1895 THE FOUNDATIONS OF BELIEF 



421 



The story of how the article was written is told in the 

 following letters. It was suggested by Mr. Knowles, and 

 undertaken after perusal of the review of the book in the 

 Times. Huxley intended to have the article ready for the 

 March number of the Nineteenth Century, but it grew longer 

 than he had meant it to be, and partly for this reason, partly 

 for fear lest the influenza, then raging at Eastbourne, might 

 prevent him from revising the whole thing at once, he di- 

 vided it into two instalments. He writes to one daughter 

 on March 1 : — 



I suppose my time will come; so I am " making hay while 

 the sun shines " (in point of fact it is raining and blowing a 

 gale outside) and finishing my counterblast to Balfour before 

 it does come. 



Love to all you poor past snivellers from an expectant 

 sniveller. 



And to another : — 



I think the cavalry charge in this month's Nineteenth will 

 amuse you. The heavy artillery and the bayonets will be 

 brought into play next month. 



Dean Stanley told me he thought being made a bishop de- 

 stroyed a man's moral courage. I am inclined to think that the 

 practice of the methods of political leaders destroys their intel- 

 lect for all serious purposes. 



No sooner was the first part safely sent off than the 

 contingency he had feared came to pass ; only, instead of 

 the influenza meaning incapacity for a fortnight, an unlucky 

 chill brought on bronchitis and severe lung trouble.* The 

 second part of the article was never fully revised for press. 



Hodeslea, Eastbourne, February 8, 1895. 

 My dear Knowles — Your telegram came before I had 

 looked at to-day's Times and the article on Balfour's book, so 

 I answered with hesitation. 



* As he wrote on February 28 to Sir M. Foster : "If I could com- 

 pound for a few hours' neuralgia, I would not mind ; but those long 

 weeks of debility make me very shy of the influenza demon. Here 

 we are practically isolated. ... I once asked Gordon why he didn't 

 have the African fever. ' Well,' he said, ' you see, fellows think they 

 shall have it, and they do. I didn't think so, and didn't get it.' Ex- 

 ercise your thinking faculty to that extent." 



