Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, vol 1 | Page 8

a steep bank leading
down to the Severn. The terraced bank is traversed by a long walk,
leading from end to end, still called "the Doctor's Walk." At one point
in this walk grows a Spanish chestnut, the branches of which bend back
parallel to themselves in a curious manner, and this was Charles
Darwin's favourite tree as a boy, where he and his sister Catherine had
each their special seat.
The Doctor took a great pleasure in his garden, planting it with
ornamental trees and shrubs, and being especially successful in
fruit-trees; and this love of plants was, I think, the only taste kindred to
natural history which he possessed. Of the "Mount pigeons," which
Miss Meteyard describes as illustrating Dr. Darwin's natural-history
taste, I have not been able to hear from those most capable of knowing.
Miss Meteyard's account of him is not quite accurate in a few points.
For instance, it is incorrect to describe Dr. Darwin as having a
philosophical mind; his was a mind especially given to detail, and not
to generalising. Again, those who knew him intimately describe him as
eating remarkably little, so that he was not "a great feeder, eating a
goose for his dinner, as easily as other men do a partridge." ('A Group
of Englishmen,' page 263.) In the matter of dress he was conservative,
and wore to the end of his life knee-breeches and drab gaiters, which,
however, certainly did not, as Miss Meteyard says, button above the
knee--a form of costume chiefly known to us in grenadiers of Queen
Anne's day, and in modern wood-cutters and ploughboys.
Charles Darwin had the strongest feeling of love and respect for his
father's memory. His recollection of everything that was connected
with him was peculiarly distinct, and he spoke of him frequently;
generally prefacing an anecdote with some such phrase as, "My father,
who was the wisest man I ever knew, etc..." It was astonishing how
clearly he remembered his father's opinions, so that he was able to

quote some maxims or hint of his in most cases of illness. As a rule, he
put small faith in doctors, and thus his unlimited belief in Dr. Darwin's
medical instinct and methods of treatment was all the more striking.
His reverence for him was boundless and most touching. He would
have wished to judge everything else in the world dispassionately, but
anything his father had said was received with almost implicit faith. His
daughter Mrs. Litchfield remembers him saying that he hoped none of
his sons would ever believe anything because he said it, unless they
were themselves convinced of its truth,--a feeling in striking contrast
with his own manner of faith.
A visit which Charles Darwin made to Shrewsbury in 1869 left on the
mind of his daughter who accompanied him a strong impression of his
love for his old home. The then tenant of the Mount showed them over
the house, etc., and with mistaken hospitality remained with the party
during the whole visit. As they were leaving, Charles Darwin said, with
a pathetic look of regret, "If I could have been left alone in that
green-house for five minutes, I know I should have been able to see my
father in his wheel-chair as vividly as if he had been there before me."
Perhaps this incident shows what I think is the truth, that the memory
of his father he loved the best, was that of him as an old man. Mrs.
Litchfield has noted down a few words which illustrate well his feeling
towards his father. She describes him as saying with the most tender
respect, "I think my father was a little unjust to me when I was young,
but afterwards I am thankful to think I became a prime favourite with
him." She has a vivid recollection of the expression of happy reverie
that accompanied these words, as if he were reviewing the whole
relation, and the remembrance left a deep sense of peace and gratitude.
What follows was added by Charles Darwin to his autobiographical
'Recollections,' and was written about 1877 or 1878.
"I may here add a few pages about my father, who was in many ways a
remarkable man.
"He was about 6 feet 2 inches in height, with broad shoulders, and very
corpulent, so that he was the largest man whom I ever saw. When he
last weighed himself, he was 24 stone, but afterwards increased much
in weight. His chief mental characteristics were his powers of
observation and his sympathy, neither of which have I ever seen
exceeded or even equalled. His sympathy was not only with the

distresses of others, but in a greater degree with the pleasures of all
around him. This led him to be always scheming to give pleasure