, and I was told that the tutor of the college re it is, Mr

Darwin see a horse-whip in his room, for I often hear the crack when I pass under his s”

I had st the schoolboys, whom I loved dearly, and I think that my disposition was then very affectionate

With respect to science, I continued collecting minerals with much zeal, but quite unscientifically--all that I cared about was a new-_named_ mineral, and I hardly attempted to classify them I must have observed insects with some little care, for when ten years old (1819) I went for three weeks to Plas Edwards on the sea-coast in Wales, I was very e black and scarlet Heaena), and a Cicindela which are not found in Shropshi+re I al all the insects which I could find dead, for on consulting ht to kill insects for the sake ofWhite's 'Selborne,' I tookthe habits of birds, and even made notes on the subject In entleist