1^8 LIF E OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP, x 



look well ahead if a big room is to be secured. So if you can 

 possibly settle that point, pray do. 



There seems to have been some oversight on my wife's part 

 about the invitation, but she is stating her own case. We go on 

 a visit to Mrs. Darwin to Cambridge on Saturday week, and the 

 Saturday after that I am bound to be at Eton. 



Moreover, I have sacrificed to the public Moloch so far as to 

 promise to take the chair at a public meeting in favour of a Free 

 Library for Marylebone on the 7th. As Wednesday's work at 

 the Geological Society and the soiree knocked me up all yester- 

 day, I shall be about finished I expect on the 8th. If you are 

 going to be at Hindhead after that, and would have us for a day, 

 it would be jolly; but I cannot be away long, as I have some 

 work to finish before I go abroad. 



I never was so uncomfortable in my life, I think, as on 



Wednesday when "L was speaking, just in front of me, at 



the University. Of course I was in entire sympathy with the 

 tenor of his speech, but I was no less certain of the impolicy of 

 giving a chance to such a master of polished putting-down as 

 the Chancellor. You know Mrs. Carlyle said that Owen's sweet- 

 ness reminded her of sugar of lead. Granville's was that plus 

 butter of antimony ! Ever yours very faithfully, 



T. H. HUXLEY. 



N.B. Don't swear, but get Mrs. Tyndall, who is patient and 

 good-tempered, to read this long screed. 



May 18, 1887. 



MY DEAR TYNDALL I was very glad to get your letter 

 yesterday morning, and I conveyed your alteration at once to 

 Riicker, who is acting as secretary. I asked him to communi- 

 cate with you directly to save time. 



I hear that the proposal has been received very warmly by 

 all sorts and conditions of men, and that is quite apart from any 

 action of your closer personal friends. Personally I am rather 

 of your mind about the " dozen or score " of the faithful. But 

 as that was by no means to the mind of those who started the 

 project, and, moreover, might have given rise to some heart- 

 burning, I have not thought it desirable to meddle with the 

 process of spontaneous combustion. So look out for a big bon- 

 fire somewhere in the middle of June ! I have a hideous cold, 

 and can only hope that the bracing air of Cambridge, where 

 we go on Saturday, may set me right. Ever yours very faith- 

 fully, T. H. HUXLEY. 



