It has always seemed obvious to me that Darwin ‘retired’ to Down House because of a persistent or recurrent embarrassment of physical, not psychological origin
Think Imodium ads on tv
Then think about the availability of water closets in mid Victorian England. Particularly in public buildings. Even in the 1980s august institutions – think Royal Society, or think theatres, hardly offered modern conveniences. The facilities, up odd winding bits of staircase, or down in the basement, were not easily accessible in a hurry
Think buttons, not zips
Then decide if you would not rather spend most of your time at home, especially if that home could be the kind of joyous happily family residence which your friends would be only too pleased to visit
A romantic tale of a lonely internalised struggle between prevailing religion & scientific truth this is not
But not the less heroic for that
