Item 112 - Letter from Leslie Stephen to Henry Sidgwick

Confirms that 29 October suits him as a date for giving the lecture. Reports that his health has improved of late. Discusses the topic of the lecture, and suggests 'an answer to Martineau [ ] who told [him] that [he is] logically bound to believe in the absurd doctrine that goodness produces happiness to the doer thereof.' Comments that such a topic "means another disquisition about morality in general and the 'Methods of Ethics'." Offers to think of a more practical topic if Sidgwick so wishes. Suggests as a title 'Optimism and Morality'. Reports that he only made two speeches in the [NS] and that 'the thermometer was not generally much above 80.'