INTRODUCTION xxiii 



timism. And his useful life, his courageous spirit, and 

 his firm belief that in spite of pain, sorrow, and evil, life 

 is well worth living, and that "escape from pain and 

 sorrow" is not the "proper object of life," silence the 

 accusation that springs to one's lips. All philosophical 

 questions resolved themselves for him into one, "What 

 can I know?" and where he found knowledge unattain- 

 able, he was content to remain an agnostic. And if his 

 agnosticism permitted him no abiding faith in the future, 

 he had at least an enduring heart for the trials of the 

 present. 



"I doubt, or at least I have no confidence in, the doctrine of 

 ultimate happiness, and I am more inclined to look the oppo- 

 site possibility fully in the face, and if that also be inevitable, 

 make up my mind to bear it also. 



"You will tell me there are better consolations than Stoicism; 

 that may be, but I do not possess them, and I have found my 

 'grin and bear it' philosophy stand me in such good stead in 

 my course through oceans of disgust and chagrin, that I should 

 be loth to give it up." 



V 



The same strict regard for truth that distinguished 

 all Huxley's work was, I cannot but believe, the secret 

 of his beautiful and lucid way of writing. His theory 

 of style was to use "such language that you can stand 

 cross-examination on each word," and his friends testi- 

 fied to his remarkable sense for the right word. "I have 

 a great love and respect for my native tongue," he wrote, 

 "and take great pains to use it properly. Sometimes I 

 write essays half-a-dozen times before I can get them 

 into the proper shape; and I believe I become more 

 fastidious as I grow older." 



