64 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY cHAP. Ill 



liarmonise it with his prepossessions, without disturbing 

 its physical principles in any way. 



He certainly showed far more knowledge and 

 appreciation of tlie contents of the Origin than any of the 

 reviewers and than any of the commentators, yourself 

 excepted. 



Latterly he got deeper and deejser into theological and 

 metaphysical wanderings, and finally formulated his ideas 

 in an illogical fashion. 



... Be all this as it may, Dana seems to be in a 

 muddle on p. 20, and quite a self- sought one. — Ever 

 yours, J, D. Hooker. 



The following is a letter of thanks to Mrs. 

 Hunaphry AVard for her novel liohert Elsmere. 



Bournemouth, March 15, 1888. 



My dear Mrs. Ward — My wife thanked you for your 

 book which you were so kind as to send us. But that 

 was grace before meat, which lacks the " physical basis " of 

 after-thanlisgiving — and I am going to supplement it, 

 after my most excellent repast. 



I am not going to praise the charming style, because 

 that was in the blood and you deserve no sort of credit 

 for it. Besides, I should be stepping beyond my last. 

 But as an observer of the human ant-hill — quite impartial 

 by this time — I think your picture of one of the deeper 

 aspects of our troubled time admirable. 



You are very hard on the philosophers. I do not 

 know whether Langham or the Squire is the more 

 unpleasant — but I have a great deal of sympathy with 

 the latter, so I hope he is not the worst. 



If I may say so, I think the picture of Catherine is 

 the gem of the book. She reminds me of her namesake 

 of Siena — and would as little have failed in any duty, 

 however gruesome. You remember Sodoma's picture. 



