Queenwood | 29th. Nov. 1851
Dear Madam,
It is a long time since I had the pleasure of hearing from you.1 As I appear to be now approaching a new phase in my career, in accordance with my usual custom I write to you upon the subject.2
The accompanying list of Testimonials will throw some light upon my movements. I am a candidate for the Professorship of Natural Philosophy in the University of Toronto, and indeed also in a newly established University in another Colony.3 My chances of success are good.
It would have been better if I could have established myself in England, but of this I see no immediate prospect and it would therefore be culpable on my part to allow the present opportunities to escape me.
My testimonials as you see4 embrace men of various European countries, and I believe I may safely say that they embrace the best in each. I have worked hard for the last 3 years but the reward is more than I ever dared to promise myself. Only a few days ago I received a note from Col. Sabine5 Treasurer of the Royal Society proposing to put matters in train for my election as a Fellow of the Society – I send you the note and will thank you to enclose it when next you favour me with a letter.
I often receive letters from my valued friend Captain Wynne I know no man for whom I have a deeper esteem; certainly his bearing towards me is more like that of an elder brother than otherwise; nor can I speak too highly of the kindness of Mrs Wynne – I have spent some most gratifying hours with them at Harrow. I send you Capt. Wynne’s last letter6 to me, and will thank you to send it to me again when you write to me.
I took up a volume of the poet Burns’s letters7 a few days ago and could not help drawing a parallel between his case and my own – I derived both instruction and warning from the reading of a few of them; my pursuits have a more cool and chastening influence than his had, and I believe my natural temperament is also more sober, so that I am thus comparatively protected from the rock upon which he, poor fellow, split.8
I shall now bid you good bye for the present, and with every kind wish for the continued happiness of yourself and Captain Steuart
I am dear Madam | most faithfully yours | John Tyndall.
RI MS JT/1/TYP/10/3330
LT Transcript Only
long time ... from you: the last extant letter from Steuart to Tyndall was five months earlier (letter 0502, 16 July 1851).
usual custom ... the subject: Steuart was an early patron of Tyndall’s.
University in another Colony: a university in Sydney, New South Wales.
My testimonials as you see: Tyndall was enclosing a copy, as letter 0586 indicates, not just a list of names.
note from Col. Sabine: Tyndall enclosed his highly valued letter 0559.
Capt. Wynne’s last letter: letter 0573.
a volume of the poet Burns’s letters: the edition which Tyndall was reading cannot be determined. Many single volume editions of The Poetical Works of Robert Burns were published in the nineteenth century.
the rock upon which he, poor fellow, split: possibly an allusion to his promiscuity or, more likely, his reputed alcoholism, to which his early biographers often attributed his early death (ODNB).
Please cite as “Tyndall0577,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0577