THE MAN 57 



but, eager to return to active life, he was " glad to see 

 one's own dear native mud again. There is no 

 foreign mud to come near it." l London, however, 

 with its social beguilements, had long ceased to at- 

 tract him, and the old home in Marlborough Place 

 (charged for many a guest with delightful memories 

 of Sunday evenings, with their conversation grave and 

 gay), where he had lived since 1872, was given up, 

 and Eastbourne fixed upon. There, through a timely 

 legacy, he was able to build himself a house which he 

 called Hodeslea, the ancestral form of the family 

 name. There he lived from 1890 until his death, 

 dividing his time between his books, his garden, and 

 his grandchildren. He left it only at short and rare 

 intervals to discharge the remnants of duties devolv- 

 ing upon him as honorary Dean of the Royal College 

 of Science and as a Trustee of the British Museum. 

 One notable journey was made in 1892. Fifteen 

 years before then, Lord Salisbury had invited Hux- 

 ley's opinion as to a " formal recognition of dis- 

 tinguished services in science, literature, and art by 

 the granting of titles." Against this Huxley ex- 

 pressed himself strongly. 2 But when the dignity of 

 a Privy Councillorship was offered him, he accepted 

 it, because, as he wrote to Sir J. Donnelly — 



I have always been dead against orders of merit and 

 ill. 103. »L 359. 



