18 HUXLEY 



to be beyond the reach of thinking men in these 

 days, but courage and silence are left." Never- 

 theless, he never entirely gave up hope, and we find 

 him writing to his future wife as follows : " My 

 course in life is taken. I ■will not leave London — 

 I will make myself a name and a position, as well 

 as an income, by some kind of piursuit connected 

 with science, which is the thing for which Nature 

 has fitted me, if she has ever fitted any one for any- 

 thing. Bethink yourself whether you can cast aside 

 all repining, and all doubt, and devote yourself in 

 patience and trust to helping me along my path 

 as no one else can." So the period of depression 

 lasted until November 1853, to be dispelled by the 

 loving trust and confidence of his betrothed. There 

 is no doubt whatever that it was entirely due to her 

 faith and constancy that his career was made possible, 

 and when once he had been persuaded to go on in the 

 line he had taken, his prospects seemed to brighten. 

 He began to find a market for his literary work, 

 and first one publisher and then another began to 

 approach him with paid work, so that it was not 

 long before he estimated he would make £250 a year 

 from his pen. 



