1886 LETTER TO SKELTON 453 



On the same day he wrote to Mr., afterwards Sir 

 John, Skelton : 



4 MARYBOROUGH PLACE, LONDON, N.W. 

 June 4, 1886. 



MY DEAR SKELTON A civil question deserves a civil 

 answer Yes. I am sorry to say I know nobody better 

 " what it is to be unfit for work." I have been trying 

 to emerge from that condition, first at Bournemouth, and 

 then at Ilkley, for the last five months, with such small 

 success that I find a few days in London knocks me up, 

 and I go back to the Yorkshire moors next week. 



We have no water-hens there nothing but peewits, 

 larks, and occasional grouse but the air and water are 

 of the best, and the hills quite high enough to bring 

 one's muscles into play. 



I suppose that Nebuchadnezzar was quite happy so 

 long as he grazed and kept clear of Babylon ; if so, I can 

 hold him for my Scripture parallel. 



I wish I could accept your moral No. 2, but there is 

 amazingly little evidence of " reverential care for un- 

 offending creation" in the arrangements of nature, that 

 I can discover. If our ears were sharp enough to hear 

 all the cries of pain that are uttered in the earth by 

 men and beasts, we should be deafened by one continuous 

 scream ! 



And yet the wealth of superfluous loveliness in the 

 world condemns pessimism. It is a hopeless riddle. 

 Ever yours, T. H. HUXLEY. 



Please remember me to Mrs. Skelton. 



The election of a new Headmaster (Dr. Warre) at 

 Eton, where he was a member of the Governing 

 Body, was a matter of no small concern to him at 

 this moment. Some parts of the existing system 



