I have a great respect for the Nazarenism of Jesus—­very little for later “Christianity.”  But the only religion that appeals to me is prophetic Judaism.  Add to it something from the best Stoics and something from Spinoza and something from Goethe, and there is a religion for men.  Some of these days I think I will make a cento out of the works of these people.

I find it hard enough to write decent prose and have usually stuck to that.  The “Gib diesen Todten” I am hardly responsible for, as it did itself coming down here in the train after Tennyson’s funeral.  The notion came into my head in the Abbey.

Ever yours very faithfully,

T.H.  Huxley.

[This winter also Sir R. Owen died, and was buried at Ham on December 23.  The grave ends all quarrels, and Huxley intended to be present at the funeral.  But as he wrote to Dr. Foster on the 23rd:—­]

I had a hard morning’s work at University College yesterday, and what with the meeting of the previous evening and that infernal fog, I felt so seedy that I made up my mind to go straight home and be quiet...

There has been a bitter north-easter all day here, and if the like has prevailed at Ham I am glad I kept out of it, as I am by no means fit to cope with anything of that kind to-day.  I do not think I was bound to offer myself up to the manes of the departed, however satisfactory that might have been to the poor old man.  Peace be with him!

[But the old-standing personal differences between the two made it difficult for him to decide what to do with regard to a meeting to raise some memorial to the great anatomist.  He writes again to Sir M. Foster, January 8, 1893:—­]

What am I to do about the meeting about Owen’s statue on the 21st?  I do not wish to pose either as a humbugging approver or as a sulky disapprover.  The man did honest work, enough to deserve his statue, and that is all that concerns the public.

[And on the 18th:—­]

I am inclined to think that I had better attend the meeting at all costs.  But I do not see why I should speak unless I am called upon to do so.

I have no earthly objection to say all that I honestly can of good about Owen’s work—­and there is much to be said about some of it—­on the contrary, I should be well pleased to do so.

But I have no reparation to make; if the business were to come over again, I should do as I did.  My opinion of the man’s character is exactly what it was, and under the circumstances there is a sort of hypocrisy about volunteering anything, which goes against my grain.

The best position for me would be to be asked to second the resolution for the statue—­then the proposer would have the field of personal fiction and butter-boat all to himself.

To Sir W.H.  Flower.

December 28, 1892.

I think you are quite right in taking an active share in the movement for the memorial.  When a man is dead and can do no more harm, one must do a sum in subtraction:—­