It was lucky we did not go to you.  My wife got an awful dose of neuralgia and general upset, and was laid up at the Hotel.  The house was not quite finished inside, but we came in on Tuesday, and she has been getting better ever since in spite of the gale.

I am sorry to hear of the recurrence of influenza.  It is a beastly thing.  Lord Justice Bowen told me he has had it every time it has been in the country.  You must come and try Eastbourne air as soon as we are settled.  With our love to you and Mrs. Donnelly.

Ever yours,

T.H.  Huxley.

Better be careful, I return all letters on which R.H. is not in full. [An allusion to his recent Privy Councillorship.  See below.]

[The next is to a young man with aspirations after an intellectual career, who asked his advice as to the propriety of throwing up his business, and plunging into literature or science:—­]

Hodeslea, Eastbourne, November 5, 1892.

Dear Sir,

I am very sorry that the pressure of other occupations has prevented me from sending an earlier reply to your letter.

In my opinion a man’s first duty is to find a way of supporting himself, thereby relieving other people of the necessity of supporting him.  Moreover, the learning to do work of practical value in the world, in an exact and careful manner, is of itself a very important education, the effects of which make themselves felt in all other pursuits.  The habit of doing that which you do not care about when you would much rather be doing something else, is invaluable.  It would have saved me a frightful waste of time if I had ever had it drilled into me in youth.

Success in any scientific career requires an unusual equipment of capacity, industry, and energy.  If you possess that equipment you will find leisure enough after your daily commercial work is over, to make an opening in the scientific ranks for yourself.  If you do not, you had better stick to commerce.  Nothing is less to be desired than the fate of a young man, who, as the Scotch proverb says, in “trying to make a spoon spoils a horn,” and becomes a mere hanger-on in literature or in science, when he might have been a useful and a valuable member of Society in other occupations.

I think that your father ought to see this letter.

Yours faithfully,

T.H.  Huxley.

[The last of the series, addressed to the secretary of a free-thought association, expresses his firmly rooted disgust at the use of mere ribaldry in attacking the theological husks which enclose a religious ideal.

May 22, 1892.

Dear Sir,

I regret that I am unable to comply with the wish of your committee.  For one thing, I am engaged in work which I do not care to interrupt, and for another, I always make it a rule in these matters to “fight for my own hand.”  I do not desire that any one should share my responsibility for what I think fit to say, and I do not wish to be responsible for the opinions and modes of expression of other persons.