ching
words may be taken as a true forecast of his happy married life.

In March 1885 George acquired by purchase the house Newnham Grange,
{172b} which remained his home to the end of his life. It stands at the
southern end of the 'Backs,' within a few yards of the river where it
bends eastward in flowing from the upper to the lower of the two Newnham
water-mills. I remember forebodings as to dampness, but they proved
wrong--even the cellars being remarkably dry. The house is built of
faded yellowish bricks, with old tiles on the roof, and has a pleasant
home-like air. It was formerly the house of the Beales family, {173a}
one of the old merchant stocks of Cambridge. This fact accounts for the
great barn-like granaries which occupied much of the plot near the high
road. These buildings were in part pulled down, thus making room for a
lawn tennis court, while what was not demolished made a gallery looking
on the court, as well as play-room for the children. At the eastern end
of the property a cottage and part of the granaries were converted into a
small house of an attractively individual character, for which I think
tenants have hitherto been easily found among personal friends. One of
the most pleasant features of the Grange was the flower-garden and
rockery on the other side of the river, reached by a wooden bridge and
called "the Little Island." {173b} The house is conveniently close to
the town, yet has a most pleasant outlook, to the north over the Backs
while there is the river and the Fen to the south. The children had a
den or house in the branches of a large copper beech tree overhanging the
river. They were allowed to use the boat, which was known as the
_Griffin_, from the family crest with which it was adorned. None of them
were drowned, though accidents were not unknown; in one of these an
eminent lady and well-known writer, who was inveigled on to the river by
the children, had to wade to shore near Silver Street bridge owing to the
boat running aground.

The Darwins had five children, of whom one died an infant: of the others,
Charles Galton Darwin has inherited much of his father's mathematical
ability, and has been elected to a Mathematical Lectureship at Christ's
College. He is now in the Army, and employed in research work in France.
The younger son, William, has a commission in the 18th Battalion of the
Durham Light Infantry, and is now working with his brother. George's
elder daught