i870 THE CELT QUESTION 345 



he had two important addresses to deliver. In addition to 

 this, he delivered an address before the Y.M.C.A. at Cam- 

 bridge on " Descartes' Discourse." 



How busy he was may be gathered from his refusal of 

 an invitation to Down : — 



26 Abbey Place, _/(7«. 21, 1870. 



My dear Darwin — It is hard to resist an invitation of yours 

 — but I dine out on Saturday; and next week three evenings are 

 abolished by Societies of one kind or another. And there is 

 that horrid Geological address looming in the future 1 



I am afraid I must deny myself at present. 



I am glad you liked the sermon. Did you see the " Devon- 

 shire man's " attack in the Pall Mall? 



I have been wasting my time in polishing that worthy off. I 

 would not have troubled myself about him, if it were not for the 

 political bearing of the Celt question just now. 



My wife sends her love to all you.— Ever yours, 



T. H. Huxley. 



The reference to the " Devonshire Man " is as follows : — 

 Huxley had been speaking of the strong similarity between 

 Gaul and German, Celt and Teuton, before the change of 

 character brought about by the Latin conquest ; and of the 

 similar commixture, a dash of Anglo-Saxon in the mass of 

 Celtic, which prevailed in our western borders and many 

 parts of Ireland, e.g. Tipperary. 



The " Devonshire Man " wrote on Jan. 18 to the Pall 

 Mall Gazette, objecting to the statement that " Devonshire 

 men are as little Anglo-Saxons as Northumbrians are 

 Welsh." Huxley replied on the 21st, meeting his historical 

 arguments with citations from Freeman, and especially by 

 completing his opponent's quotation from Caesar, to show 

 that under certain conditions, the Gaul was indistinguishable 

 from the German. The assertion that the Anglo-Saxon 

 character is midway between the pure French or Irish and 

 the Teutonic, he met with the previous question, " Who is 

 the pure Frenchman? Picard, Provencal, or Breton? or the 

 pure Irish ? Milesian, Firbolg, or Cruithneach ? " 



But the " Devonshire Man " did not confine himself to 

 science. He indulged in various personalities, to the smart- 



