what little energy I possess is mortgaged to quite other occupations.

[The following letter was in answer to a request which I was
commissioned to forward him, that he would consent to serve on an
honorary committee of the Societe des Professeurs de Francais en
Angleterre.]

January 17, 1887.

I quite forgot to say anything about the Comite d'honneur, and as you
justly remark in the present strained state of foreign politics the
consequences may be serious. Please tell your colleague that I shall be
"proud an' 'appy." You need not tell him that my pride and happiness
are contingent on having nothing to do for the honour.

[In the meantime, the ups and downs of his health are reflected in
various letters of these six months. Much set up by his stay in the
Isle of Wight, he writes from Shanklin on April 11 to Sir E. Frankland,
describing the last meeting of the x Club, which the latter had not
been able to attend, as he was staying in the Riviera:--]

Hooker, Tyndall, and I alone turned up last Thursday. Lubbock had gone
to High Elms about used up by the House of Commons, and there was no
sign of Hirst.

Tyndall seemed quite himself again. In fact, we three old fogies voted
unanimously that we were ready to pit ourselves against any three
youngsters of the present generation in walking, climbing, or
head-work, and give them odds.