WHILE visiting Walter Tyndale, in Haslemere, he suggested that I should take advantage of the proximity of the President of the Royal Society, Sir Archibald Geikie, and make a portrait of him.
Sir Archibald gave me the whole day between breakfast and tea for the sittings. He did not take luncheon, for he had found that the day was broken in two by a useless and injurious meal, that after lunching the mind was in no condition for work because the body became torpid and dormant, and required repose. He maintained better health and accomplished more work by eating a good breakfast early in the morning, a good tea at four o'clock, and a substantial dinner at seven o'clock. Lord Leighton had adopted the same custom, with equally beneficial results.
I had the advantage of long sittings, which enabled me to complete the portrait very quickly. If I happened to be hungry, the Tyndales' house was next door, where Mrs. Tyndale always welcomed me. Sir Archibald and I were in complete agreement upon philosophical, political, and social questions, so that we found much pleasure in attacking the weak points in the flimsy armour of imaginary opponents. Sir Archibald, like John Tyndall, was a doughty champion of the truth that he had found in rocky mountains, in sandy valleys, and in fossils deep
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