‘In youth my scholar, and in age my friend,
Our love, dear Tyndall, but with life shall end;
Tho’ sever’d now by intervening space,
Our souls and wishes join in sweet embrace.’
Ballinabrauna, M. N. S. | January 18th 1841.
‘My dear Tyndall’
I possess an unbounded predelection for mottos, and therefore I have selected one, which in my humble judgment, conveys in the fullest terms my good wishes towards you; though some of the Munster sentence makers1 might have the audacity to construe this motto into an effeminate harangue made by some unfortunate paramour to the fair portion of his fondest wishes, but I shall leave you to maintain the contrary. For the manly exposure of Hennessy’s ingratitude and lying conduct,2 I do sincerely thank you; It is what I anticipated from the pen of him whom I shall ever revere.
The other evening when Sol3 had nearly completed his course o’er heaven’s blue arch, I was crossing Frenchhorn-hill.4 It was covered with a beautiful sheet of snow, which was rendered delicately white by the declining rays of the sun as he was sinking in the west: Here, said I in my soliloquy, Tyndall and I delineated some mathmetical diagrams when all nature wore its mantle of grey. Well, then I exclaimed in my enthusiastic reveries, I must commomorate the scenes of other days, so I commenced on my favourite spot to draw out geometrical schemes and eventually discovered the following beautiful theorems, which as an addenda to my apostles I send you;
In the trapezium ABCD, if ∠DAB + ∠DCB = 2∠rts, to prove the ∠ABC = ∠ADB, within the limits of the 1st B of Euclid,5 and without introducing the property of the circle.6
Having established the preceding theorem, you can by means of it and one of my geometrical apostles, demonstrate proposition B, Prop C, and Prop D of the VI B,7 of Euclid within the limits of his 1st book.
I have nothing of a local character to inform you of save a melancholy accident that lately befel myself.
I was reposing the other night, whilst my thoughts were wandering about Youghal in pursuit of my Tyndall; Mary my wife, told me to begone; I was obliged to fly, though I am not an aliped.8 My wonder at such conduct ceased not during the night; in the morning what news did I receive? I was told that Mary had given birth to a young daughter, she is named Catharine.9
I request that you may not raise your sarcastic pen to lash me for my inconsistency, if I have erred it is through love of you.
I remain | Your sincere teacher | John Conwill
RI MS JT/1/11/3514
LT Transcript Only
the Munster sentence makers: Conwill is presumably criticising the use of grammar by someone from County Cork, who Tyndall had mentioned in an earlier letter, now missing.
Hennessy’s ingratitude and lying conduct: Michael Hennessy, the master of the National School at Graigue, whose views Tyndall disputed on both mathematics and grammar.
Sol: the sun.
Frenchhorn-hill: Presumably one of the peaks to the west of Ballinabranah.
1st B of Euclid: First Book of Euclid; the first of the thirteen books of Euclid’s Elements; see letter 0017, n. 3.
In the trapezium … of the circle: Probable reconstrustion of LT’s unclear transcription. 2∠rts = 2 right angles = 180º. The trapezium only enters into Book 1, Prop. XXXV.
proposition B, Prop C, and Prop D of the VI B: These propositions pertaining to the Sixth Book of Euclid were added to later editions of Robert Simson’s The Elements of Euclid.
aliped: wing-footed, like a bat (OED).
Mary … named Catharine: John Conwill had married Mary Carty on 22 January 1840 and their first child, Catherine, was born on 27 December 1840.
Please cite as “Tyndall0035,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0035