I8S7 DEATH OF HIS DAUGHTER igi 



friends, he recalls her brilliant promise, her happy marriage, 

 her " faculty for art, which some of the best artists have told 

 me amounted to genius." But he was naturally reticent in 

 these matters, and would hardly write of his own griefs 

 unbidden even to old friends. 



85 Marina, St. Leonards, Nov. 21, 1887. 



My dear Spencer — You will not have forgotten my bright 

 girl Marian, who married so happily and with such bright pros- 

 pects half a dozen years ago? 



Well, she died three days ago of a sudden attack of pneu- 

 monia, which carried her off almost without warning. And I 

 cannot convey to you a sense of the terrible sufferings of the 

 last three years better than by saying that I, her father, who 

 loved her well, am glad that the end has come thus. . . . 



My poor wife is well-nigh crushed by the blow. For though 

 I had lost hope, it was not in the nature of things that she 

 should. 



Don't answer this — I have half a mind to tear it up— for 

 when one is in a pool of trouble there is no sort of good in 

 splashing other people. — Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 



As for his plans, he writes to Sir J. Hooker on Novem- 

 ber 21 : — 



I had set my heart on seeing you get the Copley on the 30th. 

 In fact, I made the Manchester people, to whom I had made a 

 promise to go down and address the Technical Education Asso- 

 ciation, change their day to the 29th for that reason. 



I cannot leave them in the lurch after stirring up the busi- 

 ness in the way I have done, and I must go and give my address. 

 But I must get back to my poor wife as fast as I can, and I can- 

 not face any more publicity than that which it would be cowardly 

 to shirk just now. So I shall not be at the Society except in the 

 spirit. — Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 



And again to Sir M. Foster: — 



You cannot be more sorry than I am that I am going to 

 Manchester, but I am not proud of chalking up " no popery " 

 and running away — for all Evans' and your chaff — and, having 

 done a good deal to stir up the Technical Education business 

 and the formation of the Association, I cannot leave them in 

 the lurch when they urgently ask for my services. . . . 



