i874 LETTERS TO TYNDALL 44I 



Let my example be a burning and a shining light to you. I 

 declare I have horrid misgivings of your kicking over the traces. 



The " .r " conies oft on Saturday next, so let your ears burn, 

 for we shall be talking about you. I have just begun my lectures 

 to Schoolmasters, and I v^'ish they were over, though I am very 

 well on the whole. 



Griffith wrote to ask for the title of my lecture at Belfast, 

 and I had to tell him I did not know yet. I shall not begin to 

 think of it till the middle of July when these lectures are over. 



The wife would send her love, but she has gone to Kew to 

 one of Hooker's receptions, taking Miss Jewsbury,* who is stay- 

 ing with us. I was to have gone to the College of Physicians' 

 dinner to-night, but I was so weary when I got home that I 

 made up my mind to send an excuse. And then came the 

 thought that I had not written to you. — Ever yours sincerely, 



T. H. Huxley. 



The following is in reply to Tyndall, who had written 

 from Switzerland on July 15 : — 



I confess to you that I am far more anxious about your 

 condition than about my own ; for I fear that after your London 

 labour the labour of this lecture will press heavily upon you. 

 I wish to Heaven it could be transferred to other shoulders. 



I wish I could get rid of the uncomfortable idea that I have 

 drawn upon you at a time when your friend and brother ought 

 to be anxious to spare you every labour. . . . 



PS. — Have just seen the Swiss Times; am intensely dis- 

 gusted to find that while I was brooding over the calamities pos- 

 sibly consequent on your lending me a hand, that you have been 

 at the Derby Statue, and are to make an oration apropos of the 

 Priestley Statue in Birmingham on the ist August ! ! ! 



4 Marlborough Place, London, N.W., 

 /u/y 22, 1874. 

 My dear Tyndall — I hope you have been taking more care 

 of your instep than you did of your leg in old times. Don't try 

 mortifying the flesh again. 



I was uncommonly amused at your disgustful wind up after 

 writing me such a compassionate letter. I am as jolly as a 

 sandboy so long as I live on a minimum and drink no alcohol, 



* Miss Geraldine Jewsbury (1812-80) the novelist, and friend of the 

 Carlyles. After 1866 she lived at Sevenoaks. 



