iSSS THE "CASKET LETTERS" 



223 



Your volume turned up amidst a mountain of accumulated 

 books, papers, and letters, and I can only hope it has not been 

 too long without acknowledgment. 



I have been much interested in your argument about the 

 " Casket letters." The comparison of Crawford's deposition 

 with the Queen's letter leaves no sort of doubt that the writer 

 of one had the other before him; and under the circumstances 

 I do not see how it can be doubted that the Queen's letter is 

 forged. 



But though thus wholly agreeing with you in substance, I 

 cannot help thinking that your language on p. 341 may be seri- 

 ously pecked at. 



My experience of reporters leads me to think that thera 

 would be no discrepancy at all comparable to that between the 

 two accounts, and I speak from the woeful memories of the 

 many Royal Commissions I have wearied over. The accuracy 

 of a good modern reporter is really wonderful. 



And I do not think that " the two documents were drawn by 

 the same hand." I should say that the writer of the letter had 

 Crawford's deposition before him, and made what he considered 

 improvements here and there. 



You will say this letter is like Falstaff's reckoning, with 

 but a pennyworth of thanks to this monstrous quantity of 

 pecking. 



But the gratitude is solid and the criticism mere two dimen- 

 sion stuff. It is a charming book. 



With kind remembrances to Mrs. Skelton — Ever yours very 

 faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 



10 Southcliff Terrace, Eastbourne, Nov. 9, 1888. 



My dear Foster — We came here on Tuesday, on which day, 

 by ill luck, the east wind also started, and has been blowing half 

 a gale ever since. We are in the last house but one to the west, 

 and as high up as we dare go — looking out on the sea. The first 

 day we had to hold on to our chairs to prevent being blown away 

 in the sitting-room, but we have hired a screen and can now 

 croon over the fire without danger. 



A priori, the conditions cannot be said to have been promis- 

 ing for two people, one of whom is liable to bronchitis and rheu- 

 matism and the other to pleurisy, but, as I am so fond of rubbing 

 into Herbert Spencer, a priori reasonings are mostly bosh, and 

 we are thriving. 



With three coats on I find the air on Beachy Head eminently 



