1881 WORK AS FISHERY INSPECTOR 27 



In conversation Professor Huxley displayed the quality 

 which distinguished him both as a writer and a public speaker. 

 He invariably used the right words in the right sense. Those 

 who are jointly responsible — as he and I were often jointly 

 responsible — for some written document, have exceptional op- 

 portunities of observing this quality. Professor Huxley could 

 always put his finger on a wrong word, and he always instinc- 

 tively chose the right one. It was this qualification — a much 

 rarer one than people imagine — which made Professor Huxley's 

 essays clear to the meanest understanding, and which made him, 

 in my judgment, the greatest master of prose of his time. The 

 same quality was equally observable in his spoken speech. I 

 happened to be present at the anniversary dinner of the Royal 

 Society, at which Professor Huxley made his last speech. And, 

 as he gave an admirable account of the share which he had 

 taken in defending Mr. Darwin against his critics, I overheard 

 the present Prime Minister * say, " What a beautiful speaker 

 he is." 



In 1882, the duti«s of another appointment forced me to 

 resign the Inspectorship, which I had held for so long: and 

 thenceforward my residence in the Isle of Man gave me fewer 

 opportunities of seeing Professor Huxley : our friendship, how- 

 ever, remained unbroken; and occasional visits to London gave 

 me many opportunities of renewing it. He retained his own 

 appointment as Inspector for more than three years after my 

 resignation. He served, during the closing months of his offi- 

 cialship, on a Royal Commission on trawling, over which the 

 late Lord Dalhousie presided. But his health broke down before 

 the commissioners issued their report, and he was ordered 

 abroad. It so happened that in the spring of 1885 I was staying 

 at Florence, when Professor and Mrs. Huxley passed through 

 it on their way home. He had at that time seen none of his 

 old friends, and was only slowly regaining strength. After his 

 severe illness Mrs. Huxley encouraged me to take him out for 

 many short walks, and I did my best to cheer him in his de- 

 pressed condition. He did not then think that he had ten years 

 of — on the whole — happy life before him. He told me that he 

 was about to retire from all his work, and he added, that he 

 had never enjoyed the Inspectorship after I had left it. I am 

 happy in believing that the remark was due to the depression 

 from which he was suffering, for he had written to me two 



* Lord Salisbury. 



