iS8s RETIREMENT u j 



resignation of that " honourable office " which he could 

 no longer retain " with due regard to the interests of 

 the Society, and perhaps, I may add, of self-preserva- 

 tion." 



I am happy to say (he continued) that I have good reason 

 to believe that, with prolonged rest — by which I do not mean 

 idleness, but release from distraction and complete freedom from 

 those lethal agencies which are commonly known as the pleas- 

 ures of society — I may yet regain so much strength as is com- 

 patible with advancing years. But in order to do so, I must, 

 for a long time yet, be content to lead a more or less anchoritic 

 life. Now it is not fitting that your President should be a hermit, 

 and it becomes me, who have received so much kindness and 

 consideration from the Society, to be particularly careful that 

 no sense of personal gratification should delude me into holding 

 the office of its representative one moment after reason and con- 

 science have pointed out my incapacity to discharge the serious 

 duties which devolve upon the President, with some approach to 

 efficiency. 



I beg leave, therefore, with much gratitude for the crowning 

 honour of my life which you have conferred upon me, to be per- 

 mitted to vacate the chair of the Society as soon as the business 

 of this meeting is at an end. 



The settlement of the terms of the pension upon which, 

 after thirty-one years of service under Government, he re- 

 tired from his Professorship at South Kensington and the 

 Inspectorship of Fisheries, took a considerable time. The 

 chiefs of his own department, that of Education, wished 

 him to retire upon full pay, £1500 (see p. 21). The Treas- 

 ury were more economical. It was the middle of June 

 before the pension they proposed of £1200 was promised; 

 the end of July before he knew what conditions were at- 

 tached to it. 



On June 20, he writes to Mr. Mundella, Vice-President 

 of the Council : — 



My dear Mundella — Accept my warmest thanks for your 

 good wishes, and for all the trouble you have taken on my 

 behalf. I am quite ashamed to have been the occasion of so 

 much negotiation. 



Until I see the Treasury letter, I am unable to judge what 



