Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, vol 1 | Page 5

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 account books, countersigned in many
places by Monk, are now in the possession of my cousin Francis
Darwin. The accounts might possibly prove of interest to the
antiquarian or historian. A portrait of Captain Lassells in armour,
although used at one time as an archery-target by some small boys of
our name, was not irretrievably ruined.) A portrait of this William
Darwin at Elston shows him as a good-looking young man in a full-
bottomed wig.

This third William had two sons, William, and Robert who was
educated as a barrister. The Cleatham property was left to William, but
on the termination of his line in daughters reverted to the younger
brother, who had received Elston. On his mother's death Robert gave
up his profession and resided ever afterwards at Elston Hall. Of this
Robert, Charles Darwin writes (What follows is quoted from Charles
Darwin's biography of his grandfather, forming the preliminary notice
to Ernst Krause's interesting essay, 'Erasmus Darwin,' London, 1879,
page 4.):--
"He seems to have had some taste for science, for he was an early
member of the well-known Spalding Club; and the celebrated antiquary
Dr. Stukeley, in 'An Account of the almost entire Sceleton of a large
Animal,' etc., published in the 'Philosophical Transactions,' April and
May 1719, begins the paper as follows: 'Having an account from my
friend Robert Darwin, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn, a person of curiosity, of a
human sceleton impressed in stone, found lately by the rector of
Elston,' etc. Stukeley then speaks of it as a great rarity, 'the like whereof
has not been observed before in this island to my knowledge.' Judging
from a sort of litany written by Robert, and handed down in the family,
he was a strong advocate of temperance, which his son ever afterwards
so strongly advocated:--
>From a morning that doth shine, >From a boy that drinketh wine,
>From a wife that talketh Latine, Good Lord deliver me!
"It is suspected that the third line may be accounted for by his wife, the
mother of Erasmus, having been a very learned lady. The eldest son of
Robert, christened Robert Waring, succeeded to the estate of Elston,
and died there at the age of ninety-two, a bachelor. He had a strong
taste for poetry, like his youngest brother Erasmus. Robert also
cultivated botany, and, when an oldish man, he published his 'Principia
Botanica.' This book in MS. was beautifully written, and my father [Dr.
R.W. Darwin] declared that he believed it was published because his
old uncle could not endure that such fine caligraphy should be wasted.
But this was hardly just, as the work contains many curious notes on
biology--a subject wholly neglected in England in the last century. The
public, moreover, appreciated the book, as the copy in my possession is
the third edition."
The second son, William Alvey, inherited Elston, and transmitted it to

his granddaughter, the late Mrs. Darwin, of Elston and Creskeld. A
third son, John, became rector of Elston, the living being in the gift of
the family. The fourth son, the youngest child, was