xxii INTRODUCTION 



pains In preparation. Such was the case with Huxley, 

 who once wrote: ''I have a great love and respect for my 

 native tongue, and take great pains to use it properly. 

 Sometimes I write essays half a dozen times before I can 

 get them into proper shape." His only rule of style was 

 to have clear conceptions and then to express them. Clear- 

 ness, simplicity, dignity, conciseness are not gifts of the 

 gods, but only result from much careful practice. By no 

 other method did Huxley acquire these powers, for after 

 one of his early lectures a note was sent to the authorities 

 asking ''not to have that young man again." But he 

 accepted criticism from, any source, and persevered until 

 he became one of the masters of English prose. 



Three of the addresses in this volume, those On a Piece 

 of Chalk, A Liberal Education, and The Physical Basis 

 of Life, his son considers to represent best Huxley's mature 

 style, for in them he was able to say ''exactly what he 

 meant, neither too much nor too little, without confusion 

 and without obscurity. This was the secret of his lucidity." 

 x\ll of these addresses were, no doubt, delivered with the 

 ease, fluency and effectiveness for which Huxley was noted. 

 What his manner was has been accurately described by 

 Professor Mivart, who says: "He was my very ideal of a 

 lecturer: Distinct in utterance, with an agreeable voice, 

 lucid as it w^as possible to be in exposition, with admirably 

 chosen language, sufficiently rapid, yet never hurried, 

 often impressive in manner, yet never otherwise than com- 

 pletely natural, and sometimes allowing his audience a 

 glimpse of that rich fund of humor ever ready to well 

 forth when occasion pjermitted, sometimes accompanied 

 with an extra gleam in his bright dark eyes, sometimes 

 expressed with a dryness and gravity of look which gave 

 it a double zest." 



