Darwin's Bulldog-T.H. Huxley

Those who critize Dawkins like Ben Stein or William Lane Craig are like men who critize a man for sitting on a chair that is not made of perfection all the while they sit on a pile of fuming s*** with smug contentment. Being an expert on imaginary fabrics is not necessary to see the emperor is naked-a child can point that out! I finished your book yesterday. . . Since I read Von Baer's Essays nine years ago no work on Natural History Science I have met with has made so great an impression on me & I do most heartily thank you for the great store of new views you have given me. . . As for your doctrines I am prepared to go to the Stake if requisite. . . I trust you will not allow yourself to be in any way disgusted or annoyed by the considerable abuse & misrepresentation which unless I greatly mistake is in store for you. . . And as to the curs which will bark and yelp -- you must recollect that some of your friends at any rate are endowed with an amount of combativeness which (though you have often & justly rebuked it) may stand you in good stead -- I am sharpening up my claws and beak in readiness. Letter of T. H. Huxley to Charles Darwin, November 23, 1859, regarding the Origin of Species