From William Ginty   Tuesday evening, (Apr. 18th, 1843)

Tuesday evening

Dear Tyndall,

I could not for the life of me scribble you anything sooner and even this moment I dont know how I will make this what might be called a note.

I see I took a rise out of you about the Preston Chronicle.1 I did not send and indeed your letter requesting me not to do so2 would have been too late did not the same thought strike me, and even I couldn’t be ‘cock shure’ that the editor of the P.C.3 was not a P.P.4 And so I thought better to wait for a more favourable opportunity. I have one piece even should you never send another that will do right well! ahem! Andy Ingram5 passed this way on yesterday on his way to Ireland, he was discharged in consequence of the reduction.6 John Davy is dead. I’m afraid it will break poor old Davy’s heart for he was exceedingly fond of his children.7 Nelson has returned and delivered himself up.8 It is said here that Capt. Tucker is to have charge of the London and Windsor job9 and that a Lt. Stanley10 is to replace him. Can you vouch for this if truth I guess you will visit the great metropolis. I think Griffin is broke.11 I seen a letter last week from Manchester including him as Pt. Griffin amongst those who were for Windsor.

‘Just power thy vengeance never sleeps’.

My journal has not yet made its appearance. Parker and Gibbons12 have more pay than me at present!13 I got a letter from Jim14 for a wonder, he spun a yarn about old times, Bessie15 and the fatal bridge! poor devil that affair still haunts his thoughts, for my part I have scarcely a recollection of those things, it puzzled me to bring to mind who Bessie and Sally16 and Maryanne17 were when I was reading it! –

I believe I put the saddle on the right ass about the Westmoreland affair18 in Dr. Parker’s letter.19

Geo. Markham20 and his brother and the whole family are residing here now. Chadwick will be over next month! I suppose he will take a trip to Preston. I say Tyndall would you like to see Ellen21 again – I intend going over in the first ‘areil carriage’22 that soars that way. 3 to 2 of the editors of the English papers are of opinion that it will succeed. The Mercury says ‘a pig may fly but it is a very unlikely bird’,23 – however I’m blessed if I would not like to see and kiss Ellen. Out of all my enamourers I value her only at present, I cant say how long it may be so. Still I can think of her and of her charms

‘A thousand pictures in my memory live

I would not part with for a monarch’s throne’24

You can tell Jim to look out for an answer on or about the 1st of August 1843.

Remember me to Mr Marquis and Geo.25 A verbal message from Westmoreland last week was – a request for me to write to Miss E.26 dont you wonder at a married woman to ask for the like – as in duty bound I’d see her very well damned first! We have the plans of Liverpool in preparation for old Tom Colby he has been promised and expects them by the 1st of June – he wants them to lay before the Government as specimens, but I am certain the 1st of August will not find them finished!

I am far enough – I cant go on ‘I’m almost sorry that I ere began’27 what a thing it is to be obliged to write about nothing Excuse this damned insipid rigmarole of bladdering28

Yours sincerely | Ginty.

I would make you a present of ½ a dozen good cigars if I had any means of sending them, and will if you only send a messenger or a hint of a means

Yours | Ginty | Smuggled of course.

RI MS JT 1/11/3600

LT Transcript Only

I took a rise out of you about the Preston Chronicle: Ginty is probably referring to Tyndall’s ‘Requiem of common sense’, of which he told him ‘look out for it shortly in the P.C.’; see letter 0197.

your letter requesting me not to do so: letter missing.

editor of the P.C.: Lawrence Dobson, editor of the Preston Chronicle.

P.P.: not identified, although usually the abbreviation means Parish Priest, so Ginty may have been concerned that the Preston Chronicle’s editor was a Roman Catholic. Dobson was not, and in the following month the paper published a poem probably by Tyndall, under another of his pseudonyms Wat Ripton, which mocked ‘the great Dan O’Connell, with blarney galore’ (‘An Hibernian’s Song to ____ ____’, Preston Chronicle, 20 May 1843, p. [4]).

Andy Ingram: Andrew Ingram, a civil assistant who worked in the 5th Division, C District of the Irish Ordnance Survey. He joined the Survey in May 1839, and was transferred to England in January 1842 (NAI OS/1/16–19).

the reduction: see letter 0194, n. 15.

it will break poor old Davy’s heart …fond of his children: Ginty’s prediction may already have been fulfilled, as James Davy, a Corporal in the Royal Sappers and Miners who had previously suffered ill health, was discharged from the army on 11 April 1843 after being found ‘worn out and permanently unfit for military service’ (NA WO 97/1149).

Nelson has returned and delivered himself up: see letter 0188, n. 15.

the London and Windsor job: presumably the superintendence of the putative Survey of London (see letter 0154, n. 3), and the actual Survey of Windsor (see letter 0198, n. 21).

Lt. Stanley: Lieutenant William Stanley of the Royal Engineers, who was in charge of the 1st Division of the English Ordnance Survey, and commanded the Divisional Office in Preston.

I think Griffin is broke: David Griffin had been acting Lance Corporal in the 13th Company of the Royal Sappers and Miners while on the Irish Survey, but was now seemingly demoted to his original rank of Private.

Gibbons: James Gibbons, a civil assistant who had worked in the 5th Division, C District of the Irish Survey. He had joined the Survey in November 1838, and was transferred to England in January 1842 (NAI OS/1/15–19).

more pay than me at present!: John Parker was earning 2s. per day at the time of his last pay rise on the Irish Survey in July 1840, while Gibbons’ pay had risen to 1s. 6d. in January 1841.

Jim: Phillip Evans.

Bessie: see letter 0115, n. 17.

Sally: possibly ‘Hunter’s Sally’ mentioned in letter 0115.

Maryanne: possibly Maryanne Kearney mentioned in letter 0097.

the Westmoreland affair: possibly a reference to the contretemps caused by Tyndall’s poem ‘On Leaving Westmorland’; see letters 0183 and 0184.

Dr. Parker’s letter: not identified.

Geo. Markham: see letter 0177, n. 19.

Ellen: from Kinsale.

‘areil carriage’: The aerial steam carriage was patented in 1842 by William Samuel Henson and John Stringfellow. In 1843 the Aerial Transit Company funded an extensive publicity campaign in the press, but this did not generate sufficient investment in the firm to actually construct the proposed flying machine.

The Mercury says ‘a pig may fly but it is a very unlikely bird’: ‘The Aerial Steam Carriage’, Liverpool Mercury, 7 April 1843, p. 119.

A thousand pictures… | …monarch’s throne: W. H. Leatham, A Traveller’s Thoughts: or, Lines Suggested by a Tour of the Continent (1837), xvii.1–2.

Geo.: George Latimer.

Miss E.: Mary Evans; on her marriage, see letter 0185, n. 16.

‘I’m almost sorry that I ere began’: Lord Byron, Don Juan (1819–24), I.cxv.920.

bladdering: blathering; talking foolishly or nonsensically (OED).

Please cite as “Tyndall0199,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 29 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0199