CH.VII PROFESSOR HUXLEY 85 



Lady Augusta Bruce, fifth daughter of the Earl of 

 Elgin (who had enriched the British Museum with 

 the Greek sculpture popularly known as the 

 ** Elgin Marbles"). Lady Flower writes : "She 

 had a charming personality and was highly accom- 

 plished ; brought up in Court, she had the most 

 perfect manners, but in her case they were only the 

 outward sign of the warm heart and high character 

 within. The chosen friend of Queen Victoria and 

 beloved by the Royal Family, Lady Augusta yet 

 devoted herself to the poorest of the poor in West- 

 minster, and entered heart and soul into her husband's 

 arduous life, showing a fine courage in supporting 

 him when his great liberality of thought brought 

 fierce attacks on him from those who could not 

 understand that the width of his views was due, 

 not to indifference to church tenets, but to depth of 

 feeling and the endeavour to lead men's thoughts 

 back to the simpler Christianity of the Apostolic age." 

 Flower's first acquaintance with Huxley was not 

 through the Stanleys, but arose from his early 

 friendship with Professor George Busk, who, after 

 being Surgeon to the Seamen's Hospital on the 

 Dreadnought, settled in Harley Street. Busk had 

 been the first person to encourage Huxley when he 

 returned from his Rattlesnake cruise. He was a 

 man of distinction in his profession, and became 

 President of the Royal College of Surgeons, but 

 his principal pleasure was in purely scientific 

 pursuits, and he, jointly with Huxley, translated 



