To John Tyndall, Snr   Monday night, (Jan. 5th, 1841)

Youghal, Monday night

My dear Father

It’s a long time since you and I had an epistolary converse, you no doubt attach the fault to me, but I think it rests with you. ‘Two against one’ says the proverb ‘will kill a man’1 but it’s not the demands of two correspondents that I have to satisfy, but half a dozen. There’s Emma, Mr Conwill, Maria Payne, Wm Wright and three or four more to each and every one of whom I have to offer the tribute of my pen, you appear to think that I have a right to send letter for letter with you I have stated the case as it stands and you cannot but see that you have a decided advantage over me, instead of half a dozen you have only my poor solitary self to correspond with, you also have more time than I have. I’m now confined from daylight to darknight. I dont intend to convey the idea that I’m discontented with my present situation, far from it; I doubt very much whether Queen Victoria2 though a diadem3 screens her brow is as happy as I am. I enjoy excellent health, have a good appetite, and a good pair of hands to satisfy its demands. So I see no reason at all why I should not be happy.

I’m glad to find that my last letter pleased you but had I the slightest idea that its contents would be made known to either Captain Steuart or Mr Newton4 I would have produced one more worthy of their approbation I would have taxed my energies a little more and I doubt not that they would be equal to the task of producing a better letter than the one to which you allude, the reception it met with is however to me very flattering.

Great changes have taken place lately and we are on the eve of greater. Foy got married lately without leave for which he was broke from being Corporal, he has been reduce to-day and drafted to another division,5 he was in charge of the field parties when this took place. Collins has replaced him in the field and I occupy Collins’s post in the office. Our next destination is not Scotland6 as we anticipated, it is already fixed upon that we’re to go to England. I think we’ll depart sometime about the beginning of summer. I’ll see you before I go. I think the good men of the division will be more encouraged now than heretofore though I cant say much for them as yet having only got 2d a day of an increase within the last twelve months.7 I had fifteen shillings leaving Leighlin, I have now sixteen. I’m sure of getting a rise next month as Corpl Mulligan the person now in charge told me that I would be specially recommended. How is my mother? I hope you spent a happy Christmas. Where do you think I spent mine? – In Cork. I was invited there by the father of a Cork lad8 a fellow lodger of ours. Ginty came along with me. I spent Christmas day viewing the ruins of the far famed Blarnet Castle9 rambled through the parade and dyke – these places are well known to my mother. I spent Christmas most pleasantly – they were very nice people that entertained us – We returned on the Monday following Christmas day and are now plodding away at the old work. I suppose you saw Phil Ryan. I searched the town before he went for a box of cephalic or Princess mixture10 but could get neither to send you. I thought you would not relish the Cork snuff as it is of an inferior quality and so I declined sending it.

Send me word whether Emma continues to read or not. How is my uncle Caleb? Send me every bit of news you can collect.

Good bye | I remain your affectionate son | John Tyndall

RI MS JT/1/10/3199

LT Transcript Only

‘Two against one’ says the proverb ‘will kill a man’: This does not seem a very common proverb, although in David William Paynter’s novel The History and Adventures of Godfrey Ranger, 3 vols (Manchester: R. & W. Dean, 1813), one of the characters remarks: ‘Two against one is enough to kill a man, as the saying is’ (vol. 2, p. 37).

Queen Victoria: Queen Victoria (1819–1901) had ascended the throne of Great Britain and Ireland in 1837.

a diadem: a crown; Victoria’s coronation had been held at Westminster Abbey on 28 June 1838.

my last letter … Mr Newton: letter missing but Captain William Steuart and Beauchamp Newton referred to in letter 0027.

Foy … another division: On 15 December 1840 Thomas M. Foy, who had been absent and married without permission, was demoted to the rank of Private, transferred to the 4th Division, under Lieutenant Fenwick, and his pay reduced from 1/6 to 6d. (NAI OS/1/16–18 and OS/2/18).

Scotland: The trigonometrical survey of Scotland had commenced in the 1810s, but had not been completed. The triangulation of the north-west of the country was recommenced in 1837, at the behest of Colonel Thomas Colby, who sent small parties of surveyors from Ireland to help with the work, which was completed in 1841.

2d a day of an increase within the last twelve months: In December 1839, while still working at Leighlin Bridge, Tyndall’s daily pay was increased to 2s. 6d. (15s. a week); in June or July 1840 his pay had risen by 2d. to 2s. 8d. (16s. a week) (NAI OS/1/16–17).

a Cork lad: John Tidmarsh.

Blarnet Castle: Blarney Castle, where the famous Blarney Stone is located, is 5 miles to the north-west of Cork. Although earlier fortifications were built on the site, the surviving stone dates from 1446 and the Georgian gothic house was constructed in the early eighteenth century.

box of cephalic or Princess mixture: Varieties of snuff; cephalic (for ailments of the head). An advertisement for Collins’ Cephalic Snuff Cordial recommended it for headaches, chronic deafness, weakness of the nerves of the head and dimness of sight (The Traveller’s Album and Hotel Guide (London: Cassell, Petter and Galpin, 1842), p. 32).

Please cite as “Tyndall0031,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 29 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0031