26 Abbey Place, Sunday, November 8, 1868.
My dear Spencer,
Your conscience has been treating you with the most extreme and unjust severity.
I recollect you LOOKED rather savage at one point in our discussion, but I do assure you that you committed no overt act of ferocity; and if you had, I think I should have fully deserved it for joining in the ferocious onslaught we all made upon you.
What your sins may be in this line to other folk I don't know, but so far as I am concerned I assure you I have often said that I know no one who takes aggravated opposition better than yourself, and that I have not a few times been ashamed of the extent to which I have tried your patience.
So you see that you have, what the Buddhists call a stock of accumulated merit, envers moi—and if you should ever feel inclined to "d—n my eyes" you can do so and have a balance left.
Seriously, my old friend, you must not think it necessary to apologise to me about any such matters, but believe me (d—nd or und—d)
Ever yours faithfully,
T.H. Huxley.
26 Abbey Place, November 11, 1866.