ABSTRACT
In his essays for the Journal Robert wrote about the Balderstone family, based on his own, and in one first article justified their fecundity, joking that though he was a bit bemused at first at the constant arrival of infants, he became in the end inured. If Robert was trying to arouse a geological interest in his son, terraced markings and ancient ditches did nothing to achieve this. Robert’s mother died a week before the birth of his son, but there is no word of his feelings. His own mental balance was not fully restored, and this may have taken the edge off his responses, since his condition led to an intense and preoccupied introspection. Robert removed himself and his brood from the Free Church of St Cuthbert’s after being criticised from the pulpit, and in his private memos treated ministers almost with contempt, with many comic stories which made fun of their practices.
