384 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY cHAP. 



square forehead, the square jaw, the tense lines of the 

 mouth, the deep Hashing dark eyes, the impression 

 of something more than strength he gave you, an im- 

 pression of sincerity, of solid force, of immovability, yet 

 with the gentleness arising from the serene consciousness 

 of his strength — all this belonged to Huxley and to him 

 alone. The first glance magnetised his audience. The 

 eyes were those of one accustomed to command, of one 

 having authority, and not fearing on occasion to use it. 

 The hair swept carelessly away from the broad forehead 

 and grew rather long behind, yet the length did not 

 suggest, as it often does, effeminacy. He was masculine 

 in everything — look, gesture, speech. Sparing of ges- 

 ture, sparing of emphasis, careless of mere rhetorical or 

 oratorical art, he had nevertheless the secret of the 

 highest art of all, whether in oratory or whatever else — 

 he had simplicity. The force was in the thought and 

 the diction, and he needed no other. The voice was 

 rather deep, low, but quite audible, at times sonorous, 

 and always full. He used the chest-notes. His manner 

 here, in the presence of this select and rather limited 

 audience — for the theatre of the Eoyal Institution holds, 

 I think, less than a thousand people — was exactly the 

 same as before a great company whom he addressed at 

 [Liverpool], as President of the British Association for 

 the Advancement of Science. I remember going late 

 to that, and having to sit far bade, yet hearing every 

 word easily ; and there too the feeling was the same, 

 that he had mastered his audience, taken possession of 

 them, and held them to the end in an unrelaxing grip, 

 as a great actor at his best does. There was nothing of 

 the actor about him, except that he knew how to stand 

 still, but masterful he ever was. 



Up to the time of his last illness, he regularly 

 breakfasted at eight, and avoided, as far as possible, 

 going out to that meal, a "detestable habit" as he 



