378 



LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, xxi 



speak at Oxford would be in succession to Gladstone, on " Evo- 

 lution and Ethics " as an invited lecturer ? 



There was something so quaint about the affair that I really 

 could not resist, though the wisdom of putting so much strain on 

 my creaky timbers is very questionable. Mind you wish me well 

 through it at 2.30 on Thursday. 



I wish we could have better news of you. As to dying by 

 inches, that is what we are all doing, my dear old fellow ; the only 

 thing is to establish a proper ratio between inch and time. Eight 

 years ago I had good reason to say the same thing of myself, 

 but my inch has lengthened out in a most extraordinary way. 

 Still I confess we are getting older; and my dear wife has been 

 greatly shaken by repeated attacks of violent pain which seizes 

 her quite unexpectedly. I am always glad, both on her account 

 and my own, to get back into the quiet and good air here as fast 

 as possible, and in another year or two, if I live so long, I shall 

 clear out of all engagements that take me away. . . . 



T. H. Huxley. 



Not to be answered, and you had better get Mrs. Tyndall to 

 read it to you or you will say naughty words about the scrawl. 



Sanguine as he had resolved to be about the recovery 

 of his voice, his fear lest " 1000 out of the 2000 won't hear " 

 was very near realisation. The Sheldonian Theatre was 

 thronged before he appeared on the platform, a striking 

 presence in his D.C.L. robes, and looking very leonine with 

 his long silvery gray hair sweeping back in one long wave 

 from his forehead, and the rugged squareness of his features 

 tempered by the benignity of an old age which has seen 

 much and overcome much. He read the lecture from a 

 printed copy, not venturing, as he would have liked, upon 

 the severe task of speaking it from memory, considering 

 its length and the importance of preserving the exact word- 

 ing. He began in a somewhat low tone, nursing his voice 

 for the second half of the discourse. From the more distant 

 parts of the theatre came several cries of " speak up " ; and 

 after a time a rather disturbing migration of eager under- 

 graduates began from the galleries to the body of the hall. 

 The latter part was indeed more audible than the first ; still 

 a number of the audience were disappointed in hearing im- 

 perfectly. However, the lecture had a large sale; the first 



