[The following letters to Mr. Herbert Spencer were written as sets of proofs of his Autobiography arrived.  That to Sir J. Skelton was to thank him for his book on “Maitland of Lethington,” the Scotch statesman of the time of Queen Mary.]

January 18, 1887.

[The first part of this letter is given above.]

My dear Spencer,

I see that your proofs have been in my hands longer than I thought for. 
But you may have seen that I have been “starring” at the Mansion
House...

I am immensely tickled with your review of your own book.  That is something most originally Spencerian.  I have hardly any suggestions to make, except in what you say about the “Rattlesnake” work and my position on board.

Her proper business was the survey of the so-called “inner passage” between the Barrier Reef and the east coast of Australia; the New Guinea work was a hors d’oeuvre, and dealt with only a small part of the southern coast.

Macgillivray was naturalist—­I was actually Assistant-Surgeon and nothing else.  But I was recommended to Stanley by Sir John Richardson, my senior officer at Haslar, on account of my scientific proclivities.  But scientific work was no part of my duty.  How odd it is to look back through the vista of years!  Reading your account of me, I had the sensation of studying a fly in amber.  I had utterly forgotten the particular circumstance that brought us together.  Considering what wilful tykes we both are (you particularly), I think it is a great credit to both of us that we are firmer friends now than we were then.  Your kindly words have given me much pleasure.

This is a deuce of a long letter to inflict upon you, but there is more coming.  The other day a Miss —­, a very good, busy woman of whom I and my wife have known a little for some years, sent me a proposal of the committee of a body calling itself the London Liberty League (I think) that I should accept the position of one of three honorary something or others, you and Mrs. Fawcett being the other two.

Now you may be sure that I should be glad enough to be associated with you in anything; but considering the innumerable battles we have fought over education, vaccination, and so on, it seemed to me that if the programme of the League were wide enough to take us both for figure-heads, it must be so elastic as to verge upon infinite extensibility; and that one or other of us would be in a false position.

So I wrote to Miss —­ to that effect, and the matter then dropped.

Misrepresentation is so rife in this world that it struck me I had better tell you exactly what happened.

On the whole, your account of your own condition is encouraging; not going back is next door to going forward.  Anyhow, you have contrived to do a lot of writing.

We are all pretty flourishing, and if my wife does not get worn out with cooks falling ill and other domestic worries, I shall be content.