Mr John Tyndall | Leighlin Bridge | Co. Carlow | Youghal1 | May 6th, 1840
My dear Father
I hasten with pleasure to relieve the anxiety which I know must fill your and my mother’s mind on my account. I would have written to you immediately on my arrival2 but I thought it better to delay a little until I could send you word of my being settled; this did not take place until this morning. So now I hope I have left you no room for impeaching me with ingratitude or unkindness – now for a description of the town and its inhabitants:– The town consists of one large long street with several minor ones branching from it at both sides, very good shops and extensive business carried on in the main street, a very good Quay – ships of considerable burden come in here. The structure of the town is remarkable to a Carlow eye who seldom views anything which modern improvement has not graced.3 The houses are generally 3 and 4 stories high and very narrow which calls to the beholders mind their antiquity. The Cork ‘you see’ sounded rather harsh4 to me on my arrival but I am now becoming accustomed to it. My lodging is in one of the small streets before alluded to; it leads from the main street to the quay. I and Evans stop together we are quite comfortable, we pay 10/- a week for our board.5 We intend to change our mode of living and board ourselves when we get a little more acquainted with the manners of the people. Tell my mother to have the house clean and neat for me against my arrival at Christmas as if she does not I’ll have wigs on the green.6 Tell her not to fret on my account as her reason must tell her that I could never rise to any degree of respectability if I were to spend my days among my friends in Leighlin. Remember me to my uncle Caleb7 and his family, to Mrs Payne, to John Mooney and Billy Henry. Tell John that if he was here listening to old Ocean’s roar, he would forget his awl8 and spend his days in making enigmas on its sublimity. Tell Mr Conwill if you see him that I will write to him shortly, remember me to both the Mr’s Kellys old and young.9 I cannot forget Jem Walsh as I have a parade of his handywork10 at present before me – I am after eating a great mess of fish. Farewell
Your affectionate son | John Tyndall
When you write direct letters to me – | Ordnance Survey Office, Youghal.
Tell Jerry Murray that John is very well. Remember me to Mr and Mrs Murray I have seen William, his work lies 3 or 4 miles from town
RI MS JT/1/10/3182
LT Transcript Only
Youghal: Tyndall had arrived in Youghal, County Cork, ‘a considerable market town and sea-port’ with a population of about 10,000 (Slater’s, p. 336).
my arrival: Tyndall probably arrived in Youghal on 3 May 1840, having left Leighlin Bridge on 29 April.
a Carlow eye … not graced: Carlow’s modern public buildings included ‘the new cathedral for Roman Catholic worship [which] claims pre-eminence, for the beauty of its style and architecture; a new courthouse; a new jail; a lunatic asylum, also a new building’ for 120 patients (Dublin Penny Journal, 26 July 1834; reprinted in Carloviana, 1 (pt 16, 1967), pp. 21–2).
The Cork ‘you see’ sounded rather harsh: Tyndall, from County Carlow, notes the difference in accent of the inhabitants of County Cork.
we pay 10/- a week for our board: As Tyndall and Evans were each paid 2s. 6d. a day (15s. per week), they were each left with 10s. a week after paying for board and lodging.
wigs on the green: an altercation.
my uncle Caleb: Caleb Tyndall.
awl: a small tool with which holes may be pierced (OED); John Mooney was either a shoemaker or carpenter.
Mr’s Kellys old and young: not identified.
his handywork: Tyndall’s boots; see letter 0043 in which Tyndall complains that the ‘old strong boots that Jem Walsh made me’ had now worn out.
Please cite as “Tyndall0001,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 26 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0001