1893 CRITICISMS ON THE ROMANES LECTURE 301 



But this prospect need not interfere with sending our 

 hearty congratulations to Lady Farrer and yourself. 



As for your criticisms, don't you know that I am 

 become a reactionary and secret friend of the clerics ? 



My lecture is really an effort to put the Christian doc- 

 trine that Satan is the Prince of this world upon a 

 scientific foundation. 



Just consider it in this light, and you will understand 

 why I was so warmly welcomed in Oxford. (N.B. — The 

 only time I spoke before was in 1860, when the great 

 row with Samuel came off ! !) — Ever yours very faithfully, 



T. H. Huxley. 



HoDESLEA, Eastbourne, 

 July 15, 1893. 



My dear Skelton — I fear I must admit that even 

 a Gladstonian paper occasionally tells the truth. They 

 never mean to, but we all have our lapses from the rule of 

 life we have laid down for ourselves, and must be charitable. 



The fact is, I got influenza in the spring, and have 

 never managed to shake right again, any tendency that 

 way being well counteracted by the Romanes lecture and 

 its accompaniments. 



So we are off to the Maloja to-morrow. It mended 

 up the shaky old heart-pump five years ago, and I hope 

 will again. 



I have been in Orkney, and believe in the air, but I 

 cannot say quite so much for the scenery. I thought it 

 just a wee little bit, shall I say, bare ? But then I have 

 a passion for mountains. 



I shall be right glad to know what your H.O.M. i 

 has to say about Ethics and Evolution. You must 

 remember that my lecture was a kind of egg-dance. 

 Good manners bound me over to say nothing offensive to 



^ The "Old Man of Hoy," a pseudonym under wbicli Sir J. 

 Skelton wrote. 



