Winter in the Riviera. 365 



If, as I suppose, there are deposits and stiffenings, these, 

 providing you do not again bring on an attack, will in 

 course of time, under fit regimen, decrease gradually. Are 

 you thinking of making any lecturing excursion ? If you 

 could do it with moderation, and make everything subor- 

 dinate itself to your physical requirements, it might prove 

 beneficial in all respects; for a little excitement of that 

 kind, being, I have no doubt, to you pleasurable, would 

 benefit your physical state. 



Fiske and his wife are coming to lunch with me to-day, 

 and I have asked Masson to meet them. Fiske has given 

 two lectures at the Royal Institution, but I have not heard 

 either. I was out of town when the first was delivered, 

 and yesterday, when the second was delivered, my attend- 

 ance at an Athenaeum committee was imperative. Huxley 

 spoke with praise of the first lecture. 



As to coming over to you, I have so much to do, and 

 the three months' absence in Egypt during the winter has 

 retarded me so much, that I cannot think of it at present. 

 I must (after sundry smaller matters are got out of hand) 

 continue the Political Institutions and complete and publish 

 the part before I think of anything in the shape of a long 

 holiday. 



