446 MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS [Chap. XII 



Letter 781 wife and self thought that, under these new circumstances, he 

 was most fully justified in altering his will and leaving his 

 property in some other way. I begged him to take a week 

 to consider what I had told him, and then by letter to inform 

 me of the result. But he would not, however, hardly allow 

 me to finish what I had to say, and expressed a firm deter- 

 mination not to alter his will, adding that I had five sons to 

 provide for. After a short pause he implied (but unfortunately 

 he here became very confused and forgot a word, which on 

 subsequent reflection I think was probably " reversionary ") 

 — he implied that there was a chance, whether good or bad I 

 know not, of his becoming possessed of some other property, 

 and he finished by saying distinctly, " I will bequeath this 

 to Huxley." What the amount may be (I fear not large), 

 and what the chance may be, God only knows ; and one 

 cannot cross-examine a man about his will. He did not bind 

 me to secrecy, so I think I am justified in telling you what 

 passed, but whether it is wise on my part to send so vague a 

 story, I am not at all sure ; but as a general rule it is best to 

 tell everything. As I know that you hate writing letters, do 

 not trouble yourself to answer this. 



P.S. — On further reflection I should like to hear that you 

 receive this note safely. I have used up all my black-edged 

 paper. 



Letter 782 To Anthony Rich. 



Down, Feb. 4th, 1882. 

 It is always a pleasure to me to receive a letter from you. 

 I am very sorry to hear that you have been more troubled 

 than usual with your old complaint. Any one who looked 

 at you would think that you had passed through life with few 

 evils, and yet you have had an unusual amount of suffering. 

 As a turnkey remarked in one of Dickens' novels, " Life is a 

 rum thing." * As for myself, I have been better than usual 

 until about a fortnight ago, when I had a cough, and this 

 pulled me down and made me miserable to a strange degree ; 

 but my dear old wife insisted on my taking quinine, and, 



1 This we take to be an incorrect version of Mr. Raker's remark (in 

 reference to Tom Martin, the Butcher), " What a rum thing Time is, 

 ain't it, Neddy?" {Pickwick, Chap. XLII.). A careful student finds that' 

 women are also apostrophised as "rum": see the remarks of the dirty- 

 faced man {Pickwick, Chap. XIV.). 



