4 Selections from Huxley 



undertakes to revise the "biography" or he does not. In 

 the former case, he makes himself responsible ; in the latter, 

 he allows the publication of a mass of more or less ful- 

 some inaccuracies for which he will be held responsible 

 5 by those who are familiar with the prevalent art of self- 

 advertisement. On the whole, it may be better to get 

 over the " burlesque of being employed in this manner " 

 and do the thing himself. 



It was by reflections of this kind that, some years ago, I 

 10 was led to write and permit the publication of the sub- 

 joined sketch. 



I was born about eight o'clock in the morning on the 

 4th of May, 1825, at Ealing, which was, at that time, as 

 quiet a little country village as could be found within 



15 half-a-dozen miles of Hyde Park Corner. Now it is a 

 suburb of London with, I believe, 30,000 inhabitants. 

 My father was one of the masters in a large semi-public 

 school which at one time had a high reputation. I am not 

 aware that any portents preceded my arrival in this world, 



20 but, in my childhood, I remember having a traditional 

 account of the manner in which I lost the chance of an 

 endowment of great practical value. The windows of 

 my mother's room were open, in consequence of the un- 

 usual warmth of the weather. For the same reason, prob- 



25 ably, a neighboring beehive had swarmed, and the new 

 colony, pitching on the window-sill, was making its way 

 into the room when the horrified nurse shut down the sash. 

 If that well-meaning woman had only abstained from her 

 ill-timed interference, the swarm might have settled on 



30 my lips, and I should have been endowed with that mel- 

 lifluous eloquence which, in this country, leads far more 

 surely than worth, capacity, or honest work, to the high- 

 est places in church and state. But the opportunity was 



