204 REMINISCENCES OF HUXLEY 
to Huxley and others. Four years afterward I went 
to London, to spend some time there in finishing 
“Cosmic Philosophy” and getting it through the 
press. I had corresponded with Spencer for several 
years, and soon after my arrival he gave one of his 
exquisite little dinners at his own lodgings. Spen- 
cer’s omniscience extended to the kitchen, and as 
composer of a menu neither Caréme nor Francatelli 
could have surpassed him. The other guests were 
Huxley, Tyndall, Lewes, and Hughlings Jackson. 
Huxley took but little notice of me, and I fancied that 
something in those lectures must have offended him. 
But two or three weeks later Spencer took me to the 
dinner at the X Club, all the members of which were 
present except Lubbock. When the coffee was served 
Huxley brought his chair around to my side, and 
talked with me the rest of the evening. My impression 
was that he was the cosiest man I had ever met. He 
ended by inviting me to his house for the next Sunday 
at six, for what he called “tall tea.” 
This was the introduction to a series of experiences 
so delightful that, if one could only repeat them, the 
living over again all the bad quarters of an hour in 
one’s lifetime would not be too high a price to pay. 
I was already at home in several London households, 
but nowhere was anything so sweet as the cordial wel- 
come in that cosey drawing-room on Marlborough Place, 
where the great naturalist became simply “ Pater” (pro- 
nounced Pater), to be pulled about and tousled and 
kissed by those lovely children; nor could anything 
so warm the heart of an exile (if so melancholy a term 
can properly be applied to anybody sojourning in be- 
loved London) as to have the little seven-year-old miss 
