go LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP, v 



with it. But what am I to do? I must give up all or nothing 

 and I shall certainly come to grief if I do not have a long rest. 



Pray tell me what you think about it all. 



My wife has written to Mrs. Donnelly and told her the news. 

 Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. HUXLEY. 



Read Hobbes if you want to get hard sense in good English. 



HlGHCROFT HOUSE, MlLFORD, GODALMING, 



Sept. 10, 1884. 



MY DEAR DONNELLY Many thanks for your kind letter. I 

 feel rather like a deserter, and am glad of any crumbs of com- 

 fort. 



Cartwright has done wonders for me, and I can already 

 eat most things (I draw the line at tough crusts). I have not 

 even my old enemy, dyspepsia but eat, drink, and sleep like 

 a top. 



And withal I am as tired as if I were hard at work, and shirk 

 walking. 



So far as I can make out there is not the slightest sign of 

 organic disease anywhere, but I \vill get Clark to overhaul me 

 when I go back to town. Sometimes I am inclined to suspect 

 that it is all sham and laziness but then why the deuce should 

 I want to sham and be lazy. 



Somebody started a charming theory years ago that as you 

 get older and lose volition, primitive evil tendencies, heretofore 

 mastered, come out and show themselves. A nice prospect for 

 venerable old gentlemen ! 



Perhaps my crust of industry is denuded, and the primitive 

 rock of sloth is cropping out. 



But enough of this egotistical invalidism. 



How wonderfully Gordon is holding his own. I should like 

 to see him lick the Mahdi into fits before Wolseley gets up. You 

 despise the Jews, but Gordon is more like one of the Maccabees 

 of Bar-Kochba than any sort of modern man. 



My wife sends love to both of you, and says you are (in 

 feminine language) " a dear thing in friends." Ever yours very 

 faithfully, T. H. HUXLEY. 



HOME OFFICE, Sept. 18, 1884. 



MY DEAR DONNELLY We have struck our camp at Milford, 

 and I am going down to Devonshire and Cornwall to-morrow 

 partly on Fishery business, partly to see if I can shake myself 

 straighter by change of air. I am possessed by seven devils not 



