72 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP. Ill 



memorial of his visit. A friend not long after going 

 to the pyramids, was delighted to find himself thus 

 adjured by a donkey-boy, who tried to cut out his 

 rival with " Not him donkey, sah ; him donkey bad, 

 sah; my donkey good; my donkey Tessor-uxley 

 donkey, sah." It appears that the Cairo donkey- 

 boys have a way of naming their animals after 

 celebrities whom they have borne on their backs. 



While at Thebes, on his way down the river again, 

 he received news of the death of the second son of 

 Matthew Arnold, to whom he wrote the following 

 letter : 



THEBES, March 10, 1872. 



MY DEAR ARNOLD I cannot tell you how shocked 

 I was to see in the papers we received yesterday the 

 announcement of the terrible blow which has fallen 

 upon Mrs. Arnold and yourself. 



Your poor boy looked such a fine manly fellow the 

 last time I saw him, when we dined at your house, that 

 I had to read the paragraph over and over again before 

 I could bring myself to believe what I read. And it is 

 such a grievous opening of a wound hardly yet healed 

 that I hardly dare to think of the grief which must have 

 bowed down Mrs. Arnold and yourself. 



I hardly know whether I do well in writing to you. 

 If such trouble befell me there are very few people in the 

 world from whom I could bear even sympathy but you 

 would be one of them, and therefore I hope that you 

 will forgive a condolence which will reach you so late as 

 to disturb rather than soothe, for the sake of the hearty 

 affection which dictates it 



My wife has told me of the very kind letter you wrote 

 her. I was thoroughly broken down when I left England, 

 and did not get much, better until I fell into the utter 



