420 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY cHAP. 



biblical criticism, composed his chief reading in these 

 later years. 



Fortune had ceased her buffets ; broken health was 

 restored ; and from his resting-place among his books 

 and his plants he watched keenly the struggle which 

 had now passed into other hands, still ready to strike 

 a blow if need be, or even, on rare occasions, to return 

 to the fighting line, as when he became a leader in the 

 movement for London University reform. 



His days at Eastbourne, then, were full of occupa- 

 tion, if not the occupation of former days. The day 

 began as early ; he never relaxed from the rule of an 

 eight o'clock breakfast. Then a pipe and an hour 

 and a half of letter-writing or working at an essay. 

 Then a short expedition around the garden, to inspect 

 the creepers, tend the saxifrages, or see how the 

 more exposed shrubs could best be sheltered from the 

 shrivelling winds. The gravelled terrace immediately 

 behind the house was called the Quarterdeck ; it was 

 the place for a brisk patrolling in uncertain weather 

 or in a north wind. In the lower garden was a parallel 

 walk protected from the south by a high double hedge 

 of cypress and golden elder, designed for shelter from 

 the summer sun and southerly winds. 



Then would follow another spell of work till near 

 one o'clock ; the weather might tempt him out again 

 before lunch ; but afterwards he was certain to be 

 out for an hour or two from half-past two. How- 

 ever hard it blew, and Eastbourne is seldom still, the 

 tiled walk along the sea-wall always offered the 



