Now what can I say on this matter?1 ‘I have been intimately acquainted with Mr John Roberts for many years.2 He has a gentlemanly deportment and address, superior natural powers which he has most wofully neglected to cultivate. I believe conscientiously that the restlessness and indolence which makes his present situation distasteful would accompany him to the continent, and it is my firm conviction that he would not remain in the situation at Geneva for 6 months’.
RI MS JT/2/5/4343
say on this matter?: Roberts, who was applying for a position in Geneva (see Tyndall journal entries for 3 and 5 September, JT/1/13b/508), had requested a letter of reference from Tyndall.
acquainted with Mr John Roberts for many years: Tyndall worked with Roberts on the Irish Ordnance Survey until he was discharged on 9 January 1841. Tyndall’s opinion of him at this time was decidedly negative. ‘When Roberts was in Leighlin I firmly believe he was an honest man, but now I regret to say he is devoid of every vestige either of principle or honour’. His pseudonym was Sam Weller, for a character in C. Dickens’ Pickwick Papers (see letters 0038, 0338, and 0351).
JT/2/5/434: this fragment, from Tyndall’s journal, is either a draft for or a transcript of the letter sent.
Please cite as “Tyndall0437,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0437