April 11th
Dear Tyndall,
In the hurry of a busy evening and after having written 6 letters before this I send you a few lines for fear you might think me unkind I have but little to say only that I may now sit down under my vine and fig tree being a settled old curmudgeon the father of a family and so forth quite patriarchal but of course you heard this before there is nothing now but that this proverbial pig’s pot of a town1 has been as dry as a bone for the last week or so I think that the clouds must have got the gravel and cannot continue their aqueousness there is a whopper for you so get seven dictionaries I hope please providence to be able to see you before you leave Cork even were I to walk there like a Loughderg pilgrim2 upon my bare bones. Write to me soon you quintessence3 and I will send you an answer that might as the Arabian nights4 say be copied in characters of gold and tied up in the archives of the ordinance survey, which in its meanness made a descent upon me for 4 and a half sterling for the purpose of building new barracks at Kinsale5 but which demand I will resist as a White boy would resist the tithes.6 I will visit Cork before the end of the month, so hoping you will excuse haste
I am yours &c &c. &c. &c. &c. | Corny7
Mrs C.8 is getting quite well and the young un9 is thriving and desires to be remembered to you amen.
RI MS JT/1/TYP/11/3509
LT Transcript Only
this proverbial pig’s pot of a town: not identified. Chadwick moved to Cork after leaving the Survey, but this letter indicates that he and his family no longer lived in Cork as of 1845.
like a Loughderg pilgrim: a pilgrim to Saint Patrick’s Purgatory, a site on Station Island in the middle of the Irish lake Lough Derg. According to legend, in the fifth century AD Christ showed Saint Patrick a cave or well on Station Island that contained an entrance to Hell. Saint Patrick’s Purgatory has been a popular pilgrimage destination since the fifteenth century. Pilgrims approach Saint Patrick’s Purgatory on their knees.
quintessence: the ‘fifth essence’ of which celestial bodies were composed, according to classical and medieval philosophy (OED).
the Arabian Nights: a reference to One Thousand and One Nights, a famed collection of stories written in Arabic.
Kinsale: a village on the southern coast of Ireland.
resist as a White boy would resist the tithes: the Whiteboys were members of a secret Irish Catholic organization that used extreme, occasionally violent tactics to protect tenant rights. The group was named for the white smocks they used when conducting nightly raids, and was active for various periods in the eighteenth century.
Corny: a nickname for John Chadwick.
Mrs C.: Mary Chadwick (dates unknown), John Chadwick’s wife; see also letter 0306.
the young un: probably Elizabeth, Chadwick’s elder daughter.
Please cite as “Tyndall0319,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 30 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0319