Erasmus briefed Darwin on student life, suggesting race meetings at Newmarket and "four miles of beautiful turf - no mean galloping". After briefly lodging in Sidney Street until rooms in Christ's became free, Charles moved to a set of "most snug and comfortable rooms" in First Court. He later sent for his horse, and shared his rooms with his dog, Dash.
College statutes governed the rhythm of daily life from daily attendance at chapel to dinner in hall at 4pm. Charles was woken by his 'gyp' at 6.30am in time for early service followed by a modest breakfast. Then came lectures from 8am to 10am.
Except for occasional University lectures, afternoons were free for walking, beetle collecting and hunting. Charles spent hours in the Fitzwilliam Museum browsing the print collection and enjoyed choral music at King's College. Evenings were spent having supper with friends and playing cards.
The long vacation of 1828 saw Charles at Barmouth being tutored in classics and mathematics by "a very dull man". He found time for sailing, fishing, climbing the Welsh mountains and shooting birds for his collection.
After finals, Charles spent two more required terms of residence before graduation, studying geology and making field trips to the Cambridgeshire fens. He started to learn Spanish for a proposed expedition to the Canary Islands, and spent mornings in the Botanical Gardens: "I go and gaze at palm trees in the hot-house and come home and read Humboldt."
'I stick fast in the mud'
Darwin studied for an ordinary or Poll degree, an essential requirement before training for the Church. Although formally admitted in October, 1828 he did not take up his place at Christ's until the second term, because he had to brush up on his classics, grown rusty during his time at Edinburgh.
The curriculum consisted of mathematics, geometry, moral philosophy and classics. Charles despaired of mastering mathematics - "I stick fast in the mud at the bottom, and there I shall remain". He even daydreamed about "taking some long sea voyage, at no distant time, ... like one to India or the Antipodes." He escaped into the world of fiction, considering "Clarissa Harlowe, the most glorious novel ever written."
Students resorted to crammers and private tutors to help pass both college and University examinations. The preliminary University examination, taken in the fifth term, was known as the 'Little Go'. Charles wrote to Fox: "I am through my Little Go!!!...I am through through through. I could write the whole sheet full, with this delightful word....They are rather strict and ask a wonderful number of questions."
To his surprise Darwin was placed 10th in his finals. "I gained a good place...among the crowd of men who do not go in for honours."
'I cannot take orders'
Cambridge shaped Darwin's future, as well as providing the opportunity to make life-long friends.
Among the issues debated with friends were religion and slavery. Charles admitted to John Maurice Herbert that as he could not answer "yes" to the Bishop's question at ordination - 'Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Spirit?' - a career in the Church was increasingly in doubt. Herbert also recalled how "It stirred one's innermost depths to hear him descant upon & groan over the horrors of the slave trade."
Cambridge gave Charles the time to read widely. In this he was encouraged by Henslow: "His knowledge was great in botany, entomology, chemistry, mineralogy, and geology." He delighted in the works of William Paley, a Christ's Fellow, for their logic and lucidity, only rejecting his theory of intelligent design many years later.
Humbolt's scientific travel writing on Latin America and Herschel's philosophy of science influenced him most: they "stirred up in me a burning zeal to add even the most humble contribution to the noble structure of Natural Science."
On country strolls and at Barmouth Charles "entomologised most industriously, picking up creatures as he walked along, & bagging everything which seemed worthy of being pursued." His fascination went beyond collecting, shaping his thoughts on variety in nature and how it arose.