Stories of Authors, British and AmericanChubb, Edwin Watts
General
Stories of Authors, British and American
Chubb, Edwin Watts
Authors, American -- Biography; Authors, English -- Biography
John Fiske, who in so many ways can be regarded as the American
Huxley, has published a magazine article giving his impressions of
Huxley. In this article he gives two versions of a famous Huxley
anecdote. Here is one:
"It was at the meeting of the British Association at Oxford in 1860,
soon after the publication of Darwin's epoch-making book, and while
people in general were wagging their heads at it, that the subject
came up before a hostile and fashionable audience. Samuel Wilberforce,
the plausible and self-complacent Bishop of Oxford, commonly known as
'Soapy Sam,' launched out in a rash speech, conspicuous for its
ignorant mis-statements, and highly seasoned with appeals to the
prejudices of the audience, upon whose lack of intelligence the
speaker relied. Near him sat Huxley, already known as a man of
science, and known to look favorably upon Darwinism, but more or less
youthful withal, only five-and-thirty, so that the bishop anticipated
sport in badgering him. At the close of his speech he suddenly turned
upon Huxley and begged to be informed if the learned gentleman was
really willing to be regarded as the descendant of a monkey. Eager
self-confidence had blinded the bishop to the tactical blunder in thus
inviting a retort. Huxley was instantly upon his feet with a speech
demolishing the bishop's card house of mistakes; and at the close he
observed that since a question of personal preferences had been very
improperly brought into a discussion of a scientific theory, he felt
free to confess that if the alternatives were descent, on the one hand
from a respectable monkey, or on the other from a bishop of the
English church who would stoop to such misrepresentations and sophisms
as the audience had lately listened to, he would declare in favor of
the monkey!... It is curious to read that in the ensuing buzz of
excitement a lady fainted, and had to be carried from the room; but
the audience were in general quite alive to the bishop's blunder in
manners and tactics, and, with the genuine English love of fair play,
they loudly applauded Huxley. From that time forth it was recognized
that he was not the sort of man to be browbeaten. As for Bishop
Wilberforce, he carried with him from the affray no bitterness, but
was always afterwards most courteous to his castigator."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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