1889 DEFENCE OF AGNOSTICISM 109 



abstain from smiting him and his brother Amalekite, I 

 have tried to turn the tide of battle to matters of more 

 importance. 



The pith of my article is the proposition that Christ 

 was not a Christian. I have not ventured to state my 

 thesis exactly in that form — fearing the Editor — but, in 

 a mild and proper way, I flatter myself I have demon- 

 strated it. Eeally, when I come to think of the claims 

 made by orthodox Christianity on the one hand, and of 

 the total absence of foundation for them on the other, I 

 find it hard to abstain from using a phrase which shocked 

 me very much when Strauss first applied it to the 

 Eesurrection, " Welthistorischer Humbug ! " 



I don't think I have ever seen the portrait you speak 

 of. I remember the artist — a clever fellow, whose name, 

 of course, I forget — but I do not think I saw his finished 

 work. Some of these days I will ask to see it. 



I was pretty well finished after the wedding, and bolted 

 here the next day. I am sorry to say I could not get my 

 wife to come with me. If she does not knock up I shall 

 be pleasantly surprised. The young couple are flourish- 

 ing in Paris. I like what I have seen of him very much. 



What is the " Cloister scheme " ? ^ Recollect how far 

 away I am from the world, the flesh and the d . 



Are you and Mrs. Knowles going to imitate the example 

 of Eginhard and Emma ? What good pictures you will 

 have in your monastery church ! — Ever yours very faith- 

 fully, T. H. HUXLET. 



And again, a few days later : — 



3 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, 

 March 15, 1889. 



My dear Knowles — I am sending my proof back to 



Spottiswoode's. I did not think the MS. would make so 



^ It referred to a plan for using the cloisters of Westminster 

 Abbey to receive the monumcDts of distinguished men, so as to 

 avoid the necessity of enlarging the Abbey itself. 



