T.H. Huxley.
4 Marlborough Place, November 24, 1885.
My dear Donnelly,
I believe you have been at work again!
Lord Iddesleigh has written to me to ask if I will be recommended for a Civil List Pension of 300 pounds a year, a very pretty letter, not at all like the Treasury masterpiece you admired so much.
Didn't see why I should not accept, and have accepted accordingly.
When the announcement comes out the Liberals will say the Tory
Government have paid me for attacking the G.O.M.! to a dead certainty.
Ever yours,
T.H. Huxley.
[Five days later he replies to the congratulations of Mr. Eckersley (whose son had married Huxley's third daughter):—]
…Lord Iddesleigh's letter offering to submit my name for an honorary pension was a complete surprise.