<RA> Stanley Terrace, [Preston,] June 2nd / 51.
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<LTR>Dear Tyndall
after a period of lengthened silence I almost feel culpable in disturbing the serenity which pervades your mind, nor would I do so, if I were not fully assured that you will be the gratified recipient of this letter and if the communication lightens one hour of (I am persuaded) your excessive labour I shall be amply repaid. I think I sent you a Preston paper & superscribed my beloved Robert’s address, and if you were at all surprized at that, I fancy you will be a little more so presently. Robert is in the employ of Messrs Bridgens & Moody2 Publishers of Maps & Lithographers; which Mr Bridgens3 is the Grandson of an English General, & the Son of an eminent engineer,4 employed under the British government in the foreign service. And Robert is now with Mr Bridgens in Charleston, 800 miles from their place of residence surveying that city where they expect to remain for two or three months, he speaks in high terms of the kindness of these gentlemen having resided in the family until their departure for the land of rice marshes & cotton groves, telling me that Mr B. was taking a quantity of books which he told him were principally for Roberts use. Robert declares himself a changed man,5 indeed I have faith in this for every sentence in his voluminous letters is confirmatory of the statement, but it is not only the relation of the matter which causes conviction in my mind, no, there is a secret concatenation in the mind which is more readily understood than I can explain to you here, you know, that words do not always convey power to bias the will … You will rejoice with me in the apparent success of my best wishes for our far distant one, and earnestly unite in the hope & prayer that his future career may be one of peace and prosperity. Life truly is intermingled with joy and sorrow, and they alone are happy who can enjoy its benefits in a becoming spirit, and, who are neither particularly elevated or depressed, by the circumstances which surround them. But I find contentment rather a difficult precept to practise; but still I do not despond. I have too many pleasurable excitements surrounding me ever to permit the evil one to establish that malady upon me. For instance, I fully feel the truth of that blessedness which he can enjoy who has found his work and who manfully exercises his ingenuity to accomplish that life purpose with the utmost facillity and dilligence in his power. And will you not agree with me that if I am not exactly a student in galvanism &c perhaps I may be a fellow worker otherwise. I cordially agree with the sentiments of your letter,6 and although I have not as yet attained to the height of Transcendentalism7 to which you appear to have reached, may I not with a more humble profession, be still making an advance in the scale of progression. I never feel more truly happy than when I act from a conscientious conviction of Duty and though I have much to perplex and annoy me from the scruplous foibles of those about me, yet for a moments apparent gratification I would not yield and thus forfeit that enjoyment of mind, such a course of action rewards. Every moment of life appears to me doubly precious, I cannot suffer idleness or the endeavour to kill time in useless engagements. Ah! life is a precious boon, I often sorrow to think how few there are who consider the great end of existence, and who endeavour to improve their moral condition by careful culture. I have been busily engaged in reading since my last. I have read Schlegels Dramatic Lit,8 Goethe’s Auto. & Travels,9 a small work on the Origin & Progress of Language10 and Emerson’s Poems, &c. I shall never forget Goethe while I live; what brilliant aspirations together with profound and sublime thoughts are interspersed throughout those volumes, I imagine if I could peruse the work in its original language I should almost be transfixed with delight, how often I dwell on the concluding passages of the Auto. commencing ‘Child Child no more, The [coursers] of Time, lashed as it were by invisible Spirits hurry on the light car of destiny’11 &c perhaps you are equally familiar with the quotation, truly we know not the portion that is meted, but it is our privilege that we are able to take the reins in hand, and thus avoid by our own skill many threatening dangers.
And now after all this you will agree with me it is high time to conclude; what shall I say concerning the strange appearance my last letter presented, having four of her Majesty’s portraits upon it?12 You must forgive the mistake which originated with my sister. I was not able at the time to ramble so far as the Church Street post office.13 I shall with the children be going to spend some time with Mr Allen’s Father, and if you cannot write soon, will you address the letter according to the direction I have enclosed. You see I am venturing to trespass again on your precious time – I shall be in Blackburn on my return and trust to have the happiness of seeing you again. I must not omit to tell you that Samuel14 is a Day Boarder at present at Tulketh Hall,15 and I trust that after that he will be placed under Mr Singleton’s care, either as monthly or weekly pupil. he is a fine, intelligent lad, and I shall do all in my power that he may eventually reside at Spring Bank.16 I trust you are well. Accept of my thanks for all your kindness, believing me
Ever Your affectionate | Maggie Allen.
Address | Mr Allen, | Newton Hamilton, | Co. Armagh. | For Mrs R.C.A.
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<INFO>RI MS JT/1/A/68
Margaret (Maggie) Allen (née Smith): the wife of Robert C. (Bob) Allen, a friend of Tyndall from his Irish Ordnance Survey days (see Volume 2). They married in 1844, and their first child, a daughter, was born in July 1845. At least two further children were born. As later letters (in Volume 4) show, Bob Allen had serious drinking problems and he may have departed for or been sent to America in order to reform himself. Three children (Charley, Sophy, and another daughter) died young, of consumption. Tyndall wrote friendly and supportive letters to Margaret Allen and occasionally gave money, for she was entirely dependent on her husband’s parents for support. He helped her obtain a position in October 1854 and from that time she disappears from the correspondence.
Messrs Brigdens & Moody … Lithographers: not further identified.
Mr Bridgens: Henry F. Bridgens (c.1824–1872), a surveyor, and map lithographer and publisher, was born in England. He emigrated to the United States before 1850 and settled in Philadelphia.
Grandson … engineer: both grandfather and father are unidentified.
Robert declares himself a changed man: the reform was only temporary (see Volume 4).
your letter: letter missing.
Transcendentalism: Margaret Allen’s writing style and reading lists show that she shared Tyndall’s introspection, and commitment to intellectual and moral self improvement.
Schlegels Dramatic Lit: Schlegel, Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature (1809–11) was a classic of romantic literary criticism.
Goethe’s Auto. & Travels: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Auto-biography of Goethe. Truth and Poetry: From my Own Life (trans. John Oxenford and A. J. W. Morrison, 2 vols. first English edn, London: H. G. Bohn, 1848 and 1849); volume 2, included Letters from Switzerland and Travels in Italy.
Origin & Progress of Language: probably George Smith, The Origin and Progress of Language (London, The Religious Tract Society, 1848), which was under 200 pp. long.
‘Child Child … of destiny’: from the final paragraph of Goethe’s autobiography, vol. 2, p. 168 (cited n. 9). The original reads: ‘Child! child! no more! The coursers of time, lashed, as it were, by invisible spirits, hurry on the light car of our destiny’. Whether Allen wrote ‘courses’ or ‘coursers’ we cannot tell.
four … portraits upon it: possibly an allusion to the number of stamps on the letter.
the Church Street post office: not identified.
Samuel: not identified. Although the context suggests that Samuel is Margaret and Robert Allen’s son, this is unlikely. The name does not match the names of children identified through letters (n. 1 above) and, as the first Allen child, a daughter, was born c. July 1845 (Volume 2, letter 0325) any son would be barely six years old at the time of this letter and therefore unlikely to be a day-boarder at any school.
Tulketh Hall: a Quaker school in Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston, Lancashire, started by George Edmondson in 1841, and run by Joseph Bray from the late 1840s.
Spring Bank: location of school started by Josiah Singleton.
Please cite as “Tyndall0492,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0492