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[in another hand] J. H. L. Compton

The Vicarage

Shoreham

Sevenoaks

Sept. 15

My dear Mr Darwin

My recollections of your father at school & college is very bright & sunny.

At Shrewsbury we slept in the same room for some years & often beguiled the night with pleasant conversation. He was always cheerful & good tempered & much beloved by his school fellows. He was not a great proficient in his school studies, but was always busy collecting beetles, butterflies &c. He spent some time most evenings with a blow-pipe at the gas-lights in our bedroom.

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At Cambridge I used to read Shakspere with him in his own room & he took great pleasure in these readings. He was also very fond of music, though not a performer & I generally got an order for him for Kings Coll. Chapel on Sunday evening.

In after life we never met though of course his name constantly came before me & I could not easily forget the pleasant days of old.

Believe me,

Yours faithfully

J.H. Lovett Cameron