My dear Bob1
I am sincerely glad to find that my letter2 sponged your anxiety away and afforded amusement to your friends – had I known it was to come under the cognizance of so many bright eyes I should have polished my periods, sprinkled my pages with the rosewater of poetry and said many pretty things which now, alas, must lie like unseen nosegays3 under the dusty canopy of my sensorium4 –
I am much obliged for your kind invitation5 and should like much to accept it – You have with a few trowel strokes shapen a possibility which perhaps for 5 minutes in the year occupies my attention only to be dismissed again as impracticable. I am going to Germany6 in a month, there I shall turn my purse inside out and come back a pauper. I resign the substantial certainty of my present situation7 merely guided by an idea which is leading me I know not whither. Who would join her fortunes to such a Will O the Wisp?8 I don’t expect to meet one, and if I should I would rather think of putting her in a glass case like a beautiful Egyptian Ibis9 to be worshipped in due season than of causing her fate to oscillate with mine between the extremes which I imagine await me.
I like methodism10 as well as any other ism. An honest man will be so under any ism while no formula whether Wesleyan11 or Calvanistic12 can transmute the dross of selfishness and insincerity into nobleness and truth. The Great Spirit which from time to time expresses himself audibly among the sons of men dwells far below the scum of sects – into this shall methodism, churchism and many other isms one day sink and a purer lovelier and more practical faith – a faith which Jesus taught and John13 understood shall bend with benignant influence over our altered world.
J. Tyndall.
RI MS JT/1/TYP/12/3973
LT Transcript Only
My dear Bob: Louisa Tyndall annotation: ‘from JT. | for R Sayers | Summer 1848’.
my letter: letter missing.
nosegays: bundles of flowers or herbs (OED).
sensorium: the human brain, understood as the centre of thought and nervous energy (OED).
your kind invitation: letter missing.
I am going to Germany: in October 1848 Tyndall began studying for a doctoral degree at the University of Marburg.
my present situation: i.e., Tyndall’s teaching position at Queenwood College, where he taught from 1847-1848. See Introduction.
Will O the Wisp: a ‘will-o’-the-wisp’ is a mysterious object that appears suddenly and leads those who view it astray (OED).
Egyptian Ibis: a long-legged wading bird frequently depicted on Egyptian artifacts.
methodism: in spite of the lower case initial, it appears that this is a reference to Methodism, a Protestant branch of Christianity.
Wesleyan: John Wesley’s religious teachings. Wesley (1703-1791) was a founder of Methodism (ODNB). In 1848, there was controversy within the church between Wesleyans and Calvinists expressed in a series of anonymous pamphlets.
Calvanistic: a reference to Calvinism, a branch of Protestantism that arose in the Reformation and was based on the teachings of John Calvin (1509-1564).
John: one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus; also possibly a reference to the author of the Gospel of John.
Please cite as “Tyndall0353,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on