From T. H. Huxley   4 November 1864

My dear Darwin

I write two lines which are not to be answered, just to say how delighted I am at the result of the doings of the Council of the Royal Society yesterday¹   Many of us were somewhat doubtful of the result—and the more ferocious sort had begun to whet their beaks and sharpen their claws in preparation for taking a very decided course of action had there been any failure of justice this time—² But the affair was settled by a splendid majority³ and our ruffled feathers are smoothed down

Your well won reputation would not have been lessened by the lack of the Copley—but it would have been an indelible reproach to the Royal Society not to have given it you and a good many of us had no notion of being made to share that ignominy—

But quite apart from all these grand public spirited motives & their result—you ought as a philanthropist to be rejoiced in the great satisfaction the award has given to your troop of friends   to none more than my wife⁴ (whom I woke up to tell the news when I got home ⁠⟨⁠la⁠⟩⁠te last night)

Yours Ever | T. H. Huxley

Please remember us very kindly to M^rs Darwin & make our congratulations to her, on owning a Copley medallist