80 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, v 



with it. But what am I to do? I must give up all or nothing 

 — and I shall certainly come to grief if I do not have a long rest. 



Pray tell me what you think about it all. 



My wife has written to Mrs. Donnelly and told her the news. 

 — Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 



Read Hobbes if you want to get hard sense in good English. 



Highcroft House, Milford, Godalming, 

 Sept. 10, 1SS4. 



My dear Donnelly — Many thanks for your kind letter. I 

 feel rather like a deserter, and am glad of any crumbs of com- 

 fort. 



Cartwright has done wonders for me, and I can already 

 eat most things (I draw the line at tough crusts). I have not 

 even my old enemy, dyspepsia — but eat, drink, and sleep like 

 a top. 



And withal I am as tired as if I were hard at work, and shirk 

 walking. 



So far as I can make out there is not the slightest sign of 

 organic disease anywhere, but I will get Clark to overhaul me 

 when I go back to town. Sometimes I am inclined to suspect 

 that it is all sham and laziness — but then why the deuce should 

 I want to sham and be lazy. 



Somebody started a charming theory years ago — that as you 

 get older and lose volition, primitive evil tendencies, heretofore 

 mastered, come out and show themselves. A nice prospect for 

 venerable old gentlemen ! 



Perhaps my crust of industry is denuded, and the primitive 

 rock of sloth is cropping out. 



But enough of this egotistical invalidism. 



How wonderfully Gordon is holding his own. I should like 

 to see him lick the Mahdi into fits before Wolseley gets up. You 

 despise the Jews, but Gordon is more like one of the Maccabees 

 of Bar-Kochba than any sort of modern man. 



My wife sends love to both of you, and says you are (in 

 feminine language) " a dear thing in friends." — Ever yours very 

 faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 



Home Office, Sept. 18, 1SS4. 



My dear Donnelly — We have struck our camp at Milford, 



and I am going down to Devonshire and Cornwall to-morrow 



— partly on Fishery business, partly to see if I can shake myself 



straighter by change of air. I am possessed by seven devils — not 



