I am very sorry I cannot be at x on Thursday, but they won't let me be out at night at present.
Ever yours,
T.H. Huxley.
4 Marlborough Place, October 28, 1888.
My dear Foster,
No fear of my trying to stop in London. Hames won't have it. He came and overhauled me the other day. As I expected, the original mischief is just as it was. One does not get rid either of dilatation or its results at my time of life. The only thing is to keep the pipes clear by good conditions of existence.
After endless discussion we have settled on Brighton for November and December. It is a hateful place to my mind, but there is more chance of sunshine there (at this time) than anywhere else. We shall come up for a week or two on this side of Christmas, and then get away somewhere else out of the way of the east winds of February and March.
I do not think that the Hazlemere country would do for us, nor indeed any country place so long as we cannot regularly set up house.
Heaven knows I don't want to bother about anything at present. But I should like to convince — that he does not yet understand the elements of his subject. What a copious ink-spilling cuttlefish of a writer he is!
Ever yours,