512 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, xxxii 



I am sorry to say I shall have to come here again in Easter 

 week. It is the only time the Lord President is free from his 

 courts, and although we all howled privately, there was no help 

 for it. Whether we finish then or not will depend on the decision 

 of the Government, as to our taking up the case of you trouble- 

 s3Sne women, who want admission into the University (very 

 rightly too I think). If we have to go into this question it will 

 involve the taking of new evidence and no end of bother. I 

 find my colleagues very reasonable, and I hope some good may 

 be done, that is the only consolation. 



I went out with Blackie last evening to dine with the 

 Skeltons, at a pretty place called the Hermitage, about three 

 miles from here. . . . Blackie and I walked home with snow on 

 the ground and a sharp frost. I told you it would turn cold 

 as soon as I got here, but I am none the worse. 



It was just the same in April : — 



It is quite cold here as usual, and there was ice on the ponds 

 we passed this morning. ... I am much better lodged than I 

 was last time, for the same thanks to John Bruce, but I do 

 believe that the Edinburgh houses are the coldest in the uni- 

 verse. In spite of a good breakfast and a good fire, the half 

 of me that is writing to you is as cold as charity. 



April 4. — We toil at the Commission every day, and don't 

 make any rapid progress. An awful fear creeps over me that 

 we shall not finish this bout. 



While he was in Edinburgh for the third time, his at- 

 tention was called to an article in the Echo, the organ of the 

 anti-vivisection party. He writes : — 



The Echo is pretty. It is one of a long series of articles 

 from the same hand, but I don't think they hurt anybody and 

 they evidently please the writer. For some reason or other 

 they have not attacked me yet, but I suppose my turn will come. 



Again : — 



Thank you for sending me John Bright's speeches. They 

 are very good, but hardly up to his old mark of eloquence. Some 

 parts are very touching. 



His health was improving, as he notes with satisfaction : 



Every day this week we have had about four hours of the 

 Commission, and I have dined out four days out of the six. 



