394 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY cHAP. XV 



his scorn of everything mean or shifty, his firm determina- 

 tion to speak what he held to be truth at whatever cost 

 of popularity. And for these things " I loved the man, 

 and do honour to his memory, on this side idolatry, as 

 much as any." 



Even those 'who scarcely knew him apart from his 

 books, uudervv^ent the influence of that "determina- 

 tion to speak what he held to be truth." I may 

 perhaps be allowed to quote in illustration two 

 passages from letters to myself — one written by a 

 woman, the other by a man : — 



'"The surest -footed guide' is exactly true, to my 

 feeling. Everybody else, among the great, used to dis- 

 appoint one somewhere. He — never ! " 



" He was so splendidly brave that one can never repay 

 one's debt to him for his example. He made all pretence 

 about religious belief, and the kind of half -thinking things 

 out, and putting up in a slovenly way with half-formed 

 conclusions, seem the base thing which it really is." 



