I have been wasting my time in polishing that worthy off. I would not
have troubled myself about him, if it were not for the political
bearing of the Celt question just now.

My wife sends her love to all you.

Ever yours,

T.H. Huxley.

[The reference to the "Devonshire Man" is as follows:--Huxley had been
speaking of the strong similarity between Gaul and German, Celt and
Teuton, before the change of character brought about by the Latin
conquest; and of the similar commixture, a dash of Anglo-Saxon in the
mass of Celtic, which prevailed in our western borders and many parts
of Ireland, e.g. Tipperary.

The "Devonshire Man" wrote on January 18 to the "Pall Mall Gazette,"
objecting to the statement that "Devonshire men are as little
Anglo-Saxons as Northumbrians are Welsh." Huxley replied on the 21st,
meeting his historical arguments with citations from Freeman, and
especially by completing his opponent's quotation from Caesar, to show
that under certain conditions, the Gaul was indistinguishable from the
German. The assertion that the Anglo-Saxon character is midway between
the pure French or Irish and the Teutonic, he met with the previous
question, Who is the pure Frenchman? Picard, Provencal, or Breton? or
the pure Irish? Milesian, Firbolg, or Cruithneach?

But the "Devonshire Man" did not confine himself to science. He