1893 THE ROMANES LECTURE 377 



I had next to no symptoms except debility, and though I am 

 much better I cannot quite shake that off. As usual with me it 

 affects my voice. I hope this will get right before this day month, 

 but I expect I shall have to nurse it. I do not want to interfere 

 with any of your hospitable plans, and I think if you will ensure 

 me quiet on the morning of the i8th (I understand the lecture 

 is in the afternoon) it will suffice. After the thing is over I am 

 ready for anything from pitch and toss onwards. 



Two more letters dated before the :8th of May touch on 

 the circumstances of the lecture. One is to his son-in-law, 

 John Collier ; the other to his old friend Tyndall, the last he 

 ever wrote him, and containing a cheery reference to the 

 advance of old age. 



HODESLEA, EASTBOURNE, May 9, 1893. 



MY DEAR JACK . . . M is better, and I am getting my 



voice back. But may St. Ernulphus' curse descend on influenza 

 microbes ! They tried to work their way out at my nose, and 

 converted me into a disreputable Captain Costigan-looking per- 

 son ten days ago. Now they are working at my lips. 



For the credit of the family I hope I shall be more reputable 

 by the i8th. 



I hope you will appreciate my dexterity. The lecture is a 

 regular egg-dance. That I should discourse on Ethics to the 

 University of Oxford and say all I want to say, without a word 

 anybody can quarrel with, is decidedly the most piquant occur- 

 rence in my career. . . . Ever yours affectionately, 



PATER. 

 P.S. to be read first. 



EASTBOURNE, May 15, 1893. 



MY DEAR TYNDALL There are not many apples (and those 

 mostly of the crab sort) left upon the old tree, but I send you 

 the product of the last shaking. Please keep it out of any hands 

 but your wife's and yours till Thursday, when I am to " stand 

 and deliver " it, if I have voice enough, which is doubtful. The 

 sequelae of influenza in my case have been mostly pimples and 

 procrastination, the former largely on my nose, so that I have 

 been a spectacle. Besides these, loss of voice. The pimples are 

 mostly gone and the procrastination is not much above normal, 

 but what will happen when I try to fill the Sheldonian Theatre 

 is very doubtful. 



Who would have thought thirty-three years ago, when the 

 great " Sammy ' fight came off, that the next time I should 



