My dear Father
It is now a long time since I last wrote to you1 and I have been expecting in vain an answer this week back, but as I see no sign of anything from you I now lift the pen to put you in mind of your debt.
Has the Sentinel ceased to exist?2 If not the conduct of some person connected with it is rather unaccountable. Three weeks ago I sent a bit of a rhyme to it and in the same letter I enclosed a sixpence requesting that the paper might be sent to me on the following Saturday. My letter3 was directed to the Editor4 – and I have never heard any thing of it since. Now I could get a Journal from any part of the united kingdom by writing for it. I have written to London for papers, and my letters were always promptly attended to. I cannot account for the observance of a different line of conduct in Carlow – they should at least have returned my money – the moment I finish this I shall write to the Editor about it. I shall wait for a few days for an answer from him, in the mean time you need say nothing about the affair, but if I do not get an answer, you must write to my uncle Bill5 and desire him to obtain an explanation.
Send me in your next letter a nice sprig of a Shamrock6 –I want to send it to America to Wm Wright, you cant imagine the interest which a sprig
‘Of the chosen leaf
Of Bard and Chief
Old Erin’s native Shamrock’7
creates in the breast of one of her sons who is far far away from the home of his childhood. I have always sent one to my friend Higginson who is stationed at present in Poona in the East Indies.8 I saw his name in the army list9 yesterday.
Dont forget to send me Mr Ryan’s address
Your affectionate son | John.
Did you send the London News10 to Wm Wright? if so my account with you stands thus: –
Little John to Big John L S D11
To postage paid on Wm Wright’s letter 0 0 8
To Do on paper sent to Wright - 0 0 2
0 0 10
Cash - - 0 1 0
Remaining due to little John - - 0 0 2
I’ll draw on you for the balance at some future period
I shall expect a reply to this very shortly | J.T.
RI MS JT 1/10/3287
LT Transcript Only
since I last wrote to you: letter 0187.
Has the Sentinel ceased to exist?: The difficulty in obtaining the Carlow Sentinel might be attributable to the ill health of its proprietor Henry Malcolmson (see letter 0108, n. 3). Malcolmson, who had begun the paper in 1831, finally decided to stand down on 4 March 1842, with the editor Thomas Harris Carroll then also becoming the proprietor (‘To the Subscribers of the “Carlow Sentinel”’, CS, 5 March 1842, p. [3]).
My letter: letter missing.
the Editor: Thomas Harris Carroll.
my uncle Bill: William Tyndall, who was acquainted with Malcolmson; see letter 0108.
sprig of a Shamrock: Derived from the Gaelic seamróg, the shamrock is a three-leaved sprig of clover that became a symbol of Ireland after Saint Patrick took it as a metaphor for the Christian trinity.
‘Of the chosen leaf … | … Old Erin’s native Shamrock’: T. Moore, ‘Oh, the Shamrock’ (1821), 15–17. Erin is a romantic name for Ireland.
Higginson who is stationed at present in Poona in the East Indies: see letter 0182, n. 4.
army list: the official list of serving officers in the British Army published monthly, quarterly and annually since 1740.
the London News: the Illustrated London News; see letter 0187, n. 7.
L S D: pounds (livres), shillings and pence (denarii).
Please cite as “Tyndall0190,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 4 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0190